GOP rep: I made a 'terrible mistake' in last year's Patriot Act vote

[kpete]

Source: The Hill

GOP rep: I made a 'terrible mistake' in last year's Patriot Act vote
By Bridget Johnson - 02/12/11 10:58 AM ET

A California Republican said Friday that he made a "terrible mistake" in previously voting to extend provisions of the Patriot Act that allow the government to hack into e-mail and bank accounts without a search warrant.

Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) said on Fox Business Network that it is the reason why the Patriot Act "is so dangerous."

"A year ago, I made a terrible mistake and voted to extend those provisions of the Patriot Act," he said. "But the more that I learned, the more that I researched, it became crystal clear to me this that this is not only an affront to our bill of rights, but it's a fundamental challenge to our freedom."

McClintock was asked about House Republicans shying away from extended debate and hearings on the act.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/143671-gop-rep-i-made-a-terrible-mistake-in-last-years-patriot-act-vote

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translation-he finally read it?
http://www.aclu.org/national-security/text-usa-patriot-act

[tabatha]

1. He probably has tea-baggers breathing down his neck.

I doubt he would hold this position otherwise.

[Posteritatis]

6. Teabagger pressure would encourage voting for it. (nt)

[Ter]

10. No it wouldn't

The actual rank and file Tea Baggers who protest at rallies are against it.

[krabigirl]

13. No, usually only libertarian types. Bachmann et al voted for it.

[Ter]

27. Tea Baggers are furiuos with her vote

The media made her out to be "head tea bagger", she's just a neo-con extremist nut. That and the fact she's self-proclaimed. The rank and file tea baggers who protest are very united in PA opposition.

[sofa king]

26. I disagree.

Bob Altemeyer has devoted his life to studying right-wing authoritarians and their leaders. In 1996, he wrote about one of his studies of so-called high-RWA legislators in the US and Canada. One of the common traits they shared was support for a theoretical bill, "giving police much wider, much less restrictive wiretap, search-and-seizure, and interrogation rules."

http://books.google.com/books?id=i1Q8ZVi4OcIC&pg=PA283&lpg=PA283&dq=altemeyer+authoritarian+wiretap&source=bl&ots=Uni47jFki0&sig=J48qsNfx4viCehDO3u2jA0IqDX0&hl=en&ei=8wtYTZSUEcP48Aaim8GMBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false">See here.

That's what the leaders want. What's wrong with the followers is that they automatically submit to authority figures they trust (specifically, these assholes above), cannot think logically for themselves, and have a very high tolerance for hypocrisy and conflicting ideology as long as they think it's working for them. And even if none of that works for the leaders, they all know that their herd is driven almost exclusively by fear, so just ratchet that up for a few weeks and cattle will move in the direction they want.

So what the rank and file Tea Baggers think is irrelevant, but also likely to echo the desires of those who lead them around by the nose. They think what they're told to think by their bosses, and their bosses are the very cornerstone of the effort to strip our civil rights.

[WinkyDink]

22. Not quite!!

[gateley]

2. "translation-he finally read it?"

:rofl: I think you nailed it!

[Mist]

3. +1. LOL!

[4lbs]

7. Yeah, I guess he didn't understand what "warrantless wiretaps and searches" meant

.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. Which departments have this right?

Just the NSA?

[WinkyDink]

23. Does the President?

[saras]

4. Pretty much

I think it would change our government radically if ALL our senators and representatives were required to not only read, but pass a comprehension test on, EVERY piece of legislation they vote for, before being allowed to vote.

[Boswell]

5. well gosh darn it Tom

We know how hard it is for folks like you to find out BEFORE you vote for something what is actually in the bill...

[fascisthunter]

8. fuck you too... your mistake costs American's freedoms

fucking traitor

[Mr Generic Other]

9. so when are some democrats going to read the legislation?

i hate to have to admit it but the teabaggers have it right on this one.
it should be democrats who are coming to the people's defense on this issue but its not. :(

[plumbob]

12. Sad, but true. This obnoxious law needs to be knocked out.

Far more Stasi than American in concept.

[colinday]

19. Patriot Act vote

The Democrats voted more heavily against it than the Republicans in a recent vote.

[Faryn Balyncd]

11. K and R

:hi:

[krabigirl]

14. Wow, so he only gets it now?

I mean, good for him for not voting for it, and shame on the Dems who did and still are, but WTF?

[LeftishBrit]

15. Well, that's the speed at which a Republican brain works!

At least the neurons FINALLY connected.

[Curmudgeoness]

16. Duh! Do ya think? Why is it...

that you learned and researched this AFTER you voted for it? I thought that step came prior to the vote.

But what did I expect from some brain-dead Repug.

[MurrayDelph]

18. Or is it that he suddenly realized that

all that unfettered Presidential power is now in the hands of a Democrat
(and a black one to boot)?

[WinkyDink]

21. What does it matter? It shouldn't be in ANYBODY'S HANDS.

[MurrayDelph]

25. I agree, but

until it was on "our" side he didn't have a problem with it.

[Ter]

28. He had no problem with it last year when Obama was president

n/t

[WinkyDink]

20. I'm on his side on this issue.

[obxhead]

24. Wonder what they are about to charge him with?

I agree with him, the Patriot Act was one of many horrible things to come from our last decade of war on freedom, however I bet there is more to this.

Waiting for the other shoe to drop.