George Will (!): McCain's views on habeas ought to give voters pause

[Richardo]

Something to hit the RW'ers with...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/5847217.html

The day after the Supreme Court ruled that detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo are entitled to seek habeas corpus hearings, John McCain called it "one of the worst decisions in the history of this country." Well.

Does it rank with Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857), which concocted a constitutional right, unmentioned in the document, to own slaves and held that black people have no rights that white people are bound to respect? With Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which affirmed the constitutionality of legally enforced racial segregation? With Korematsu v. United States (1944), which affirmed the wartime right to sweep American citizens of Japanese ancestry into concentration camps?

Did McCain's extravagant condemnation of the court's habeas ruling result from his reading the 126 pages of opinions and dissents? More likely, some clever ignoramus convinced him that this decision could make the Supreme Court — meaning, which candidate would select the best judicial nominees — a campaign issue.

<snip>

In Marbury v. Madison (1803), which launched and validated judicial supervision of America's democratic government, Chief Justice John Marshall asked: "To what purpose are powers limited, and to what purpose is that limitation committed to writing, if these limits may, at any time, be passed by those intended to be restrained?"

Those are pertinent questions for McCain, who aspires to take the presidential oath to defend the Constitution.

Read the rest - even with the occasional Will-esque conservatism in there it's a good piece. :thumbsup:

[Hekate]

1. Formerly we could count on conservatives to defend the Constitution. George Will would be one

Kicking this

Hekate

[iamjoy]

2. Gotta Hand It To Mr. Will

He brings up some good comments. He's not afraid to be an intellectual but doesn't try to play up how much of a "normal" American he is. He is not a ranting or foaming at the mouth radical conservative like Rush or Ann Coulter. Watch him though, he'll have you in ribbons before you see the blade.

[Barack_America]

3. Excellent piece. K & R. nt

[tom_paine]

4. George Will is an old man. A time-traveller who, because of his intelligence and occupation

moreso than the other 40 or 50 million old men in this country, has some sense of the slowly heating water around him.

(see "The Frog and the Boiling Water" analogy, for those who don't already know it)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog

Hardly anyone else, old or young, even has THIS mild level of misgiving of the Big Picture. This has to do with the power of advertsing, marketing, psychology combined with the very powerful delivery system of media saturation.

Will, of course, is a Bushie ally, but he is probably the closest thing to a true coservtive in their camp. As such, he is not completely divorced from reality. Due to his profession, he has an extensive knowledege of history.

What must be going on in his old man's mind, so much that he cannot voice because he would be expelled from The Club if he dared vocie them more strongly.

Or even worse, be thought crazy tinfoilly, as many of us DUers are considered, even here by a majority of DUers.

Will will NEVER openly break with his "posse", so he is reduced to voicing tepid misgivings like this in public. It's pitiful, really. I am guessing, though I can never truly know, that the rumbings of his misgivings deep inside are like unto, deeply related to, what so many old men who backed Hitler must have felt as their eyes slowly opened.

A dawning horror that they betrayed their nation when they thought they were being the most patriotic of all.

Well, Mr. Will, if hell exists, it's fires are waiting for YOU. I hope they give you a room with some midlevel functionary at Goebbels' Ministry of Propaganda, or some Russian Media Comissar.

You and the rest desrve no less. Misgivings be damned, for you mostly keep them locked deep inside yourself and never let them see the light of day. This tepid bullshit does not make up for what you have helped do to your fellow citizens and nation.