"Nixon 2.0"

Howard Fineman at Newsweek.com has a very interesting look at the domestic spying issue. He explains who knew about the "secret" spying and how it may have come about. Here are a couple of quotes:

(emphasis added)

As best I can tell, and this really isn't my beat,the only people who knew about the NSA's new (and now so controversial) warrantless eavesdropping program early on were Bush, Cheney, NSA chief Michael Hayden, his top deputies, top leaders of the CIA, and lawyers at the Justice Department and the White House counsel's office hurriedly called in to sprinkle holy water on it. Which presents the disturbing image of the White House as a series of nesting dolls, with Cheney-Bush at the tiny secret center.........

...........They used to demand this on the strength of the WMD issue, on the theory that the president had,lied us into war. Now the Bush foes will base their case on his having signed off on the NSA's warrantless wiretaps. He and Cheney will argue his inherent powers and will cite Supreme Court cases and the resolution that authorized him to make war on the Taliban and Al Qaeda. They will respond by calling him Nixon 2.0 and have already hauled forth no less an authority than John Dean to testify to the president's dictatorial perfidy. The "I word" is out there, and, I predict, you are going to hear more of it next year, much more.

The nesting doll analogy and Nixon 2.0 label are priceless. Great talking points for Democrats.