Tuesday, February 17, 2009

It Was Ok When Lincoln Did It

Liberals howled about it during almost the whole of George W. Bush's presidency. Bush, they screamed, had destroyed the Constitution by suspending the right to a writ of habeas corpus. He was Hitler reborn; Americans had lost their "sacred freedoms", to quote Hollywood dunce Robert Redford. What was the cause of this hysteria? The fact that most of the Guantanamo detainees didn't get their day in court, which is essentially what the writ of habeas corpus means. Bush was a demon to the libtards for not giving Ramzi El Kaboom a lawyer, a lazy boy and a cup of tea, all at the tax payers' expense. He had to go! Enter the Chosen One, Barack Obama.

During his presidential campaign Obama signalled that he would overturn many of Bush's War on Terror policies. In his inaugural speech Dear Leader made a reference to we Americans not having to choose between our safety and our ideals, a direct jab at Bush. Ok, that sounds fine. Let Obama give Ramzi El Kaboom and all his cohorts all the rights of Americans even though they're not Americans, but while he's at it Obama must drop his worship of Abraham Lincoln. Why? Here's why.

If Obama really opposes denying anyone, even enemy combatants trying to kill Americans, the right to habeas corpus then he can't be an admirer of Lincoln because HE suspended the right to habeas corpus! That's right. Honest Abe flipped the bird to this cherished right during the Civil War. And unlike Bush, Lincoln revoked this right from actual Americans, not enemy fighters. History's a bitch, ain't it?

So what's Obama to do? He's made much of his admiration for our 16th president. The Big O, like almost all Americans, gushes rather unthinkingly over Lincoln, and there IS much to admire about both Lincoln the president and Lincoln the man. But the fact remains that the Great Emancipator squashed a key constitutional right during wartime. He also closed down opposition newspapers and had 13,000 Americans, about .065% of the North's population, arrested for criticizing him. To equal that feat Bush would've had to close down virtually every big city newspaper plus NPR radio and cable outlets like CNN and MSNBC. He would then have had to arrest nearly 200,000 Americans for protesting against his policies. Of course, none of that happened. But Lincoln did it. And Obama goes full steam ahead with his Honest Abe worship.

I'm sure Obama, this scion of the hate America/hate Bush left, totally misses the irony of him admiring a president who did the exact same thing that liberals now excoriate Bush for doing. Habeas corpus is a precious right and suspending it, which the Constitution DOES allow for in times of dire national emergencies, should never be done lightly. But for liberals to act like Bush was demonic for taking habeas corpus away from enemy combatants--which, I reiterate, is different from Lincoln who voided the right for Americans--reeks of historical ignorance and moral dishonesty. If Lincoln is a hero for freeing the slaves and winning the Civil War, despite trampling the Constitution along the way, then Bush is also a hero for keeping us safe from terrorism despite sometimes using less-than-kosher means to do so. Fairness demands no other conclusion, but we're talking about liberals here so we won't get it.

6 comments:

Skunkfeathers said...

In fact, Obama's congressional allies seek to outdo both Lincoln and Bush, by bringing back the Fairness Doctrine, with but one objective in mind: to eliminate conservative talk radio. But Henry Waxman (D-CA), wants to carry it even further: that National Socialist Nazi wants to impose the Fairness Doctrine on the Internet, too.

Redford and his hysterical liberal friends who accused Bush of squashing constitutional rights, took a page right out of Hitler's book: accuse the other side of doing what you intend to do.

History teaches that socialists are what they are, and do what they do. If Obama really wants to travel the road of Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Hugo Chavez, et al....then watch what he does with the Fairness Doctrine.

WomanHonorThyself said...

Fairness demands no other conclusion, but we're talking about liberals here so we won't get it....great post..scarey times we live in!

Anonymous said...

This is just another in a long line of instances where what Obama says does not match what is really going on. On the surface, it seems like a great idea to align himself with one of our great leaders, yet, if he is to do this kind of thing, he should research what the man did first.....instead of relying on the so called stupidity of the people. He feels that we are too dumb to realize the discrepancies of what he is doing. Yet, he is being proven wrong with every corner he gets too. We are much smarter and realize a lot more things that our Omnipotent leader gives us credit for. This is just one thing in a long line of things. It is just as Angel said below. "Scary times we live in."

JMK said...

Lincoln DID suspend Habeus Corpus and DID jail pro-Southern newspaper owners and that shows that in the most dire times, even some basic liberties will be abridged by the government.

The issue today is that the current economy is NOT even as bad as the one we had under Jimmy Carter!

Bush left a 7.5% unemployment rate, a 2.3% inflation rate, a prime lending rate around 4%...and a Misery Index (Inflation + Unemployment) of 9.8!

By comparison, Carter left Reagan a 10.8% unemployment rate, an 11% inflation rate, a prime lending rate of 23.5% and the WORST/HIGHEST Misery Index post WW II (which is post-Great Depression, since WW II ended the Great Depression) of 22!

Reagan brought that Misery Index down every year until it reached single digits in 1987, where it stayed throughout the rest of his tenure.

By comparison, the current recession is light stuff. Yet it's being used to usher in a lot of draconian policies.

Bottom-line, businesses are as much to blame as government these days. World Savings and Loan was run by Herb and Marrion Sandler, two committed community activists from San Francisco, who led the subprime mortgage movement waaaay before Congress sought more loans to more low income Americas in the mid-1990s.

During the subprime run-up, the Sandlers saw the deferred debt on World's subprime loans skyrocket FROM $24 MILLIONTO $121 BILLION!

The radical Marxist Johnetta Cole (an Obama appointee to the Smithsonian) is on the board of directors of almost ten major U.S. corporations, including Home Depot's...and she's NOT alone. Many of those boards are heavily populated with far-Left kooks, who see "Capitalism as unworkable" and a socialism that regulates their competititon out of the market, as their best option.

THESE are the folks that NEED to be swept aside before any real change can occur.

The irony isn't in Obama's words decrying Bush's anti-terror policies (that's standard), what's NOT standard is Obama's ratcheting up the rendition program, that the Left wants to paint as "Bush's torture policy," AND his support for the NSA Surveillance program WITH the telecom immunities in place. He's paid lip service to the far-Left, while doing many of the same things G W Bush did on terrorism.

As for the Fairness Doctrine, Conservatives don't think about such things correctly...they don't see this as a war of attrition....the Left does.

When Conservatives get into government, the Left goes about undermining and putting legislative poison pills into everything the other side does...the Right seems hampered by conscience (I never had one) or whatever.....maybe love of Country and an aversion to undermining liberal policies for fear of hurting other Americans.

That's a luxury the Right can't afford....nice sentiments, but woefully unrealistic.

Take the Fairness Doctrine, the Left has control of BOTH Houses of Congress and the Executive Branch...I think like they do - they're thinking, "institute the Fairness Doctrine early and the people will forget their outrage by the next election cycle."

They're wrong on that, BUT what Conservatives and Republicans NEED to do is to throw their own poison pill into this Bill - force the fairness doctrine on the entire MSM, PBS and NPR - for every liberal voice, a Conservative voice must be heard and strictly forbid ANY editorializing within the hard news.

THAT can be done, even though, there probably aren't enough votes to stop a fairness doctrine from being imposed.

Conservatives NEED to write their legislators on this...early and often.

JMK said...

Lincoln DID suspend Habeus Corpus and DID jail pro-Southern newspaper owners and that shows that in the most dire times, even some basic liberties will be abridged by the government.

The issue today is that the current economy is NOT even as bad as the one we had under Jimmy Carter!

Bush left a 7.5% unemployment rate, a 2.3% inflation rate, a prime lending rate around 4%...and a Misery Index (Inflation + Unemployment) of 9.8!

By comparison, Carter left Reagan a 10.8% unemployment rate, an 11% inflation rate, a prime lending rate of 23.5% and the WORST/HIGHEST Misery Index post WW II (which is post-Great Depression, since WW II ended the Great Depression) of 22!

Reagan brought that Misery Index down every year until it reached single digits in 1987, where it stayed throughout the rest of his tenure.

By comparison, the current recession is light stuff. Yet it's being used to usher in a lot of draconian policies.

Bottom-line, businesses are as much to blame as government these days. World Savings and Loan was run by Herb and Marrion Sandler, two committed community activists from San Francisco, who led the subprime mortgage movement waaaay before Congress sought more loans to more low income Americas in the mid-1990s.

During the subprime run-up, the Sandlers saw the deferred debt on World's subprime loans skyrocket FROM $24 MILLIONTO $121 BILLION!

The radical Marxist Johnetta Cole (an Obama appointee to the Smithsonian) is on the board of directors of almost ten major U.S. corporations, including Home Depot's...and she's NOT alone. Many of those boards are heavily populated with far-Left kooks, who see "Capitalism as unworkable" and a socialism that regulates their competititon out of the market, as their best option.

THESE are the folks that NEED to be swept aside before any real change can occur.

The irony isn't in Obama's words decrying Bush's anti-terror policies (that's standard), what's NOT standard is Obama's ratcheting up the rendition program, that the Left wants to paint as "Bush's torture policy," AND his support for the NSA Surveillance program WITH the telecom immunities in place. He's paid lip service to the far-Left, while doing many of the same things G W Bush did on terrorism.

As for the Fairness Doctrine, Conservatives don't think about such things correctly...they don't see this as a war of attrition....the Left does.

When Conservatives get into government, the Left goes about undermining and putting legislative poison pills into everything the other side does...the Right seems hampered by conscience (I never had one) or whatever.....maybe love of Country and an aversion to undermining liberal policies for fear of hurting other Americans.

That's a luxury the Right can't afford....nice sentiments, but woefully unrealistic.

Take the Fairness Doctrine, the Left has control of BOTH Houses of Congress and the Executive Branch...I think like they do - they're thinking, "institute the Fairness Doctrine early and the people will forget their outrage by the next election cycle."

They're wrong on that, BUT what Conservatives and Republicans NEED to do is to throw their own poison pill into this Bill - force the fairness doctrine on the entire MSM, PBS and NPR - for every liberal voice, a Conservative voice must be heard and strictly forbid ANY editorializing within the hard news.

THAT can be done, even though, there probably aren't enough votes to stop a fairness doctrine from being imposed.

Conservatives NEED to write their legislators on this...early and often.

Tapline said...

My head is swimming!!! I can't keep up...They are such snakes in the grass.....Oil drilling stopped or suspended off shore???anyone heard anything...Utah stopping drilling....and elsewhere drilling being stopped???? It doesn't end.......Next is taxing gasoline...... I'm rambling again....sorry.....