Conservative hypocrisy on drones and wiretaps

When the Bush Administration asked for a blank cheque to fight the ‘war on terror’, I spoke up about it. I thought it was wrong to give any President a blank cheque on anything, let alone to wage war on something. The same can be said for when the it was learned that the Bush Administration got permission to listen in on their own citizens without warrant, once again to combat terrorists. I had a really huge problem with this, especially since it was known that over 99% of most warrants are signed off on. There was no reason not to get a warrant to cover your ass… and for me, that was the real red flag. The same can be said for the Patriot Act, which should have never been passed in the first place.

When all these things were going on during the Bush Administration, Conservatives had no problem with any of them what so ever. Those who questioned the actions of the Bush Administration were accused of being unpatriotic or even for the terrorists. When I posted entries (even here on OD) in protest of all these measures, there was one thing I stated that no on paid attention to: by letting George W. Bush and his people do this now, you’re giving permission to future Presidents to do the exact same thing. I tried to warn people that they were not just writing a blank cheque for this President, but for every President that comes after him. This warning fell on deaf ears.

Those same Conservatives griping about Obama’s drone attacks today are the same hypocrites that didn’t have a problem with George W. Bush waging war on a country that had no WMDs nor had anything to do with 9/11. Hundreds of thousands of people are dead in Iraq, but a few innocents are killed by drones and Conservatives foam at the mouth.

The same goes for this bullshit about the embassy in Lybia. During the 8 years of the Bush Administration, there have been over a dozen attacks on US embassies that resulted in over 50 Americans being killed. But just four Americans die in Lybia and suddenly Conservatives want an investigation and people to answer for themselves. Where was this concern about embassy security when 50 people died under Bush’s watch?

Do I like the fact that Obama is conducting too many drone attacks? No I don’t, but President Obama doing it under the authority of Congress. Obama is allowed to do what he wants because Congress approved these actions to fight the war on terror. Opps. That blank cheque to wage war on terror didn’t expire when Bush left office, it’s ongoing and will be used by every President to get elected until Congress brings it to an end. Since the Democrats hold power in the Senate, that won’t be happening anytime soon.

Do you guys think I like the fact that Obama has not stopped the warrantless wiretaps that was started by Bush? Of course not, I was hoping he’d bring that to an end. I also disapproved of them when Bush first started approving of the practice. When Obama was elected, he made no such promise to stop the warrantless wiretaps, so the fact that he’s using it is not surprising. Disappointing, but not surprising.

Those who were a-okay with all this stuff but all of a sudden are not cool with it now that the other party is controlling the White House … it’s clear to see they’re finally showing their true colours. Those same hypocritical Conservatives were just fine with these laws as long as the people they liked were the ones abusing them. The truth is if you really didn’t approve of these things, you should have protested them from the start when George W. Bush and the Republicans rammed them down your throat post 9/11.

If Obama tried to pass something outrageous tomorrow… I would be against it. Not because I don’t like Obama, but because I don’t want the next President (whether it be Chris Christie, Joe Biden, Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton) to have those new powers at their fingertips come 2016. Conservatives are whining now because they didn’t think forward to what the next President might use those powers. They also didn’t consider the fact that the next President was going to be a Democrat.

So do I approve of countless drone strikes and warrantless wiretaps? Of course not, but I’ve been against these things for quite some time. Those who are only upset about it now because it’s Obama doing it are the real hypocrites, because they had no problems with it when a white Republican was doing the same thing several years ago.

So the real question I have for Conservatives who are finally up in arms about all this stuff now: what are you really mad about?

Peter