re: #340 Gus 802

Or was that a Tu quoque?

Right wingers are protesting the Patriot Act because Obama’s president.

Left wingers aren’t protesting the war because Obama’s president.

Ergo, my point about the Patriot Act is invalid? Or! Obama’s fault.

Thing is, some people (civil libertarians) have always been mad about the Patriot Act and other Bush-era expansions of the executive branch power, and those people continue to be furious at Obama. Most of the best criticisms I’ve seen of Obama— best in the sense of cogent and thoughtful (and damning!)— are all coming from the left, because the right apparently has just checked out of the business of sane criticism.

Anyway, lots of people only cared about it when it was Bush, and don’t care about it under Obama. Similarly, the right ‘suddenly’ has concerns about it, but they’re also concerned about FEMA Camps, the Census, and the nonexistent plot to take away their guns, so there aren’t sensible criticisms of that on the right— it’s all mixed up with incoherent fantasy gibberish, and they don’t bother to explain why it was ok under Bush but not under Obama.

Finally— many civil libertarians and Obama supporters are shocked, shocked, that Obama would continue Bush-era policies in this regard— but in my opinion, they were wrong to expect Obama to behave differently. (I didn’t, and I voted for him anyway.)

The bottom line here is that people tend not to have problems with upsetting the system of checks and balances, dismantling civil liberties, and expanding the power of the executive branch— because everyone always believes that they or ‘their guy’ will only use that power for good. Every other bastard of course is suspect.