Why Am I Surprised?

Joe Cathey has an excellent rant on the current "Bush is spying on the American people" rhetoric coming from the left. The hypocrisy of the whole situation still infuriates me. You would think I would get used to it by now.

For those that don't know, the federal government has built several systems to monitor digital communications. One is called Echelon and is operated by the NSA and another is called Carnivore and is operated by the FBI. These were created with bipartisan support during the Clinton Administration. Techno-libertarians on Slashdot used to rant about these programs for pages at a time when I was in college and grad school. You know, back before Bush was even running for President.

Now for the record, I'm not fond of either program because the techno-libertarians have some valid concerns. There are core civil liberties issues and important constitutional protections that are at least being bent, if not broken. The possibility and consequences of abuse are downright scary. I don't especially like any of that.

What enrages me is how this has become "Chimpy Bushilter Lied Version 2.0". Suddenly some of the major democratic backers of this program are claiming to have never heard of it. It was shocking news to Senator Rockefeller before someone reminded him he had known about it for years. My friends, someone here is lying to the American people, but it isn't George Bush. The democratic leadership has known about this all along. They helped create it. They have just brought it up now with the hope that the can pin it on Bush and put his approval ratings back in the crapper.

And this isn't an isolated case. It happened with PATRIOT Act II as well. Liberals were up in arms. The same liberals like Harry Reid who were celebrating after they passed PATRIOT Act I.

To be bipartisan it also happens when the rightwing gets on the conservative talk circuit. But that doesn't mean I have to like it.