Quote:
Originally Posted by djplong
Oh the Democrats went along with it.
As usual, rushing things, I should have been more explicit.
I kinda give Congress a pass on the initial PATRIOT Act. We were reacting to something horrible. It happens.
The recent reauthorization, however, was different. Whereas in 2001, only one Senator voted against it, now, 10 Senators voted "Nay". All 10 were Democrats. (Ok, 9 Democrats and a supposedly Independent - Jeffords from VT but he caucused as a Democrat if memory serves)
Don't get me wrong - they're guilty as well. But not a single Republican stood up for our civil liberties in the Senate. *NOT ONE*.
In the House, the vote was 275-144 in favor with only 27 Republicans voting against it (Rand Paul of Kentucky was leading the charge in that group). That means 117 Democrats voting against it.
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None of this explains your point of placing this on the head of Republicans as a counterbalance for your argument. The last time it went to a vote it was headed by the very Democrat President that you're trying to devise some sort of moral equivalence with this issue to defend.
I'm not getting it. Maybe you need a different example. The Patriot Act, although you may not like it, does not promote your argument.
(postscript: I just read Bucco's detailed rebuttal above after this response, and it's much more detailed and informative than my opinion here, but I'll leave it here anyway)