Conservatives in general recently had expressed mixed feelings about any extension of any aspect of the Patriot Act. For years, Liberals have been quick to criticize it and blame Bush for it. When an extension of parts of it passed this month, the Dems were quick to attack the Republicans over it. Meanwhile, the extension passed with no reforms and President Obama, with little notice, signed it into effect.
Raw Story reports, “As a US Senator and candidate for the presidency, Barack Obama never actually argued for a repeal of the Bush administration’s security initiatives. Instead, he’s consistently argued for enhanced judicial oversight and a pullback on the most extreme elements of the bill, such as the use of National Security Letters to search people’s personal records without a court-issued warrant.â€
// ]]>
An interesting twist to the story, though hardly noted, was that the Dems were also bashing the GOP when an earlier vote this month for the extension did not go through. This leads one to wonder what the Democrats are truly interested in here, because it appears that the “dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t†criticism coming from them is the only real point of interest for them.
We’ll have to wait and see if this president signing off on it will elicit the kind of hate and bashing Bush did from the left. Something tells me it won’t.
Want another interesting twist to the story? A 2010 extension of the Patriot Act with no reforms was passed by 162 Democrats and 153 Republicans in February 2010 under unusual circumstances. If you want to find out more about the bill and vote, you can’t do it through the usual means (i.e. Library of Congress roll call vote records). The congressional Democrat leadership arranged for it to be a Senate amendment to the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act rather than a stand-alone bill. So much for them consistently being against the Patriot Act and keeping promises of transparency.
Sources:
Obama Signs Temporary Extension of Patriot Act. Associated Press/The Washington Post. February 25, 2011. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/25/AR2011022505562.html
Democrats Jab Republicans over Patriot Act Vote. Simmi Aujla. Politico. February 9, 2011. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/49159.html
Domestic Spying Issue Inflames Debate over Patriot Act Renewal. Charles Babington. The Washington Post. December 18, 2005. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/17/AR2005121701113.html
House Democrats Sneak Through Patriot Act Vote. Congress Watcher. February 26, 2011. http://thatsmycongress.com/index.php/2010/02/26/house-democrats-sneak-through-patriot-act-vote/
Final Vote Results for Roll Call 29. February 10, 2011. http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll029.xml
Image Credit: US Congress/ US Government. Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Obama_meets_Bush_at_2006_signing_of_legislation.jpg
Copyright © 2011 Daniella Nicole. All Rights Reserved.
