ACLU says membership has doubled -- thanks to Bush presidency

Surveillance. Rendition. Torture.
    By many measures, the Bush administration has been bad for civil liberties.
    Yet the past seven years have been particularly good for the American Civil Liberties Union. National membership in the organization, which fights for freedom of speech and religion, equal protection, due process and privacy, has doubled since Bush took office in 2001 - an extraordinary spurt of growth for the 88-year-old institution.

From Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo Bay and from wiretapping to waterboarding, Eyers said Americans of many political persuasions were becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the Bush administration's policies.

She noted that although many think of the organization as aligned with the political left, it is officially nonpartisan.