Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right
Rudy Giuliani recently wrote this
NYT op-ed in support of the Patriot Act (reprinted here at American Future.net):
It is simply false to claim, as some of its critics do, that this bill does not respond to concerns about civil liberties. The four-year extension of the Patriot Act, as passed by the House, would not only reauthorize the expiring provisions – allowing our Joint Terrorism Task Force, National Counterterrorism Center and Terrorist Screening Center to continue their work uninterrupted – it would also make a number of common-sense clarifications and add dozens of additional civil liberties safeguards.
Concerns have been raised about the so-called library records provision; the bill adds safeguards. The same is true for roving wiretaps, “sneak and peek” searches and access to counsel and courts, as well as many others concerns raised by groups like the American Library Association and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Given these improvements, there is simply no compelling argument for going backward in the fight against terrorism. Perhaps a reminder is in order. The bipartisan 9/11 commission described a vivid example of how the old ways hurt us. In the summer of 2001, an F.B.I. agent investigating two individuals we now know were hijackers on Sept. 11 asked to share information with another team of agents. This request was refused because of the wall. The agent’s response was tragically prescient: “Someday, someone will die – and wall or not – the public will not understand why we were not more effective.”
How quickly we forget.
Giuliani’s op-ed was criticized by opponents of the patriot act on the left and the right. It was also fisked by a former candidate for congress, Arizona libertarian Mark Yannone, who also hasn’t forgotten 9/11. He just remembers it differently:
GIULIANI: Yesterday the Senate failed to reauthorize the USA Patriot Act, as a Democratic-led filibuster prevented a vote.
YANNONE: The name of the act is USA PATRIOT Act. The first two words are acronyms.
GIULIANI: I support the extension of the Patriot Act for one simple reason: Americans must use every legal and constitutional tool in their arsenal to fight terrorism and protect their lives and liberties.
YANNONE: Provisions of the act violate the Constitution.
GIULIANI: The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, made clear that the old rules no longer work.
YANNONE: The attacks of September 11, 2001, made clear that at least three buildings of the World Trade Center could be wired and charged for demolition without anyone noticing.
Yannone is one of several respected contributors to a publication called PHX News. PHX News appears to be the moderate wing of the Moronic Convergence, mixing positive news about Iraq with libertarian politics, opposition to immigration, conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial.
Enemies like this are another reason why Rudy can’t lose.