FLAIT

In 1997, the Clinton administration sought increased surveillance powers over Internet communications on the ground that such powers were necessary to stop terrorists and other criminals, who were using the Internet to do bad things. In particular, the Clinton administration wanted a law requiring that any encryption technology allow the federal Government to bypass it for spying purposes.

Our stalwart small-government conservatives vehemently opposed those proposals, and the opposition was led by then-Sen. John Ashcroft, who argued in a 1997 Op-Ed:

J. Edgar Hoover would have loved this. The Clinton administration wants government to be able to read international computer communications -- financial transactions, personal e-mail and proprietary information sent abroad -- all in the name of national security...

Not only would Big Brother be looming over the shoulders of international cybersurfers, he also threatens to render our state-of-the-art computer software engineers obsolete and unemployed.

Granted, the Internet could be used to commit crimes, and advanced encryption could disguise such activity. However, we do not provide the government with phone jacks outside our homes for unlimited wiretaps. Why, then, should we grant government the Orwellian capability to listen at will and in real time to our communications across the Web?...

The protections of the Fourth Amendment are clear. The right to protection from unlawful searches is an indivisible American value...

Every medium by which people communicate can be exploited by those with illegal or immoral intentions. Nevertheless, this is no reason to hand Big Brother the keys to unlock our e-mail diaries, open our ATM records or translate our international communications.

That's the same John Ashcroft, of course, who -- once he and his party were in power -- immediately discarded those "principles" and went on to approve and help implement far more invasive and unchecked surveillance programs than the ones which, when sought by Clinton, he scorned as Orwellian Big Brother tyranny...

...these days, in order to please the self-proclaimed "small government" conservative movement, a candidate must now vow to spy on Americans with no warrants or oversight of any kind; reserve the right to torture; and even break the law -- ignore popular will as expressed through acts of Congress -- whenever such lawbreaking is deemed beneficial. Those are now defining planks in the limited-government "conservative" movement.

And then we have this (you better hang on because this one's a doozy):

Aside from getting himself impeached, President Clinton's most single impact on the Constitution, and the rule of law it embraces, will have been in the area of foreign affairs. As his domestic agenda met with frustration in a Republican Congress, President Clinton exercised the powers of the imperial presidency to the utmost in the area in which those powers are already at their height -- in our dealings with foreign nations.

Unfortunately, the record of the administration has not been a happy one, in light of its costs to the Constitution and the American legal system. On a series of different international relations matters, such as war, international institutions, and treaties, President Clinton has accelerated disturbing trends in foreign policy that undermine notions of democratic accountability and respect for the rule of law.(bold mine).

- John Yoo (in 2000), President Bush's White House lawyer who crafted the laws allowing torture and warrantless wiretapping.

The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government....I won't be buried under their damn flag...And when (Illinois/Delaware) is an independent nation they can bring my bones home... I'm an (Illini/Delawarean) not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions."

Imagine what McCain and the Republicans would be screaming if Obama or Biden used a quote from a rabid anti-Semite who had called for Bobby Kennedy's murder. Frank Rich of the New York Times:

(Gov. Palin's) use of an unattributed quote praising small-town America (as opposed to, say, Chicago and its community organizers) from Westbrook Pegler, the mid-century Hearst columnist famous for his anti-Semitism, racism and violent rhetorical excess. After an assassin tried to kill F.D.R. at a Florida rally and murdered Chicago’s mayor instead in 1933, Pegler wrote that it was "regrettable that Giuseppe Zangara shot the wrong man." In the ’60s, Pegler had a wish for Bobby Kennedy: "Some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow falls."

Actually, we can imagine what Republicans would be screaming - and get called on their hypocrisy and look foolish when they can't back up their accusations with, you know, facts - here. More here. CNN's Lou Dobbs calls out McCain's hypocrisy, here, and MNSBC's Keith Olbermann ties it all together, here.

I guess it's okay for Republicans to "associate" themselves with anti-Semites and terrorists.

Imagine what McCain and the Republicans would be screaming if Obama's White House transition team was headed by someone who aided Saddam Hussein. And then lied about it.

All together now...I guess it's okay when Republicans do it! I'm starting to understand this now.

Obama's a "Socialist" because he wants to "redistribute wealth," but...

Sarah Palin's a Socialist!

"A few weeks before she was nominated for Vice-President, (Sarah Palin) told a visiting journalist—Philip Gourevitch, of this magazine—that "we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs."

And McCain's a Socialist! And Ronald Reagan too! Salon's Joe Conason:

... (Reagan) signed legislation greatly increasing the earned income tax credit, a credit for low-income workers that reduces the impact of payroll taxes in order to boost take-home pay above poverty levels... Reagan praised the earned income tax credit as the best "anti-poverty" and "pro-family" legislation ever enacted by Congress.

I guess it's okay for Republicans to be Socialists. Once again, I'll let Keith Olbermann take it from here.

Nov. 5, 2008 insert:

CNN reports that attendees at McCain's "victory rally" have been cut off from the news. So unless they're checking their Blackberries and iPhones, they don't know the race is over.

Ah, isn't that the sort of thing they do in communist China and the former communist Soviet Union? But Obama's the "socialist." Yup, makes sense to me!

(The Indianapolis Star) repeated a serious misunderstanding of Obama's tax plan..."He would use the federal tax code to create in essence a new entitlement program for millions of American workers, sending them government checks even though they would pay no income tax."

John McCain has said the same, calling Obama's tax plan "welfare" -- 95 percent of Americans will get a tax cut under Obama, McCain seems to acknowledge, but since 40 percent don't pay income taxes, the credit they receive is equivalent to welfare.

The nitty-gritty policy reasons why this is wrong are here, but in short, not all taxpayers are income taxpayers -- as everyone knows, we pay taxes everywhere from our paycheck to the gas pump. So the 95 percent minus 40 percent math doesn't work, because that's only 40 percent who don't pay income taxes. Also, if the idea of refundable tax credits to people, regardless of wage, is offensive to McCain, he should examine his own health care plan, under which "every family will receive a direct refundable tax credit -- effectively cash -- of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to offset the cost of insurance." That, under McCain's own definition, would also be welfare.

I guess it's okay when Republicans are for welfare.

And still more (I told you there's always more with Republicans)...

This summers $300 stimulus checks also went to senior citizens on Social Security, a vast majority of whom don't pay income tax. McCain voted for that stimulus package; a package that did not give checks to those making over $200,000.

I guess it's okay for Republicans to "redistribute wealth." I'm beginning to see how this works now.

(Obama) wants higher taxes, more government, higher spending...

McCain TV ad:

...Obama and his liberal Congressional allies want a massive government...

Sarah Palin:

Obama wants a big government agenda...

I guess "big government" and corporate welfare's okay when Republicans are for it. Now I understand! IOIYAR!

Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century.
- George Bush, with a straight face (the 3:40 mark), August 15, 2008.

This is where I'd say: "that proves it. Bush is mentally ill! He has to be because anyone with the track record of bulling and intimidating like he does could not make that comment with a straight face were he normal." But I already did.

And finally until next time...repeat after me....

George Bush is pro-life...George Bush is pro-life...George Bush is pro-life...

# posted by Steve