Democrats need a plan to combat the new attack coming their way from Karl Rove, the man leading the president's offensive this week on the once-upon-a-time secret wiretapping program.
I've been saying this same thing for weeks and weeks, often to counter some argument about the Constitution my friend Judge Andrew Napolitano makes.
Americans get it. We were reminded last week that Usama still wants to kill us and the country we live in. And we understand that he claims to have people already in this country plotting our demise.
So when you say, as Bush is saying, "If Al Qaeda is calling someone in America, we want to know what they're saying on that call," Americans say, "Yeah, we sure do want to know."
If Democrats are going to argue against that position by saying you're not obeying the 1978 FISA law which requires a warrant every time you listen to an Al Qaeda call, they have lost the argument before it even begins.
Now that doesn't mean the Dems won't try to make that argument and, by pure repetition, hope it wins. But it won't.
The polls show it won't.
People may not like the Iraq war, but they get the Al Qaeda phone call thing. And if the current president was named Gore, Clinton or Kerry the American people would make any one of them do the same thing.
The rule goes like this: Nobody should die because politicians want a judge to dot every i and cross every t.
Judge Napolitano is off sick today, but I'm sure he's screaming or clucking his tongue or just shaking his head.
It may not fit the parameters of the parchment, but it doesn't mean we don't care about the Constitution or the protections it provides us.
But we all know we're not calling Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda isn't calling us. So if Al Qaeda is calling my neighbor, tap him. Find out what is going on between my neighbor and some terrorist overseas.
If the Dems can't beat that argument with something short and to the point, "It's the Constitution, stupid. Where's the Fourth Amendment?" something a whole lot better than either of those, then the Dems lose this argument.
That's My Word.
Watch John Gibson weekdays at 5 p.m. ET on "The Big Story" and send your comments to: myword@foxnews.com
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