Remember when Republicans were all saying “Extend the patriot Act! Strengthen it! The FBI needs to be able to go after the bad guys!” and the Democrats were all saying “No! We have to protect civil liberty! Approving all this surveillance damages our democracy!”
That wasn’t very long ago. And by the way, ceding more power to the government is not “conservative”. It’s just one of many places where Republicans have proven to be the exact opposite of conservative.
Now the same people who loudly trumpeted the need to expand the ability of the FBI to investigate US citizens are crying about how the FBI is abusing its surveillance powers. You made this bed, Republicans, now lie in it. (And the lying has commenced, indeed.)
If that weren’t bad enough, the Democrats, who are often mistaken for liberals, have switched sides, too, trying their best to defend the FBI’s use of the power congress gave it. They’re crying about not being allowed to use the same low tactics the Republicans used to make political hay from the Trump/Russia investigation.
Why can’t just ONE Democrat point out that the FBI’s new power is a separate issue that may ultimately be more important than having an evil President for a couple of years?
I did something today that I haven’t done before; I donated to an election campaign in another state. After hearing an interview of Congressman Beto O’Rourke on the It’s Been a Minute podcast, I decided to provide a bit of help to a Democrat from El Paso who is looking to unseat Ted Cruz. It feels good to be doing something even though it’s a long shot.
I don’t get Ted Cruz. Sure, he was a pioneer of WWE politics, but Trump abused Ted and his family in the harshest of ways. In WWE world, that would require a feud of no less than three years. Yet here’s Ted, the keystone defender of the man who tore him apart. Ted stands between Trump and a world of hurt.
Where does that loyalty come from? It can’t possibly be to Trump the man, given their history, so it must be loyalty to party. But that doesn’t make sense either. The party hung Ted out to dry and still expects him to do whatever is necessary to make the President look somehow competent.
So if it’s not ideals, and it’s not party, what’s left? Money. Ted could challenge Trump but the money is with the guy who will bankrupt the nation to make seven people rich. Those seven people have a big pile of money and they’re willing to slice off chunks for their friends. Ryan wants a slice of that pie.
He’s not a coward (necessarily, but seriously…), he’s another greedy bastard using his position for personal gain. There are a lot of others like him, but he just leaves it right out there. He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about our country, he just wants to get paid.