Flash! President Bush Nominates Representative Tom Delay ...

... for a federal judgeship and recommends that Delay be chosen as a judge of the FISA court -- Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court --, which secretly reviews secret applications for secret electronic eavesdropping and wiretapping in situations in which national security considerations are said to make such secrecy necessary. A classified announcement (leaked to the press) accompanying President Bush's (secret) nomination and recommendation stated that while Representative Delay's qualifications for a federal judgeship might be questioned, Mr. Delay clearly had exhibited the personal integrity and the sensitivity to civil liberties that are expected of a government official empowered to pass on the Executive's applications for permission to spy on American citizens. Defending his recommendation, President Bush stated (off the record), "Ya gotta remember that I don't have to go through FISA anyway. It's war, ya know."