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deadfish
03-09-2013, 04:10 PM
Last night I spent hours on the conservative pages like hotair, pjmedia, etc. getting a kick out of the hostility towards McCain and Graham.

Today I've been reading the liberal pages and just had to share some of these gems:

From hit-piece by Addie Stan - AlterNet (http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/rand-paul-no-progressive-hero-despite-anti-drone-filibuster)


Rand Paul No Progressive Hero, Despite Anti-Drone Filibuster

... Paul’s Mr. Smith move is less one of courage than one of political opportunity. ... Instead of lauding the anti-woman, anti-civil rights neo-libertarian senator, progressives would do better to ask: Why have all the Senate Democrats signed onto the Brennan nomination?

... And it was surely entertaining to listen to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, read tweets on the Senate floor, when he was dispatched by Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus to give the Kentucky libertarian a break... However riveting that all was, it was horrifying to see noted progressives using that very same hashtag simply because no Democrat was willing to make as dramatic a stand against having a torture apologist and assassination strategist for a CIA director -- not to mention an attorney general who is game to give cover to the unconstitutional actions of the administration.

What is a neo-libertarian? And excellent grasp on the timeline there Adele... pretty sure Priebus tweeted hours after Cruz was already on the floor.

From the comments:

Crow T Robot • 2 days ago

And just like clockwork here comes another fauxgressive DNC flak to tell us we darn well better support do-nothing mealy-mouthed weak-kneed corporate-owed drone-warrior democrats rather than the guy who's actually *against* President Sparkle Pony's robot assassination program. All of which leads to the totally rational and appropriate response - "Fuck off, Adele."


Lol, 'fauxgressive'.

lakecabs • 2 days ago

Where are the progressive heroes?

Why is it that Rand Paul has to do this?

One Democratic Senator Two if you count Durbin.

Democrat response. Hey lets fight the only guy that's fighting.


n00tch • 2 days ago

This article puts up my hackles as it is endemic of the political climate today. Mr. Paul espouses some views that I very vehemently do not agree with. But let's focus on the matter at hand, and at least praise him for standing up to the majority of our sniveling political class, who would be willing to sacrifice us in the name of "security".

Alternet has a good many articles with a progressive view that I enjoy reading. This blog post seems more like persecution by affiliation, than anything of substance.


rickcain2320 • 2 days ago

It is very troubling that Obama has decided to abandon progressivism and cement himself straight in the George W. Bush/ Richard Cheney / Donald Rumsfeld philosophy of foreign policy.
I now feel like I was sold a fake bill of goods.....snake oil.


bird48 • 2 days ago

I certainly expected this article from someone on the "progressive left" who thinks it is more important to take sides than to confront the actual policies of their chosen corporate hacks. I don't even call myself a progressive any more due to the fact the label has been taken so far to the right it should be called moderate Republican. It is pathetic that the only Senator willing to speak out against this illegal policy is a far-right Tea Party pick but he is totally correct in his statement. Where his ideas come from or what political motivation he may have is totally immaterial to the subject. Until your lily-livered, weak-kneed "progressives" come out from under their hiding places I will applaud any Senator who speaks out for our Constitutional guarantees regardless of party or label.


HuffPo: Democrats Absent During Rand Paul Filibuster Of John Brennan Nomination (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/07/democrats-rand-paul-filibuster_n_2825847.html)


HUFFPOST PUNDIT
Dan Stewart
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09:52 AM on 03/07/2013
I supported Obama from his earliest days. But, the person I supported seemed to hold a deep concern for preserving our civil liberties. I never thought he would favor things like:
> his extraordinary claim of the power to kill American citizens anywhere in the world, including on US soil, based on secret evidence (or no evidence), relying on secret laws (or no laws), and doing so without charges, trials, due process or review of any kind.
> his extraordinary claim of the power to imprison American citizens based on secret evidence (or no evidence), relying on secret laws (or no laws), and doing so without charges, trials, due process or review of any kind.
> Or conversely, not prosecuting Wall Street or TBTF banks for criminal acts involved in the credit crisis of 2008.
> not prosecuting war criminals for clear violation of US and international law. I didn’t even think he would crackdown on legal state medical marijuana dispensaries, despite his solemn ’08 campaign promise not to do precisely that.
Yes. I supported O from his earliest days, but I didn't join a cult of personality. I supported a and person and policies that I believed in, but the O of today does not remotely resemble the person I understood him to be in 2008. I should have known then, he doth protest too much.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
J0E1
Don't blame me, I'm not a republicrat.
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10:18 AM on 03/07/2013
I think this is a topic the left and right, at least at an average citizen level, can agree on. He isn't attacking Obamacare, he isn't attacking social programs, he isn't attacking the defense department or the wars, he is focused on one topic and that is the targeted drone strikes of Americans.

What really scares me are the responses from people who think it will never happen or are satisfied with the president saying he has no plans to use it in that way. Once legal, it's only a matter of when, not IF, but when it happens. The government has never pushed to legalize something they never plan on using. It simply does not happen.

As far as the filibuster is concerned, no one should be angry about it. This was, for once, a proper filibuster used in the way it was intended and ended as soon as Rand was ready to stop speaking. Good for him. I am not a big Rand Paul fan, but on this bi-partisan topic, he is spot on.
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HUFFPOST PUNDIT
The Dude67
Unwilling to claim us, they got no wars to name us
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09:52 AM on 03/07/2013
I don't know which is more sad - the fact we can't get a straight answer out of our President as to whether he believes he has the authority to summarily execute a U.S. citizen within the borders of the U.S. without a shred of due process or the empty-headed responses bleating on about Republican this and Tbgger that.
Seriously, people, if this is all you have to add to the conversation which don't you go out on the sidewalk and whack yourself in the head with a hammer for a while. Maybe the feeling will return to your head.
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Salon.com by David Sirota: Liberals should proudly cheer on Rand Paul (http://www.salon.com/2013/03/07/liberals_should_proudly_cheer_on_rand_paul/)

Brooke Phaceless
Thursday, Mar 7, 2013 02:23 PM EST

The thing is, our political system has become so sick that we can no longer count on the Democrats to do the right thing - at all.

So that it takes outliers like Paul and Sanders to make any sense on an issue like Drone Murder - because the Democratic leadership has sold its soul and become hopeless.


ARealNewYorker
Friday, Mar 8, 2013 12:04 AM EST

Yeah. It's fucking sad, that's what. At first I didn't think that much of this beyond "Jeezus, am I actually proud of Rand Paul?!" But after reading a day's worth of news coverage, where centrist democrat types have come out of the woodwork to draw out attention to everything wrong with Junior (as if we needed anyone to tell us that), I'm pretty pissed. The guy did something right, and who cares if it's grandstanding? We all have to act out to get the point across when other people aren't listening. The point people miss about the old adage "even a broken clock is right twice a day" is that, well, those two times, the clock is fucking right! Paul is right here, and he got very little support for it, including from the right people. Where were Sherrod Brown and Bernie Sanders is what I'd like to know.

Big h/t to Glenn Greenwald's twitter feed (https://twitter.com/ggreenwald) for good links

Antischism
03-09-2013, 07:24 PM
Yup, a lot of people feel this way, but sadly, many still get trapped into thinking in terms of left/right rather than right/wrong. It's always great to see people break out of that habit and support those who make bold moves in the direction of freedom despite the party affiliation.

itshappening
03-10-2013, 02:14 AM
WOW! That's harsh liberal criticism for Obama. The worms are turning. I've not seen such things before other than blind loyalty. Rand is really exposing him to his own base. This is terrific and the icing on the cake.

itshappening
03-10-2013, 02:35 AM
By the way HotAir have covered this really well. Just looking through there now. Dozens of articles and posts on it.

I sent them a link to a story sailing tweeted about Tea Party Muslims in TN *chuckle* can't challenge all their assumptions at once I suppose. I might post it to FreeRepublic and watch them go nuts but I don't want Jim to ban me. He's really scared of Muslims.