'It's not illegal because he doesn't think it is'

In case the wiretap hearings have been too long, complicated and boring for you to follow, Bob Geiger offers a simpler version:

If you want to know what it went like yesterday when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales went before the Senate Judiciary Committee to defend the legality of the Bush administration’s domestic spying program, I can sum it up with a hypothetical scenario.

Let’s say my little boy desperately wants a bag of Skittles. (This not an uncommon request for him.) My wife, being the healthy-food Mom that she is, counters with an offer of a bunch of broccoli and my son steals a bag of candy from our corner store – and is caught.

Store Owner: You son’s a thief.

Bob’s Wife: No, he’s not.

Store Owner: But he stole a bag of candy.

Bob’s Wife: He’s eight years old and loves candy. That’s gives him a reason.

Store Owner: But it’s illegal.

Bob’s Wife: He doesn’t think it’s illegal if you really want Skittles and don’t like the law against stealing candy. So it’s OK.

That pretty much gives you the gist of Gonzales’s entire testimony yesterday. The main reason that President Bush had thousands of Americans spied on without the required warrants? He’s the president and he wanted to. Oh, and he didn’t like the prevailing law either.