Are we dead inside or just scared to death?
by digby
Comey, it seems, is not a story even to those who generally give a shit.— Rick Perlstein
Perlstein has a blockbuster post up today, examining why nobody seems to care that our Democratic president has nominated a Republican who was involved in the policy formation of some of the worst excesses of the Bush administration’s assault on civil liberties, including torture for a ten year term as FBI director. He examines some of the social media stats he’s observed which shows that people simply don’t care about that anymore. In other words, they got away with it. Looks like Liz Cheney will be able to run for office taking ownership of the torture regime and it probably won’t cause any ripples.
I don’t know what’s causing this, but I’m going to guess the constant, relentless demagoguery about the terrorist threat has been fully absorbed into the subconscious of most Americans now — and that means pretty much anything goes. Previously, a large number of people were opposed to such behavior but now that a Democratic president has adopted similarly aggressive policies (except for torture — well, sort of) thus validating the idea that the threat from these religious fanatics is so overwhelming that our very existence is at stake. Indeed, if you are to look at the scope of our activities the entire world is our enemy, even our closest allies.
Anyway, read Perlstein’s post. And knowing what we know about Comey’s acquiescence to some of the worst practices of the Bush administration, (no, it’s not enough to tell the AG you think waterboarding is “awful”, you quit) contemplate what this means for the future of the Republic:
Comey’s hearing, nearly three hours long, occasionally seemed like a coronation. Blumenthal said Comey enjoyed “very solid support” on the committee. Comey made self-deprecating jokes and slipped into colloquialisms. Queried about the FBI’s current practice of reading emails older than 180 days without a warrant, Comey said: “I don’t think the fourth amendment has, like your yogurt, an expiration date.”
Hahahaha…
Update: Scott Lemieux has more.
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