Mitchell, Fineman portrayed bipartisan opposition to Bush as strictly Democratic

On two national security issues that received prominent media coverage this week -- President Bush's authorization of a domestic wiretapping program that appeared to violate provisions in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and Congress' 5-week extension of the USA Patriot Act -- Newsweek chief political correspondent Howard Fineman and NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell singled out Democrats for their opposition to the Bush administration's policies, portraying both issues as purely partisan disputes. In fact, several Republican senators have sharply criticized the wiretapping program, and several also joined Democrats in a filibuster of the vote to fully reauthorize the Patriot Act.
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