Thread: The Left's Curious Lack of Outrage at Our Assassin-In-Chief

I'm very curious how this thread is going to develop. Could be an interesting exchange of ideas.

Originally Posted by tsquare

Liberal morals... such as they are, would be a source of nearly endless amusement...

Were they not used to set national policy. Which they unfortunately are.

GITMO was so bad it was a terrorist making machine
Waterboarding was evil torture, worthy of impeachment at the very least. Tens of thousands on the left marched.

Yet strangely, if as an American, and you are in the womb... or in the sights of one of our drones, you are not only fair game, there seems to be a (liberal) moral imperative to kill you.

When it was discovered that the Bush Administration had waterboarded a 9/11 mastermind, the left acted as though we had been attacked by aliens. "Hysterical" would have been a more accurate term. The discovery, though, that Obama is routinely ordering the assassinations of American citizens, has only elicited token indignation from these very same people.

Sure, the media's talking about it... a little. But the media expressed more outrage over Bush-era wiretaps than anything we're seeing today. The lack of energy we're already seeing towards this tells us that, by next week at the latest, The Approved Narrative will already have moved on to more important issues, like some nobody-Republican who answers a birth control question poorly.
Now, as you may recall, I'm generally okay with drone strikes. They seem to be effective. That doesn't mean I don't want to know more about the policy's limitations, and I'd like to see more intelligence from those killed from on high.

But those on the left who so desperately wished to turn waterboarding into Bush's Watergate and who are now not even slightly annoyed at Obama are again exposed as the dishonest, unprincipled, partisan opportunists they are and always have been.

Anyone here on the left (goober, Danny, Jefe, etc) ready to break with Obama on this?



http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/us...-qaeda.html?hp

And chicken tastes like chicken.

Originally Posted by tsquare

Anyone here on the left (goober, Danny, Jefe, etc) ready to break with Obama on this?

I actually think this is one of the few areas where Danny would not be on the Obama bus. As much as I disagree with him.

But those on the left who so desperately wished to turn waterboarding into Bush's Watergate and who are now not even slightly annoyed at Obama are again exposed as the dishonest, unprincipled, partisan opportunists they are and always have been.

You should find somebody who opposed waterboarding and ask them how they feel about killing al Queda leaders who plan to kill Americans.

I voted for Obama and I don't oppose either.

If Republicans had instituted this policy, holy cow, batton down the hatches, because the left and the national media would be on fire! However, since it is Obama in charge, they may be mildly annoyed while digging up a story on a Republican to get Obama out of the crosshairs on this one. Hence all of the sequester talk.

I agree the outrage over the drone assassinations has been far too mild, esp against sovereign nations we are not at war with as well as American civilians. Most of that is because the so-called 'librul' media refuses to cover it, including Faux News.

However, I rarely see any kind of concentrated outrage by the right. If anything the left (TRUE lefties, not Obama supporters) are the most outraged of anyone about this, except possibly TRUE libertarians.

For example, commondreams.org is a filter site for leftist opinion pieces usually published elsewhere. If you google 'commondreams.org drone' and peruse some of the hits, you'll find only outrage over the program.
https://www.google.com/search?q=commondreams.org+drone


Here's a specific example written by a prominent lefty (Glenn Greenwald):
Chilling Legal Memo From Obama DOJ Justifies Assassination of US Citizens | Common Dreams

What has made these actions all the more radical is the absolute secrecy with which Obama has draped all of this. Not only is the entire process carried out solely within the Executive branch - with no checks or oversight of any kind - but there is zero transparency and zero accountability. The president's underlings compile their proposed lists of who should be executed, and the president - at a charming weekly event dubbed by White House aides as "Terror Tuesday" - then chooses from "baseball cards" and decrees in total secrecy who should die. The power of accuser, prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner are all consolidated in this one man, and those powers are exercised in the dark.

In fact, The Most Transparent Administration Ever™ has been so fixated on secrecy that they have refused even to disclose the legal memoranda prepared by Obama lawyers setting forth their legal rationale for why the president has this power. During the Bush years, when Bush refused to disclose the memoranda from his Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) that legally authorized torture, rendition, warrantless eavesdropping and the like, leading Democratic lawyers such as Dawn Johnsen (Obama's first choice to lead the OLC) vehemently denounced this practice as a grave threat, warning that "the Bush Administration's excessive reliance on 'secret law' threatens the effective functioning of American democracy" and "the withholding from Congress and the public of legal interpretations by the [OLC] upsets the system of checks and balances between the executive and legislative branches of government."

But when it comes to Obama's assassination power, this is exactly what his administration has done. It has repeatedly refused to disclose the principal legal memoranda prepared by Obama OLC lawyers that justified his kill list. It is, right now, vigorously resisting lawsuits from the New York Times and the ACLU to obtain that OLC memorandum. In sum, Obama not only claims he has the power to order US citizens killed with no transparency, but that even the documents explaining the legal rationale for this power are to be concealed. He's maintaining secret law on the most extremist power he can assert.

(more at the link)


Where is the concentrated effort by prominent rightwingers decrying such abuse of power? Why aren't republican congressmen and senators throwing a shit-fit over this the way the dems did during Bush's less-severe abuse of power?

Also here: Lindsey Graham arguing how all Republicans should support Obamas drone program since Obama is being "hit by the libertarians and the left".

GOP Sen. Graham Defends Obama’s Drones: ‘Every Member Of Congress Needs To Get On Board’ | Mediaite


Pretty much Lindsey blows your OP out of the water, sorry tsquare.

Where are the protestors? Where are the hundreds of thousands who would speak against the tyranny of the imperial presidency? Why the silence about a whitehouse that has decided it can kill individuals overseas with impunity? Where is the left on State authorized murder?
Funny how ideals and opinions vanish when there is a left leaning prsident in the whitehouse.

Is it now a liberal ideal that a high ranking government official has the power to order the death of anyone on earth who is not on U.S. soil?

The silence is very telling about the depth of the integrity of the left.

the whole thing has been a perfect example of the hypocrisy in the anti war movement. This is not NEW news.. he has had a kill list and we have known about it for over a year... yet the whole lot of patchouli oil wearing , non shower taking anti war crowd is SILENT!

where are the burning obama dolls? where are the pictures of him as a monkey? where are the pictures of him as the devil?

oh i forgot it is their team so it is A OK!

BTW another glaring question is where the fuck is the media on this one? why isnt that fucking ass kissing POS Brian Williams doing lead segments on this ?

Code Pink is now Code Invisible.

Originally Posted by JDJarvis

Where are the protestors? Where are the hundreds of thousands who would speak against the tyranny of the imperial presidency? Why the silence about a whitehouse that has decided it can kill individuals overseas with impunity? Where is the left on State authorized murder?
Funny how ideals and opinions vanish when there is a left leaning prsident in the whitehouse.

Is it now a liberal ideal that a high ranking government official has the power to order the death of anyone on earth who is not on U.S. soil?

The silence is very telling about the depth of the integrity of the left.

Apparently killing Osama Bin Laden, and Al Qaeda leaders doesn't generate the outrage that torturing and murdering tens of thousands of innocent civilians does, an obvious pro-liberal bias of reality....

Originally Posted by goober

Apparently killing Osama Bin Laden, and Al Qaeda leaders doesn't generate the outrage that torturing and murdering tens of thousands of innocent civilians does, an obvious pro-liberal bias of reality....

No, Obama has collateral damage too and if you believe that interrogation techniques have changed because Obama was elected, you are very naive.

Originally Posted by goober

Apparently killing Osama Bin Laden, and Al Qaeda leaders doesn't generate the outrage that torturing and murdering tens of thousands of innocent civilians does, an obvious pro-liberal bias of reality....

Is droning more ethical than water-boarding?