I have always been a believer that the media cannot change people's view on the issues but can change which issues are being discussed. I find it curious that this issue is on the back burner considering it has such obvious bipartisan dissent.
More like bipartisan tacit approval. Almost all politicians are staying mum on this, since (like Obama) they cannot resist the call of excess power. Like clockwork, the media is also not giving this much attention. Republicans find it hard to dissent also because Bush began the programs - laying into Obama for this would indict most of them as lying traitors. Democrats are generically power-hungry wusses. To summarize - complaining would cost them both a) future power and b) face. That's all that matters for both sides.
I meant bipartisan voters. Not politicians. Also i think you will find many libertarian type conservatives hating these policies.
i have a dream that there will be a mass boycott of both parties one day - wouldnt it be awesome if everyone just voted 3rd party? thats the only way we will ever get any real "change". at the least it would get these republicans and democrats to start acting right. those chumps are good at two things - sucking up and being whores - they have no real skills other than politics and if you take away their 'career' it just might be the wake-up call they need to start actually representing the american people. back to the thread topic - at this point one can argue that obama is worse than bush when it comes to civil liberties. expansion of bushs illegal wiretapping program, claiming he can assassinate american citizens, tsa sexual molesting and naked bodyscanning, janet napolitano (aka: sloth from the goonies) on giant tv screens at wal-mart telling customers to spy on their neighbors, sending out text messages to warn us of impending terrorist attacks - we are incrementally moving towards a 1984/idiocracy world and obama is leading the way. none of this could have happened under bush - especially the tsa and their nazi tactics - liberals would have been in an uproar - its incredibly disappointing to see not only their silence, but support of the tsa.
It is basically a product of our current hostile political climate. They feel they need to hold the line because of the alternative.
You mean the libertarian types who have gotten up in arms about spending once it looked like a Democrat was going to be President yet were silent for the previous eight years? Also I am noting a silence among those who supported these programs under the GW Bush Admin..
Who supported them? Seriously, even among people who voted for Bush if you ask them their biggest problem with him it would be immigration, spending and Patriot act.
ORLY? Just a quick search here shows plenty of support for warrantless wiretaps. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=108369&highlight=warrantless+wiretap And even now I am not seeing much opposition towards this program among self-declared Republicans. In fact if you go to the first page of this thread you will see posters who identify as conservative arguing in support of these programs. As far as partisan politics I will stand by my statement that those libertarian conservatives types were mostly silent from 2000-2008 regarding spending which is why I find it very unlikely that those types you were talking about really are that interested in making this a bipartisan issue.
Sadly I think that Rhad is way more right than Casey on this. This isn't an issue that is generating a lot of bipartisan opposition but bipartisan support.
So it is your position that if put to a vote, the popular vote would be in favor? I just don't see it.
I would think this viewpoint impossible to support. Certainly, the "journalists" who editorialized in favor of Bush lauded the programs as "necessary". I'd say most every program felt to originate from 9/11 was given praise or silent approval, and the republicans were, as one might expect, particularly assenting in this vein as it was their guy in office. This is still basically true even now - most of those upset with the TSA molest-a-thon tend to be from the left.
republicans/conservatives supported the police state when bush was president and people like me who criticized it were labeled unamerican troop-haters. if bush had authorized naked body scanning and sexual molesting at airports republicans would have loved it - dont fool yourself into thinking the partisanship only comes from one "side".
Interesting, considering Bush had such low approval ratings. Do you believe Republicans number in the 20%'s in this country?
Which is why Texas just passed a law with now power except to say they disapprove, and Ron Paul introduced the 'American Traveler Dignity Act'?
