Good Grief

Bush opponent: Knock, knock.

Bush supporter: Who's there?

Bush opponent: Reality.

Bush supporter: Reality who?

Bush opponent (shaking their head and walking away): Exactly.

When the news broke on Thursday about the NSA's humungous collection of Americans' phone records that they've been mining for years, the right-wing blogosphere reaction was all too predictable. First, they had a chuckle about the explosion in the left-wing blogsophere over the revelation which would, and did - rightly, revolve around privacy issues. We happen to like our privacy. Sue us.

Then, without even taking the time to consider whether the Bush program might be illegal they immediately jumped to his defense with asinine justifcations like, 'well, as long as I'm not talking to terrorists, who cares who has my phone records?'. The right-wing - always so quick to give up their constitutional rights because, obviously, the government would never mistakenly convict one of the 'good guys' of a crime. We all know that only real terrorists are ever under suspicion.

As the day progressed, after their Dear Leader neither confirmed or denied the existence of such a program - while reassuring everyone that if there was such a thing it was all perfectly legal - there were another very predictable call from the right wing: those leakers committed treason by jeopardizing national security! Round them up and execute them. (Okay, I don't really know if anyone actually wants them executed, but I'm damn sure you could find at least a few right-wingers who are calling for blood. They always do.)

Now, considering the Bush came out so early in the day to defend this supposedly non-existent program, wouldn't it seem logical that he would be calling for an investigation into the leaks? Oh wait. He can't. Just like he couldn't call for a similar investigation about the Iran/planned nuclear strikes by America story published by Seymour Hersh.

So, then you have to assume one of two things: 1) either the Bush administration leaked these stories or 2) the leakers knew their asses were covered because a public outcry for an investigation into possible national security breaches would be a tacit admission of guilt by the administration.

As for the first option goes, especially in the NSA mining case, one would then have to speculate that the administration was receiving so much heat over its choice of General Hayden to be the next chief of the CIA that it thought that leaking this story would sink his nomination like an 80 pound rock in a hot tub in no time flat. But, such public exposure of what will no doubt cause another ratings drop for Bush and Congress so close to the fall elections would be a colossal political miscalculation (not that they haven't already made several).

Ergo, I suspect that the timing of this leak may definitely have to do with someone who is so adamantly opposed to Hayden's nomination that they would risk their very life to get this out to the public. Notice how Hayden's little date with Rick Santorum was abruptly canceled on Thursday morning after this hit the newsstands. Hayden has some 'splainin' to do to someone.

There's one more thing that right-wingers need to wrap their heads around - someday. Do they really think that wannabe terrorists are such complete idiots that they would not have suspected until yesterday that their calls were being monitored in every possible way? Heck. I'll bet they probably encrypt their e-mail too and no one has come out and said that the NSA is reading everybody's e-mail...yet. You know, some of them actually do have a clue and, at times, they have much more of a clue than some right-wingers apparently do.

So, let the right-wing blogosphere carry on 'screeching', as they accuse the left of doing, until one of their own gets rounded up and sent to Gitmo or who knows where, courtesy of one of those torture flights. Then again, they'd probably just automagically assume that is one of theirs was picked up, they must be de facto guilty - because the Bush administration is always right, isn't it?

Conyers was right. It is a sad day. And, beyond that, it's pathetic when the 31% of Americans who would support Bush even if he did a home invasion with guns blazing into their humble abodes would still stand up for him and probably thank him for scaring the hell out of their children for life, when in an indirect way, that actually is what he's doing. There's denial and then there's unconsciousness. Looks like there are a lot of the walking dead out there who are just so beyond reality that it has absolutely no hope of ever permeating their beings. Let them sleep. The rest of us will take care of things and set them right for our children.