It's too easy

to make the Nixon parallels. So I'm going to just leave that to y'all.

Congressional leaders of both parties called for hearings and issued condemnations yesterday in the wake of reports that President Bush signed a secret order in 2002 allowing the National Security Agency to spy on hundreds of U.S. citizens and other residents without court-approved warrants.

Bush declined to discuss the domestic eavesdropping program in a television interview, but he joined his aides in saying that the government acted lawfully and did not intrude on citizens' rights.

"Decisions made are made understanding we have an obligation to protect the civil liberties of the American people," Bush said on "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer."

Disclosure of the NSA plan had an immediate effect on Capitol Hill, where Democratic senators and a handful of Republicans derailed a bill that would renew expiring portions of the USA Patriot Act anti-terrorism law. Opponents repeatedly cited the previously unknown NSA program as an example of the kinds of government abuses that concerned them, while the GOP chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said he would hold oversight hearings on the issue.

And guess what? The Patriot Act (renewing components of it before it expires at the end of the month) didn't pass the Senate:

Bush's allies wanted a four-year renewal of the Patriot Act's chief provisions, including various modifications drafted during weeks of House-Senate negotiations. The House approved the compromise bill on Wednesday. But four Senate Republicans -- Chuck Hagel (Neb.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), John E. Sununu (N.H.) and Larry E. Craig (Idaho) -- joined yesterday's Democratic-led filibuster, leaving proponents well short of the 60 votes needed to end debate and force a yes-or-no vote on the legislation in the 100-member chamber.

I'm so going to have fun watching Bush's numbers drop.