Today, President Bush launches a week-long series of public appearances to follow up on the "Scaring of America" strategy which Karl Rove kicked off last week. Aimed at preserving the Republican control of Congress in the midterm elections, the President has chosen as his topic: the defense of his Domestic Spy Programs.

If you liked The Mushroom Cloud set piece in the runup to the invasion of Iraq, this Clueperformance should be a doozie!

The President is playing catchup but we can count on him to ignore the backdrop of reality. For those who haven't kept track, here's a rundown of what the President is up against.

o The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights have filed separate lawsuits asserting that Bush exceeded his authority in repeatedly and secretly authorizing the National Security Agency to spy on Americans in America.

o The non-partisan Congressional Research Service has concluded that President Bush failed to keep all members of the House and Senate intelligence committees fully informed of his secret intelligence gathering activities as required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

o The Congressional Research Service has further concluded that President Bush's secret authorization of the NSAs domestic spying is a violation of FISA.

o It's clear that Congress, in 1978, expressly intended for the government to seek warrants from a special FISA Court before engaging in domestic surveillance because of Executive Branch abuses of its wiretapping capabilities.

o One FISA Court judge has resigned because of his disagreement with President Bush's endrun around FISA.

o Not one Congressman has come forward to support President Bush's assertion that Congress authorized such eavesdropping in the special resolution that Congress approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks; rather, that resolution, entitled Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), focused on authorizing the President to use military force.

o Not one Congressman has come forward to support the Justice Department contention that, in granting the President wartime powers, the AUMF trumps FISA and, for that reason, the FISA law is unconstitutional.

o Others have noted that, legally, war has not been declared on anyone. Because only Congress can declare war, the President does not possess any "wartime powers" outside of those identified in the AUMF.

o Curiously, the recent Supreme Court ruling on Oregon's assisted suicide law may present a major obstacle to the Bush Administration because the majority opinion notes that the Executive Branch cannot "stretch" the specific Congressional intent of a law to embrace implied Executive powers contrary to the law. The AUMF did not specifically authorize warrantless eavesdropping. FISA specifically requires a FISA Court warrant for domestic eavesdropping. Any questions?

o President Bush's rationale, "that the speed and agility required to carry out the NSA activities successfully could not have been achieved under FISA" ignores the liberal provisions of FISA which permits the FISA Court to issue retroactive, after-the-fact, approval of domestic surveillance activities.

o President Bush has not explained why his Administration did not seek modification of the FISA law through the renewal of the Patriot Act if, as the President contends,  FISA constrained surveillance activities.

o President Nixon's argument that he possessed the same powers during the Viet Nam War -- warrantless surveillance in the name of national security -- was rejected by the US Supreme Court in United States v. United States District Court, 407 US 297 (1972).

By any standard, this is a pretty large pachyderm in the parlor and the gears of justice are grinding. Scary stuff!

How is President Bush going to frighten us more?  Can he?