So the White House claims they circumvented the FISA law because it didn't allow them to do what they wanted, but when a law was proposed to relax FISA restrictions, the Bush administration opposed the law.
The Bush administration rejected a 2002 Senate proposal that would have made it easier for FBI agents to obtain surveillance warrants in terrorism cases, concluding that the system was working well and that it would likely be unconstitutional to lower the legal standard.
The proposed legislation by Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) would have allowed the FBI to obtain surveillance warrants for non-U.S. citizens if they had a "reasonable suspicion" they were connected to terrorism -- a lower standard than the "probable cause" requirement in the statute that governs the warrants.
It's only a matter of time before an NSA whistleblower reveals that Bushie wanted to spy on political enemies. There's no other reason why they'd circumvent the law in this case -- either a law that's too strict for them, or a version of the law with lesser restrictions. It's all politics. And they're going down for it.