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Title: Graham: I’ll Drone You for Your Thoughts. Christie: Beware ‘civil liberties extremists’
Source:
Reason
URL Source: http://reason.com/blog/2015/05/18/g ... -drone-you-for-your-thoughts-c
Published: May 18, 2015
Author: Matt Welch
Post Date: 2015-05-19 05:57:20 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 1150
Comments: 5
Another day, another round of embarrassing authoritarian nonsense from would-be Republican presidential candidates. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the honey-throated apocalyptic who Ed Krayewski writes about below, made the following "joke" on Saturday:
If I'm president of the United States and you're thinking about joining al-Qaeda or ISIL — anybody thinking about that? — I'm not going to call a judge, I'm going to call a drone and we will kill you.
Previously in Graham joke-ology, John McCain's mini-me said that the "first thing" he would do as president is refuse to "let Congress leave town until we fix this. I would literally use the military to keep them in if I had to. We're not leaving town until we restore these defense cuts." Tee-hee!
Speaking of longshot candidates, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie apparently thinks this is a winning message in the Live Free or Die State:
Christie will say [in prepared remarks Monday] that Americans "shouldn't listen to people like Edward Snowden, a criminal who hurt our country and now enjoys the hospitality of President Putin – while sending us messages about the dangers of authoritarian government."
"When Edward Snowden revealed our intelligence secrets to the world in 2013, civil liberties extremists seized that moment to advance their own narrow agenda. They want you to think that there's a government spook listening in every time you pick up the phone or Skype with your grandkids," Christie is set to declare.
While savoring that phrase civil liberties extremists, please do note that John Ashcroft was going around giving that same speech back in the summer of 2003, just lying his face off in the process.
The most cheery aspect to this sub-Zell Miller crankery is that neither Graham nor Christie has a prayer in the 2016 race, quite unlike the man in both of their crosshairs: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). The bad news is that both of these powerful politicians are spectacularly wrong, yet their views are widely shared at the top of the GOP.
One of the most important meta-fact about the Obama-era Republican Party is that even during a time of largely crappy economic performance, and largely ascendant electoral gains, the party itself has lost market share. If party leaders think the key to ever-elusive Millennial hearts is being more willing to kill people and inaccurately dissing Edward Snowden (a man whose revelations were considered plenty worth listening to by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals), then they will keep getting the presidential electoral results that they deserve.
Matt Welch is editor in chief of Reason magazine and co-author with Nick Gillespie of The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong With America. (2 images)
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Apparently, the DOA campaigns of Graham and Christie are the theme of the day at various site.
Another one at AceOfSpades.
And none of it is polite toward Graham or Christie. About like the reception we've been seeing Hucksterbee getting. And Jeb Bush is shockingly weak overall.
The GOP isn't picking any winners yet but they have picked a surprising number of candidates to hate.
#2. To: TooConservative (#1)
The GOP isn't picking any winners yet
The GOP(e) is pushing the Jebster - Fox is doing all it can. He'd be a sure loser to Xlinton, and that's just fine with them.
But the Jebster may not get past the primaries - if he stays on the same trajectory, he'll end up worse than the last two GOP(e) darlings - McClown and Romney.
And that's saying something.
Well, there's always Rubio.
#3. To: Rufus T Firefly, TooConservative, *2016 The Likely Suspects* (#2)
Well, there's always Rubio.
Bingo, that's the establishment pick IMO. Theoretically he's less hated than some of the others, while being a certified Bush/Obama clone.
The D&R terrorists hate us because we're free, to vote second party
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul#4. To: Rufus T Firefly (#2)
he GOP(e) is pushing the Jebster
Not much. Some on there are disparaging his miserable rollout and sharp drops in the polls and fumbling the Iraq question four times.
In 2008, we saw FNC was totally in the tank for Giuliani, for all the good it did him. I see nothing comparable for Jeb. I kinda thought FNC would go big for Christie but he's such a dead duck no one wants to talk about him.
Well, there's always Rubio.
FNC might tilt slightly toward him, some of them toward Walker.
#5. To: hondo68 (#3)
Theoretically he's less hated than some of the others, while being a certified Bush/Obama clone.
That's the way I see him,too.
I suspect he is their main man,and they are running people like Lady Lindsey to the front to make him seem like a more reasonable "pick" later in the race. Meanwhile people like Lady Lindsey are drawing all the heat while he lays back and quietly builds support.
It's the old carney bait and switch game again.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
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