A January 9 Newsweek article by assistant managing editor Evan Thomas and Washington bureau chief Daniel Klaidman asserted that after The New York Times broke the story that President Bush, apparently in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), has repeatedly authorized the National Security Agency to conduct wiretaps of people in the United States without obtaining a warrant, "[t]he reaction was predictably partisan." According to Thomas and Klaidman, "Most Republicans and conservatives defended Bush for safeguarding the country (though warrantless spying gave libertarians some pause)," and most Democrats and liberals cited the program as evidence that Bush and Cheney "were running roughshod over civil liberties." But, contrary to Thomas and Klaidman's suggestion, numerous Republicans and conservatives have criticized the program, and it has inspired in some far more than mere "pause"; Bruce Fein, a noted conservative who served as deputy attorney general for President Reagan, said that Bush may have committed an impeachable offense. In addition, at least six newspapers that endorsed Bush's re-election in 2004 have criticized his surveillance program.
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