Political fallout follows NSA ruling

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge's ruling that warrantless wiretapping is unconstitutional set off a flurry of political responses yesterday, as Republicans tried to keep control of the national security debate amid signs that their own party's ranks may be breaking under the pressure of the Iraq war.

President Bush issued a challenge to Democrats, many of whom had hailed the decision of US District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor that the National Security Agency's wiretapping efforts violate the Bill of Rights and other federal laws.

``I strongly disagree with that decision, strongly disagree," Bush said. ``That's why I instructed the Justice Department to appeal immediately, and I believe our appeals will be upheld."

``Those who herald this decision simply do not understand the nature of the world in which we live," Bush said after meeting with his economic team at Camp David in Maryland. ``This country of ours is at war, and we must give those whose responsibility it is to protect the United States the tools necessary to protect this country in a time of war."

Minutes later, under the headline ``Dems Rejoice," the Republican National Committee illuminated those reactions, releasing the statements of eight Democrats -- from House minority leader Nancy Pelosi of California to 2004 presidential nominee John F. Kerry -- all heralding the decision as a rebuke to the president.

The National Republican Senatorial Campaign challenged Democratic candidates to ``stand up in opposition to a liberal judge," and the RNC released an Internet advertisement painting the Democrats as soft on defense.

The ad shows prominent Democrats decrying warrantless wiretapping, abusive interrogations, ballistic missile defense, and the war in Iraq through the opening of a cave, meant to represent the vantage point for terrorists .

``Democrats say they want to talk about national security and the war on terror . . . while terrorists are watching," the narrator intones.

With that burst of activity, Republicans appeared ready to make Taylor's decision on wiretapping the 2006 equivalent of a Massachusetts judge's legalization of gay marriage in 2004: a rallying cry for the Republican base.

``They never miss an opportunity to play divisive politics on national security," said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. ``The one casualty Americans would accept in the war on terror is partisanship, and that's the one thing George Bush won't give up."

But with polls indicating that Republican voters are more divided on security issues than Democrats, it was unclear whether the strategy would work again.

``There is no consensus that Republicans are better on terrorism than the Democrats, as once was clearly the case," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center.

A Pew Center poll released Thursday suggested that there is ``no evidence that terrorism is weighing heavily on voters -- 2 percent of those surveyed cite that as the issue they most want to hear candidates discuss, far fewer than the number mentioning education, gas prices, or healthcare.

Republicans have done such a good job tying the war in Iraq to the war on terrorism that bad news from Baghdad is casting doubts on the antiterror effort, Kohut said. Republican voters, meanwhile, are split on whether to withdraw troops from Iraq, the poll suggested.

Reflecting these pressures, Republicans in swing districts are beginning to waver. In an interview from Israel yesterday, Representative Christopher Shays, Republican of Connecticut, said the political will of the United States is being stretched to the limit, and he promised to offer a timeframe for troop withdrawals when he returns next week from his 14th trip to Iraq.

``We have got to find a way to come to some kind of consensus, so we can do what's right for our country and what's right for the Iraqis," said Shays, an ardent supporter of the war who is in a political dogfight with his Democratic, antiwar opponent. ``We have to say, `This is the latest we will leave' and be able to live with that."

Shays plans to hold three hearings next month exploring whether Iraq is heading toward democracy or civil war.

On Thursday, Representative Michael G. Fitzpatrick, Republican of Pennsylvania, wrote a letter to constituents declaring he was saying `` `No' to President Bush's `stay-the-course' strategy" in Iraq.

Taylor issued her ruling on a suit filed in Detroit by the American Civil Liberties Union. She said the government, in defending the program, appeared to be saying the president had the ``inherent power" to violate laws of Congress.

Critics say the surveillance program skirts the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires court warrants for domestic eavesdropping. The administration has argued that obtaining warrants from a secret court set up under that act is a time-consuming process unsuited for the government's fast-moving war on terror.

The Justice Department on Thursday filed its notice of appeal in the case with the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, but no deadline had been set for submitting briefs.