Leave The Goalposts Alone

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_02/022290.php

LEAVE THE GOALPOSTS ALONE.... Dahlia Lithwick had a terrific item the other day noting one of the key problems with the discourse surrounding national security policy: what was considered "tough" up until very recently is now considered "weak." As of January 20 of last year, the right moved the goalposts and the political establishment didn't notice.

snip//

* Bush/Cheney read Miranda rights to attempted terrorists. Did you publicly criticize this at the time?

* Bush/Cheney put terrorists on trial in civilian courts on American soil. Did you publicly criticize this at the time?

* Bush/Cheney locked up terrorists in American prisons on American soil. Did you publicly criticize this at the time?

* Bush/Cheney endorsed closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. Did you publicly disagree at the time?

This isn't complicated. If a conservative critic of the president can honestly answer "yes" to any of these questions, he/she is at least on consistent ground. It's substantively foolish, but those who argued publicly that Bush/Cheney's national security policies represented "weakness" on counter-terrorism have a credible foundation from which to launch their arguments now.

But therein lies the point: identical practices are not generating identical reactions. Presidents with Rs after their names are applauded for embracing one set of policies, while presidents with Ds after their names are condemned for embracing the same policies.

It's so transparent as to be obvious: those who answer "no" to the questions above, but who are now trashing the Obama administration, are shameless and dishonest hacks. Period.

—Steve Benen

[Cha]

1. Thank you, Steve Benen! And thanks, babylonsister,

for linking to Steve's ever vigilant political reporting.

You don't have to have a brain to be a republicon..only requirement is to be an hypocritical liar and no conscience. Sounds like a sociopath to me.

These sociopaths would be no where without the US corporatewhore press.

[Jennicut]

2. Yes, Obama is held to a much higher standard and the media buys it.

[FrenchieCat]

3. Yep....folks keep moving things around,

and instead of calling them out, we are obsessed about some silliness from some conference
overhyped and oversold to us by our Corporate media, meanwhile.....