Gene Lyons asks where are the real conservatives

[mooseandsquirrel]

snip

Nobody’s against spying on al-Qa’ida within the law. Nobody. The Bush administration, however, appears hell-bent on provoking a constitutional confrontation. That’s the only obvious conclusion to draw from what the Times reports is “a rapidly expanding criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding... article published in December that disclosed the existence of a highly classified domestic eavesdropping program.”

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http://moose-and-squirrel.com/gene/gene.html

[Martin Eden]

1. Stony Silence

Does the White House really intend a Politburo-style purge of individuals within the national security agencies who place their loyalty to the Constitution above their fealty to Bush ? Would federal courts enforce subpoenas compelling editors and reporters to testify about whistleblowers who leaked information that the president was arguably violating the FISA law ? It seems highly unlikely they would. Contrary to easy rhetoric, the Valerie Plame leak investigation provides no useful precedent. It’s about protecting a whistleblower, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, from retribution for pointing out that the administration had used bogus intelligence about Iraq. Is it really al-Qa’ida the White House wants to fight ? Or have domestic opponents become the preferred enemies ? Meanwhile, where are the conservatives ? The real ones, I mean. Recently, former Republican U. S. Rep. Bob Barr, one-time House impeachment manager against President Bill Clinton, put this question to a Conservative Political Action Committee convention near Washington : “Do we truly remain a society that believes that... every president must abide by the law of this country ? I, as a conservative, say yes. I hope you as conservatives say yes.” The Washington Post reports that Barr was greeted by stony silence.

Conservatives are being replaced by party loyalists who either do not understand or do not value the principles embodied in our Constitution.