Dick Morris: Democrats Have To Understand That Snooping Through Library Records Is Popular

From http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/August2006/300806Snooping.htm

Dick Morris: Democrats Have To Understand That Snooping Through Library Records Is Popular

News Hounds August 30 2006
Dick Morris, who just last week told the Hannity & Colmes audience that the reason Republicans are unpopular is because Bush has been so successful “we feel that magically the terrorists have disappeared,” was back again last night (8/29/06) with some new theories about public opinion. This time, he admitted that people think the war in Iraq is a mess and advised Republicans that they should stop talking about it and focus on the war on terror. Democrats, on the other hand, need to do the opposite. “Democrats have to understand that the Patriot Act is popular, snooping in libraries is popular, wiretaps without warrants is popular.”

The discussion was supposed to be about John Kerry’s email to donors asking them to support Ted Strickland in the Ohio gubernatorial race. Strickland’s opponent is Ken Blackwell, the notorious secretary of state during the 2004 election. Sean Hannity introduced the segment by saying, “At least one Democrat cannot seem to get over 2004.” Hannity used a mocking voice as he read an excerpt from Kerry’s email. It said that Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell “used the power of his state office to try to intimidate Ohioans and suppress the Democratic vote… (Blackwell used his office) to abuse our democracy and threaten basic voting rights.”
But somehow the issue of whether or not any votes were suppressed was deemed unworthy of discussion on the “We like America” network. “He’s a big sore loser,” Hannity said. “Let’s move on.”

Morris wisecracked that a forensic psychologist would make a better guest. From then on, it was all about Democratic vs. Republican strategies for the upcoming elections.
Morris falsely claimed that “Democrats oppose what Bush is doing in the war on terror.” He conveniently forgot that the Patriot Act was just extended last March by a Senate vote of 89-10.
Alan Colmes clarified that Democrats don’t oppose data mining or wiretapping, they oppose doing it without a court order or oversight of the presidency. Colmes asked, “Do you think that people really think the Patriot Act has helped stop us being attacked again, that that’s the thing that’s stood in the way of us not being attacked when we almost had an attack a couple of weeks ago?”
Morris claimed, “There are a hundred polls that say that.” After the break, he added, “Democrats have to understand that the Patriot Act is popular, snooping in libraries is popular, wiretaps without warrants is popular.” He told Colmes that when the question is asked in a “fair” way, “it’s a two to one support.”

Not according to Pollingreport.com (more polls here), it isn’t. In a number of polls, Americans do not support giving up civil liberties for the sake of the war on terror. In the polls where they are willing, it’s a narrow majority and sometimes just a plurality.
FOXNews.com has the first part of the interview on the Hannity & Colmes website.