In reference to mass surveillance, indefinite detention and secretive drone strikes on American citizens, for example, Paul quoted William Lloyd Garrison, the famous abolitionist, and asked the congregation, “Will you, America’s next generation of liberty lovers, will you stand and be heard?” The answer was a resounding yes.
But as much as they loved imagining themselves as the modern heirs to a 19th century liberation movement that reached its apogee through the expansion of presidential and federal power, these assorted conservatives and libertarians were even more thrilled by the sections of Paul’s speech castigating President Obama for being insufficiently dedicated to protecting Americans’ civil liberties. “I don’t question President Obama’s motives,” Paul said, “but history will record his timid defense of liberty.
A specific instance of timidity that Paul had in mind was Obama’s decision to sign the NDAA, despite his misgivings that it infringed on the right of habeas corpus. “When Congress passed legislation allowing for the indefinite detention of an American citizen without a trial,” Paul said, “[Obama] shamefully signed it while promising not to use such a power.” In Paul’s eyes, this was clearly not enough. “A great president,” he claimed, “would have risen to the occasion. Instead of merely suggesting that he wouldn’t use this dreaded power, a great president would have taken pen in hand and vetoed this abomination.”
It was an inspiring moment. But as I watched the CPAC attendees talk amongst themselves about how wonderful Paul’s speech had been, I imagined how a candidate Chris Christie or Ted Cruz would savage Paul as soft on terror in a GOP presidential primary, and I was reminded, in a completely different context, of that infamous Bill Clinton quote: “This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen.
If Paul — or fellow travelers like Nick Gillespie of the libertarian magazine Reason — were serious about ending our government’s semi-permanent state of war, they wouldn’t revel in the right-wing freak-out, making lame jokes about Walter Cronkite and MAD Magazine (or promoting ones about how Democrats are like terrorists) simply because they think the outrage is bad for a president they hate. They’d make an attempt, at least one, to remind their fellow right-wingers that this kind of wild-eyed tribalism is the very sentiment that allowed George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld to massively expand the national security industrial complex and ignore basic civil liberties (the right to not be tortured to the point of insanity being chief among them).
Instead, however, Paul, Gillespie and dozens of other “liberty loving” right-wingers like them have eithercheered on the mob or stepped quietly aside, hoping to let the throng do its dirty work and waiting to later pick up the pieces of whatever is left. To call this cynical is not enough; because of how fundamental the civil libertarian creed is to Paul’s brand, such a degree of hypocrisy transcends run-of-the-mill cynicism and becomes something much worse: fraud.
as i read this i became more and more convinced that the author hit the nail on the head and covered all the bases, we have come to know of the hypocrisy of the republican brand it's propensity to lie deceive and cheat their way through our political world seceding to the highest bidder for their vote. politics today is an arena of those who do and those who won't, they trade barbs and never starting at the beginning and getting to the end. we are let in limbo while republicans investigate over and over wasting millions and showing the deception of their being fiscally responsible.
Pres. does not get enough praise fickle Americans choose to bog themselves down with right wing rhetoric that disavows all the Pres. has done in spite of them it would be embarrassing if more people knew what Pres. has Done mostly without a little toe shaking by republicans. well here's some help
read the right wing misinformationh;
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/362419/president-who-has-done-most-damage-dennis-pragernow read the truth;
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-815629
