BETWEEN A ROCK AND A TEA PARTY
Feb. 10th, 2011 02:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogThe following is an emergency opinion by Team Def Political Batshit Science Editor, Lucky Bensonhurst.
Regular readers may have gotten the impression that I’m something of a civil rights fan, as well as a reformed political junkie. Which is why I will sometimes prattle on about the Patriot Act, one of the worst ideas Congress ever approved, not least because they did so in a rushed, terrified, patriotic fever a month after 9/11 without even bothering to read the goddamn thing.
And while the Patriot Act is a fully bipartisan creature (only Russ Feingold ever seriously opposed it, and these days even President Obama is enjoying the PA), it is primarily a Republican beast, and one they have championed even as the predictable abuses began to appear, on the tried-and-true grounds that we are At War and In Grave Danger and this is no time to worry about faggot liberal handwringing over the civil rights of people we KNOW are guilty of terrorism.
So the news that the Republican-controlled House failed to approve extensions of three of the PA’s more controversial measures is arguably a Big Deal – not because some Republicans have come to their senses, but because they’re the ones who helped elect Tea Party candidates who – as it happens – actually weren’t kidding about all that blather over intrusive govt, and weren’t just talking about Obamacare.
Who knew?
It’s also interesting to note that the Tea Party freshmen are also putting pressure on the GOP to start slashing the federal budget – to include the defense budget, which up to now was the one sacred branch of govt that Republicans always argued was, if anything, underfunded. Which also puts the GOP in an awkward position, not least because of their timeless insistence that Democrats want to cut military spending because they’re soft on Communism and Terrorism.
Of course it may not mean anything. The PA extensions could still be approved anyway (and at this rate I’d be more surprised if they weren't, the GOP losing a House seat to yet another hilarious sex scandal notwithstanding).
Still, Big Fun, eh?
– L. Bensonhurst
Regular readers may have gotten the impression that I’m something of a civil rights fan, as well as a reformed political junkie. Which is why I will sometimes prattle on about the Patriot Act, one of the worst ideas Congress ever approved, not least because they did so in a rushed, terrified, patriotic fever a month after 9/11 without even bothering to read the goddamn thing.
And while the Patriot Act is a fully bipartisan creature (only Russ Feingold ever seriously opposed it, and these days even President Obama is enjoying the PA), it is primarily a Republican beast, and one they have championed even as the predictable abuses began to appear, on the tried-and-true grounds that we are At War and In Grave Danger and this is no time to worry about faggot liberal handwringing over the civil rights of people we KNOW are guilty of terrorism.
So the news that the Republican-controlled House failed to approve extensions of three of the PA’s more controversial measures is arguably a Big Deal – not because some Republicans have come to their senses, but because they’re the ones who helped elect Tea Party candidates who – as it happens – actually weren’t kidding about all that blather over intrusive govt, and weren’t just talking about Obamacare.
Who knew?
It’s also interesting to note that the Tea Party freshmen are also putting pressure on the GOP to start slashing the federal budget – to include the defense budget, which up to now was the one sacred branch of govt that Republicans always argued was, if anything, underfunded. Which also puts the GOP in an awkward position, not least because of their timeless insistence that Democrats want to cut military spending because they’re soft on Communism and Terrorism.
Of course it may not mean anything. The PA extensions could still be approved anyway (and at this rate I’d be more surprised if they weren't, the GOP losing a House seat to yet another hilarious sex scandal notwithstanding).
Still, Big Fun, eh?
– L. Bensonhurst
