Civil liberties disappear in the 2012 Democratic platform.

[Luminous Animal]

83. I would characterize as bullies those who resort to personal attacks rather than address the

point of the OP.

The reason why indefinite detention, surveillance abuses, etc. were included in the 2008 platform was because the Bush admin abused the Constitution and rank & file Dems and Independents were angry enough that the Dem leadership recognized that taking a strong stance against them would help bring Dem voters to the polls.

Well, these civil rights abuses are ongoing. Little has changed from the Republican Admin to the Democratic Admin. The Republicans are happy as clams that the authoritarian state apparatus that they successfully advances trundles on. Democrats keep their fingers crossed we will admister a kinder gentler authoritarian state and keep their fingers crossed that kinder gentler Democrats will be elected for the next 100 years (or until they are dead and they don't have to tax their beautiful minds on such conundrums any more). Civil rights orgs and their supporters recognize that a benevolent surveillance state is little less a violation of civil rights than a malevolent one.