Not that I would have expected anything less from Michele Bachmann. But its still something to behold when a person running for president just flat out lies, or is so delusional that they can convince themselves of this kind of crap:
As Adam Serwer points out, if the ACLU really ran the CIA things would be a lot different. The ACLU actually values the rule of law, the law set out in the Bill of Rights. And its purpose is to fight to uphold those laws. What Obama has done is continue the Bush policies of ignoring the law or having their cronies draw up bullshit legal advice to justify their actions.
What this is really about is the hatred of the ACLU from the right. I'm not sure when it started. But for as long as I can remember they have not liked the fact that the ACLU fights to uphold the Bill of Rights. Criticizing an organization that does so is a bit crazy, especially when the party doing the criticizing claims to value the Constitution. So all Bachmann was doing was playing on this irrational hatred of the ACLU in order to score cheap political points. If she or most of the GOP cared at all about the Constitution and keeping this country safe they would be begging for the ACLU to run the CIA and would themselves be card carrying members. But they have no idea what it means to uphold the Constitution. And I'm sorry to say that the president doesn't seem to fully comprehend that either.
"[Obama] is allowing the ACLU to run the CIA" Bachmann asserted. "We have decided we are going to lose the war on terror under Obama." The ACLU, which issued a scathing report on Obama's civil liberties record earlier this year, would probably disagree. The ACLU concluded that "most [Bush-era] policies...remain core elements of our national security strategy today." Bachmann also said the CIA was no longer interrogating anyone, which is false. The CIA is part of the interagency High Value Detainee Interrogation Group, or HIG. Also, prior to 9/11, the CIA didn't actually have an interrogation program.
As Adam Serwer points out, if the ACLU really ran the CIA things would be a lot different. The ACLU actually values the rule of law, the law set out in the Bill of Rights. And its purpose is to fight to uphold those laws. What Obama has done is continue the Bush policies of ignoring the law or having their cronies draw up bullshit legal advice to justify their actions.
What this is really about is the hatred of the ACLU from the right. I'm not sure when it started. But for as long as I can remember they have not liked the fact that the ACLU fights to uphold the Bill of Rights. Criticizing an organization that does so is a bit crazy, especially when the party doing the criticizing claims to value the Constitution. So all Bachmann was doing was playing on this irrational hatred of the ACLU in order to score cheap political points. If she or most of the GOP cared at all about the Constitution and keeping this country safe they would be begging for the ACLU to run the CIA and would themselves be card carrying members. But they have no idea what it means to uphold the Constitution. And I'm sorry to say that the president doesn't seem to fully comprehend that either.
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