MoveOn CNN ad will morph Nixon into Bush

At Senate hearings yesterday on the Bush administration's domestic spying program, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales tried to evade the simple truth: the president broke the law. But after one day, it's unclear if or when hearings will start again.

We can't let the administration off the hook. So it's up to all of us to keep the heat up, and make sure the focus is on the president's disdain for the rule of law.

We've put together a new, hard-hitting TV ad that reminds everyone about the last time a president thought he was above the law—morphing a photo of Richard Nixon into President Bush. Can you contribute to get this ad on TV this week? To view the ad (it's really gripping) and help out, go to:See ad

We need to raise $200,000 by tomorrow night to keep this ad on the air—and keep the focus on this abuse of power by President Bush. The ad drives home the key point: this is about a president breaking the law. We've included a factual analysis of the ad in the P.S., below.

The Bush administration is desperately trying to change the subject, claiming this is about who is strong on terrorism, because they know they haven't got a legal leg to stand on. They've even started using the misleading moniker "terrorist surveillance program" to describe illegal spying on Americans in the United States. The new ad doesn't let them get away with it.

At the hearings, even Republican senators were upset by the attorney general's misleading and false answers to questions. But the pattern of deception and lies about domestic spying isn't new.

Consider these key facts:

• First, the president said publicly there was no such program. He said, "Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so."¹ He lied.
  
  
• For weeks, Gonzales, President Bush and others have insisted that the wiretapping program was only applied to suspected terrorists.² But just last Sunday, the Washington Post exposed that the program was broad and not limited to suspected terrorists. In a nutshell, it's a fishing expedition and participants are increasingly "uncomfortable with the mountain of data they have now begun to accumulate."³
  
  
• And yesterday, the attorney general said that he could not assure the Senate that the program did not eavesdrop on innocent Americans.⁴

Last week, tens of thousands of us contributed to our 2006 ground plan. Now, it's time to take our battle to the air—holding the president accountable through this important ad. It's clear the president was breaking the law. We have to keep the drumbeat up and demand accountability.

https://political.moveon.org/donate/breakingthelaw.html?id=6805-3396758-OSbrvKelYa5BjATOpfrOFA&t=4

The comparison between Nixon and Bush is very important. Nixon was also illegally spying on Americans for reasons he claimed were related to national security. America disagreed and we passed a law after Nixon resigned that balanced national security and the civil rights of Americans. President Bush is breaking that law—and we need a special prosecutor to get to the bottom of this.

Can you help us run this ad?

https://political.moveon.org/donate/breakingthelaw.html?id=6805-3396758-OSbrvKelYa5BjATOpfrOFA&t=5