Wayne Besen - Author, Activist, Columnist, Public Speaker

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Bush Admin: 'Snooping Is The American Way'

Stepping up the Bush administration's defense of the National Security Agency's eavesdropping program, Attorney General Alberto "Torture Memo" Gonzales today cited a long history of military surveillance conducted without warrants, going back to George Washington's reading of captured mail between the British and Americans during the Revolutionary War.

The problem here is that we are in a permanent state of war with the Osama crowd (Particularly the pitiful way Bush is fighting it). Since the threat of terrorism will never end, this means Bush is asking to suspend the Constitution forever. I, for one, like the old America where we were actually free and the government worked for us, instead of monitoring our lives.

If there is poetic justice, Hillary Clinton will become president and wire tap America's vast right wing conspiracy. Let's see how these yahoos like the suspension of the Constitution when they are the targets.

6 Comments:

I'm not a big Hillary fan, but I would enjoy seeing her become president, since it would send the right into total apoplexy. Not only because she's a democrat for whom they have a particular hatred, but they also cant stand the thought of a uterus in the oval office.
Gary (NJ)
posted by Anonymous, at 1/24/2006 4:46 PM

I am very concerned about using this as a campaign issue. The Bush people will simply tell the country that the "liberals" don't want to protect America, the dumb hicks will buy it, and we'll have to go down this road all over again.
posted by Anonymous, at 1/24/2006 5:49 PM

Gary and Chris, I understand what you are both saying. BUT...though I would rather have Clinton in office (I can't stand her personally), don't forget, she's not for full equality for LGBT citizens either (against same-sex marriage), though I dare say there is such a thing as the power of persuasion which would never work with a republican in office.

Robert, NYC.
posted by Anonymous, at 1/24/2006 6:18 PM

If the democratic party gives the 2008 nomination to Hillary Clinton, you can expect republican rule for another four years, at the very minimum. She would be an unmitigated disaster, electorally speaking. We need someone else.
posted by Anonymous, at 1/24/2006 6:33 PM

Chris, though I agree with you, Clinton is not the ideal candidate, right now in this current political climate of ours, any democrat getting elected to the presidency I suppose is better than any republican. We're in a catch 22 situation for sure. Even if she were to win, assuming she would run, she would never get a mandate, so in reality, the republicans would control government legislation. Its an awful situation.

Robert, NYC.
posted by Anonymous, at 1/25/2006 8:53 AM

If we nominate Hillary, she might win 12 states. We have a chance to take back our country from these republican fools! Let's not throw it away on her. There is nothing particularly special about Hillary Clinton. If she were a male, she would be at the bottom of the list, not the frontrunner. When she speaks, her words lack any hint of charisma or real passion. She simply does not know how to work a crowd.

When she pandered to that African-American audience last week by saying that the House of Representatives was run like a "plantation", my heart sank. This is the old politics. I loved Bill Clinton, but the Clintons had their time.

Hillary Clinton's vision is not a vision for the future of this country, it is about her own future and her own personal ambition. And I can't blame her! What woman in her right mind wouldn't want to go down as the first female president of the United States of America?

But it's not about her. It's about us and our great country. I hope we don't throw our chance away on a candidate who, like John Kerry, will virtually say anything to get elected.
posted by Anonymous, at 1/25/2006 9:35 AM