Trent Lott - If you don't have anything to hide, why are you worried?

[GlenP]

If you're not doing anything wrong, then what do YOU care if the Federal Government compiles databases of your personal records and information?

From http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/15/bellsouth.nsa/in...

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, told reporters he "strongly" agrees with Bush and said, "We'll discuss whether hearings are necessary." Republican Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi said Specter should back off his call for hearings.

"What are people worried about? What is the problem?" asked Lott, a former majority leader. "Are you doing something you're not supposed to?"

[Syrinx]

1. What the heck does "conservative" mean anyway?

I thought they wanted to get the government off your back. I thought they wanted "small government."

Can you imagine if Clinton had engineered all this stuff? Unbelievable.

(Welcome to the DU fold, by the way!)

[GlenP]

5. Thanks

Thanks. I visit DU often, but I don't post very often.

But this statement by Lott is so outrageous, I was surprised not to see it being discussed. (Unless I overlooked it)

It's such a classic line of totalitarian big-brother thinking, that I'm surprised that Lott didn't realize such and intentionally avoid saying it.

If this kind of stuff doesn't start waking Americans up then our nation as we've known it is truly doomed. (Fortunately it does seem most people are starting to comprehend what is going on).

[Heidi]

2. Would Senator Lott allow us to peruse his personal records,

paw through his wife's purse, and listen in on his personal telephone calls? Well, why not? What's the problem? Is he doing something he's not supposed to?

[NewJeffCT]

20. Why stop there?

why don't we set up video cameras in every room in his home. In the name of decency, we'll just put microphones near the toilet.

And, when he leaves the home, we can have a camera crew following him around.

I mean, why should he care if he's got nothing to hide.

[NNN0LHI]

23. I just want a peek under that Possum he wears on his head

Come on Trent. Take off the wig if you have nothing to hide.

Don

[Kutjara]

3. People like him piss me off.

If I had a dime for every wingnut that's trotted out the hackneyed 'if you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about' (IYNDAWYHNTWA for short) mantra, I'd be rich enough to be a Republican.

My response is 'If I'm not doing anything wrong, then you have no business spying on me.'

I'm sure most law-abiding people have aspects of their private lives they would like to keep...what's the word...oh yes...private. Erotic emails to loved ones, soppy phonecalls, chatline conversations, maybe the occasional call to a bookie for that big game, that drunken call to an ex. How many people's lives can stand up to 24/7 scrutiny by the implacable, inhuman eye of the State? Not many, I'd bet, and certainly not many Republicans.


edit: typos

[Syrinx]

4. nice post!

I must remember your "response", especially!

[phylny]

25. Hell, I don't want anyone in the government to know what I'm cooking for

dinner, let alone what I say to my husband.

[kysrsoze]

37. Isn't that the line the cops always give black males when they pull

them over for nothing?

[depakid]

6. If the show was on the other foot

and a Dem leadership was unafraid to abuse their power, I wonder what Lott and his ilk would say.

They'd be trembling in their wingtops like the cowards that they are.

[brazil]

7. No matter how rich I was...

...I'd still never be rich enough to be a Republican. I do have a heart after all...

[Journeyman]

8. As a businessman, I demand privacy in my business dealings. . .

else some loose-lipped NSA stooge toss a monkey-wrench into my well-laid plans for roll-out of a new product.

So yes, there are many, many legitimate, legal dealings about which I require absolute secrecy. And no, I wouldn't want my Grandmother to know everything I'm doing with my business until the proper moment, so why would I not object to the government intruding in my affairs. I've a lot of money invested in development, and potentially a lot more money riding on the outcome, so secrecy is paramount. Why can't people -- especially these moronic Republicans, who supposedly favor business -- why can't they understand this simple concept?

[slaveplanet]

29. I do believe you've just touched on reason number 2

for bypassing the rubber stamp FISA courts and committee.

Industrial espionage to help out their buddies, I group it in the same catagory as the use of the NSA to rig the stock and commodity markets.

Reason number 1 was to track down and eliminate all the whistleblowers who had direct knowledge of the BFEE role in 9/11.

They only needed the FISA warrants if they planned on bringing a target into "on Record" legal dealings.

And why hassle with formalities, once you've convinced the idiot sheeple that the rules have changed on 9/11.

The NSA had always been used to monitor citizens since inception, but they did so legally by placing Poms in it's offices...A sort of of info exchange program. We're legally allowed to spy on their subjects, them on our citizens. Then it's just a simple matter of info exchange. Legal weasles.

When * was installed in office they decided to dispense with the charade as they knew they had their "New Pearl Harbor" event fast approaching.

I believe though, this spy stuff has very little to do with Bush himself,
he's just the latest punching bag puppet, He does as he's instructed by the folks who really call the shots.

And I also believe it has little to do with Dems vs Reps as most contend.
It's more about whether or not you're percieved as a team player or the one they want to play.

[lvx35]

9. Hey Trent Lott, what's wrong with your wife's tits?

I hear they have these wierd growths all over them...What she doesn't? Well if she has nothing to hide, why doesn't she just post a picture?

[teknomanzer]

19. Lott, why don't you let us see whats under that hairpiece...

or do you have something to hide?

[Daphne08]

10. "Are you doing something you're not supposed to?" Lott asks.

That's not the damn point, Senator Lott!

I don't see how this is going to fly with either conservatives or liberals who know how to friggin' think!

[wakeme2008]

11. Trent,, and tell me that you have nothing to hide when President Hillary

get your phone records and other personal information.

[wookie294]

12. A president can destroy a member of Congress

with personal information.

Is that what Lott wants?

Will he be happy to know President Hillary has personal information about him?

I worry that presidents will use wiretaps for political purposes.

[sandnsea]

13. Soviet citizens had nothing to hide either

But somehow we knew the government spying on them was wrong. Are we saying the KGB was a good thing now?

[sarge43]

14. If I have nothing to hide,

why are you spying on me?

[CentralEuropeanDude]

15. Reinhard Heydrich would be proud of you.

It's my damn right to have something to hide!
You need people like Trent Lott to run things like:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSHA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NKVD

[Hubert Flottz]

16. Reinhard Heydrich was a credit to Trent Lott...

as far as a brain!

Trent Lott is a Gomer Clone!

[annabanana]

17. Gee Trent... I don't know...

I know YOU wouldn't mind if we send all of YOUR records to the internets.. bank records, phones, all your business dealings..
.....you ahve nothing to hide, right?

[lanlady]

18. ein Volk, ein Fuehrer

ain't that right, ol' Trent?

[sofa king]

21. Everyone is doing something they're not supposed to.

Privacy is the wispy thin veil that obscures a very ugly truth: we are all sinners. Trent Lott should know that better than most.

I still think Skinner's challenge is a great idea which can be writ large: if you've got nothing to hide, Senator Lott, then let's see it. All of it, especially your cozy relationship with the Mississippi Choctaws.

[CentralEuropeanDude]

27. But it's not only about "things we are not supposed to do"

It's my right to have secrets - whatever they are. May be they are not all obscure and ugly. Privacy *MAY BE* the wispy thin veil that obscures a very ugly truth.

[Minnesota Libra]

22. Just once I want someone to tell these idiots what we have to hide is....

....our total distrust of their self-interests. That's it!!

[phylny]

24. I'm a speech-language pathologist who provides early intervention

services in the state of New York.

Everything about my work is confidential. I can't discuss information about the children and families I see with ANYONE.

I have nothing to hide, but New York State would be pretty po'd if someone was deliberately violating that confidentiality.

[greekspeak]

26. I know...after they build Trent his new house and they are sitting...

on the veranda sipping iced tea, we all get to stand in the yard and listen? I am hoping people remember that Shrub promised Trent a new house after Katrina. Maybe, Trent darling dear, we could get full records of your personal phone calls, letters, e-mails, and publish them. In light of the crap he spewed that toppled him from his ivory tower of power a few years back, I would guess he would NOT want to let us all see that stuff.

Trent, I would like to make a statement here you are welcome to make a matter of public record. You don't need no stinking NSA or anything. Hell, read it on the floor of the senate. Have it read into the record. Put it in the congressional record. Ready? Greekspeak says to you and all your brown shirted nazi fuck-buddies in the GOP to "GO CHENEY YOURSELVES RAW."

[Supersedeas]

28. calls to "back off" hearings--what are THEY trying to hide is the real ?

[Midlodemocrat]

30. Do you think Lotty boy would let me peek inside his medicine

cabinet? LOVE to know what he is on.

[TexasLawyer]

36. and who has Trent been calling?

which lobbyists have his ear these days, any love affairs we should know about? Are there any clandestine cat sellers he's been in contact with recently? And who's the wig-maker and shellac salesman servicing his head of hair? Is Trenty boy visiting any KKK or XXX web-sites?

Don't worry, we're just looking for terrorists!

[ProfessorGAC]

31. Let Me Ask Trent The Corollary Question

If i have nothing to hide, why would the gov't look at my phone records? I'm not doing anything. There's nothing to see. Isn't this intrusion a monumental waste of time and money?

Well, Trent. I'm waiting!

Nobody ever wants to address this question. The "If you have nothing to hide..." crowd just doesn't get it. If one has nothing to hide, they should be the MOST insulted by a gov't spying on them. That means the gov't is spying on me FOR NOT DOING ANYTHING WRONG! Huh?
The Professor

[winston61]

32. I don't think that's the point, moron,

Does anyone remember 'presumption of innocence', you know, when it used to be the responsbility of the state to prove you were doing something wrong? Now WE have to prove that we are not crooks.

[magellan]

33. It's a shame we can't hire somebody to follow Lott around

...and take photos of him and everyone he talks to every day. That's basically what the NSA is doing to us with this call tracking. I wonder how he'd like it? I wonder if he'd feel his privacy was being invaded, no matter how innocuous the people he meets and their discussions?

[HuskerDU]

34. According to Rush Limbaugh's attorney, 'We have what is

called a right to privacy in this county.'

That is why.

[W_HAMILTON]

35. Bill Maher said it best...

...when he said that he's not worried about doing anything wrong, he's worried about the Republicans in power labeling him an enemy because he disagrees with this administration. And I completely agree. The way we are going, it will be "wrong" to criticize the president. It will be "wrong" to protest this administration.

I'm far more worried about these dumbasses in office than I am Al-Qaeda.

But the best way to respond to that is, if Bushco ain't doing anything wrong, why are THEY afraid of oversight? Why are THEY afraid of following the laws? Why are THEY afraid to have checks and balances on their power?

[spanone]

38. Fuck off Lott. If you don't know why you should not be in the Senate

Maybe Senators should be encouraged to read the constitution before they are sworn in.