Surprise, Surprise, The Boston Globe Is Finding That Americans Support The NSA’s Data Mining

The Boston Globe did a man on the street piece about the NSA data mining that they undoubtedly hoped would be full of comments like this one:

But Daniel Senie, a Verizon customer in Bolton, was outraged that companies would cooperate with the government.

”The corporations involved have long since made it clear customers are numbers, assets to be traded and exploited,” he said. ”Our president and his administration operate above the law. I, for one, am ashamed to be an American and embarrassed by our leaders in Washington.”

But, it wasn’t to be.

“Those interviewed yesterday overwhelmingly said the possibility of phone companies handing over records to the government didn’t alarm them and wouldn’t make them walk away from any of the companies. Telecommunications giants Verizon Communications, AT&T Corp., and BellSouth Corp., according to a story first published in USA Today, agreed to share customer information with the NSA. One company, Qwest Corp., however, refused to cooperate.”

You see, the American people don’t view terrorism the same that most liberal bloggers, journalists, and politicians do.

When the average American thinks about a potential terrorist attack, it goes something like this: “That would be terrible! What can the government do to prevent that from happening?”

On the other hand, when most of the aforementioned liberals think about a potential terrorist attack, it goes something like this: “Terrorism isn’t that serious of a threat and even if something does happen, we can probably find a way to blame it on Bush!”

That’s why I believe most Americans, upon hearing about this program will be relieved, not angry, that the Bush administration has been taking these steps to protect our country from terrorism.

Personally? I think this data mining project was an excellent idea, I’m glad they did it, I hope they continue to do it, and I applaud George Bush for having the foresight and the courage to do what it takes to keep this country safe from terrorist attacks, even though the Democrats have fought to undermine him at every turn for politics’ sake.

Update #1: Via Drudge, there is now polling data that shows strong support for the data mining program:

“A majority of Americans initially support a controversial National Security Agency program to collect information on telephone calls made in the United States in an effort to identify and investigate potential terrorist threats, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The new survey found that 63 percent of Americans said they found the NSA program to be an acceptable way to investigate terrorism, including 44 percent who strongly endorsed the effort. Another 35 percent said the program was unacceptable, which included 24 percent who strongly objected to it.

A slightly larger majority–66 percent–said they would not be bothered if NSA collected records of personal calls they had made, the poll found.

Underlying those views is the belief that the need to investigate terrorism outweighs privacy concerns. According to the poll, 65 percent of those interviewed said it was more important to investigate potential terrorist threats “even if it intrudes on privacy.” Three in 10–31 percent–said it was more important for the federal government not to intrude on personal privacy, even if that limits its ability to investigate possible terrorist threats.

Half–51 percent–approved of the way President Bush was handling privacy matters.”

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