On Civil Liberties, Comparing Obama With Bush Is Easy — And Mostly Wrong

[freshwest]

Last edited Thu Jul 11, 2013, 12:37 AM - Edit history (1)

June 14th, 2013 by Joe Conason



...Consider the single most important surveillance controversy of the Bush era, namely the warrantless wiretapping undertaken on the president’s orders. In December 2005, the New York Times revealed that Bush had authorized the NSA to monitor phone calls and emails originating in U.S. territory, without obtaining warrants as required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. (That’s why it was called “warrantless.”) For the first time since Watergate – and the intelligence reforms resulting from that true scandal — the U.S. government had eavesdropped on Americans’ conversations without seeking the permission of a judge.

Only months before, Bush had claimed publicly that he was a steward of civil liberties and that his agents always got a court order before implementing a wiretap. But his administration had been using warrantless wiretaps ever since the 9/11 attacks.

Those trespasses against liberty went considerably further than the collection of metadata by the NSA. No reports indicate that the Obama administration violated existing law to eavesdrop on any American — or listened to any calls without the sanction of the special FISA court.

Yet reaction to the recent stories about the NSA’s policies has been far more intense than eight years ago. Pundits and politicians have compared Obama unfavorably with Richard Nixon, berating him as a tyrannical betrayer of civil liberties. A few prominent Republicans even seem determined to ruin the NSA, solely because they wish to embarrass the president – a motive that other Republicans attribute to Snowden, whom they vilify as a traitor...

http://www.nationalmemo.com/on-civil-liberties-comparing-obama-with-bush-is-easy-and-mostly-wrong/

I haven't got time for this right now, but found it through one of my older websites. Whose motto is:

Why does the Republican Party zealously pursue policies so obviously counter to the best interests of ordinary Americans?

Since the New Deal, Republicans have been on the wrong side of every issue of concern to ordinary Americans; Social Security, the war in Vietnam, equal rights, civil liberties, church- state separation, consumer issues, public education, reproductive freedom, national health care, labor issues, gun policy, campaign-finance reform, the environment and tax fairness. No political party could remain so consistently wrong by accident.

The only rational conclusion is that, despite their cynical "family values" propaganda, the Republican Party is a criminal conspiracy to betray the interests of the American people in favor of plutocratic and corporate interests, and absolutist religious groups.

Why? Because they're:



Exposing the ugly truth about the Republican Party's diabolical plot to replace constitutional democracy with an oligarchic fascist theocracy...

It's the only rational explanation!

With which I agree, and thought the BOG might enjoy that little rant. And since my pal IrishAyes will send a hunting party to drag me back kicking and screaming if I leave DU, I promise to be back in just a little bit. LOL!