Doug Bandow, writing in National Review, explains (with many examples) why Al Gore and Bill Clinton have no scruples for attacking the Bush Administration's civil rights record. He points out, based on their track record, why a Gore administration would be just as bad.

The Clinton administration trampled over the rights of anyone who dissented from their views, and were given a free pass from most of the media. Ashcroft's initiatives are mild compared with the draconian oppression of the previous administration, but the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the vast constellation of left-of-center pundits, ponitificators, and publicity-seeking stars have all warned us of the grave dangers to our civil liberties since September 11 of last year. Leftist myopia (or pure sophistry) prevents them from seeing the seedy side of their hero's watch.

(Link courtesy of Eugene Volokh.)

posted on September 18, 2002 01:03 PM



Comments:

The Clinton Administration was terrible for civil liberties. Absolutely terrible.

The Bush Administration, however, has managed to be even worse. Take, for example, the indefinite detention without charge of American citizens by the Department of Defense and without judicial review -- the suspension of habeus corpus. Is this not one of the worst abuses in our history?

posted by George Paine on September 18, 2002 09:01 PM

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"Worst abuses in our history"?

How many citizens are so detained? A handful?

It's a bad thing, but I can't help but think that calling it one of the worst abuses of civil liberties in the history of the Union is a bit hyperbolic.

posted by Sigivald on September 18, 2002 09:11 PM

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Sigivald,

I said it was one of the worst offenses in our history. Certainly there have been cases -- the Civil War and World War II -- when worse happened. There were thousands and thousands detained by the military without charge, the suspension of habeus corpus, a man shot for speaking out against the draft. There were even banned newspapers and the arrest of newsboys.

Does that diminish the abuses of today? They're not of the scale of those two periods in our history, but they certainly rank in the Top Five.

posted by George Paine on September 18, 2002 10:59 PM

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