Glenn Greenwald on Democratic Hypocrisy Re: Military Tribunals
GG is really the gold standard when it comes to nonpartisan condemnation of lawlessness by government officials. The reason I like him so much, is that I disagree strongly with his views on economic matters, so I’m sure I don’t just admire him because we agree on things. In a post commenting on Robert Gibbs’ statement that the Obama White House was happy with either civilian trials or military tribunals for terrorism detainees, Greenwald says:
The fact that Robert Gibbs went on MSNBC today and explicitly defended military commissions as just underscores the real point here: the continuation and affirmative embrace of the Bush/Cheney civil liberties template by the Obama administration has converted that approach from what it once was (controversial right-wing radicalism) into what it now is (uncontroversial bipartisan consensus). That’s why Robert Gibbs goes on television and defends the denial of civilian trials, which were once deemed by Democrats to be a Grave Assault on the Constitution. That conversion of what were once Bush/Cheney Assaults on the Constitution into bipartisan consensus is, by far, the most significant and long-lasting impact Obama has had in this area.
Just like Dubya converted a prescription drug benefit for rich seniors into bipartisan consensus. And like Reagan established the constitutionality of “civil forfeiture” into bipartisan consensus.