Jonathan Turley: Obama Is Worst President Ever On Civil Liberties

Speaking of President Obama's unprecedented order of the targeted killing of U.S. citizens, Jonathan Turley weighs in (before today's report of the successful Obama-ordered due-process-free assassination of 2 U.S. citizens) on President Obama's status as "the most disastrous president in our history in terms of civil liberties:"

One man is primarily responsible for the disappearance of civil liberties from the national debate, and he is Barack Obama. While many are reluctant to admit it, Obama has proved a disaster not just for specific civil liberties but the civil liberties cause in the United States.

Obama failed to close Guantanamo Bay as promised. He continued warrantless surveillance and military tribunals that denied defendants basic rights. He asserted the right to kill U.S. citizens he views as terrorists. His administration has fought to block dozens of public-interest lawsuits challenging privacy violations and presidential abuses.

But perhaps the biggest blow to civil liberties is what he has done to the movement itself. It has quieted to a whisper, muted by the power of Obama's personality and his symbolic importance as the first black president as well as the liberal who replaced Bush. .. It's almost a classic case of the Stockholm syndrome, in which a hostage bonds with his captor despite the obvious threat to his existence. Even though many Democrats admit in private that they are shocked by Obama's position on civil liberties, they are incapable of opposing him. . It looks more like a cult of personality. Obama's policies have become secondary to his persona.

For many civil libertarians, it will be virtually impossible to vote for someone who has flagrantly ignored the Convention Against Torture or its underlying Nuremberg Principles. . . In time, the election of Barack Obama may stand as one of the single most devastating events in our history for civil liberties. Now the president has begun campaigning for a second term. He will again be selling himself more than his policies, but he is likely to find many civil libertarians who simply are not buying.

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Romney's Position On Abortion: Multiple Choice (Video)

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Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street


Glenn Greenwald: What's behind the scorn for the Wall Street protests?

Firedoglake Kevin Gosztola: Why Establishment Media & the Power Elite Loathe Occupy Wall Street

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Trust In US Government Falls To 15%

Distrust in government is damn close to unanimous:

The public's trust in the federal government has dropped to an all-time low, according to a new national survey.

A CNN/ORC International Poll released Wednesday morning indicates that only 15 percent of Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what's right just about always or most of the time. Last September that figure was at 25 percent. Seventy-seven percent of people questioned say they trust the federal government only some of the time, and an additional eight percent volunteer that they never trust the government to do what's right. . [A]mong Democrats, more than two-thirds say they rarely trust the government."

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Sarah Palin Threatens to Sue McGinniss for 'The Rogue'

When even liberal stars Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann snub a book that attacks Sarah Palin, something is definitely up. Something like a book full of unsubstantiated gossip. No wonder Sarah Palin is threatening to sue.

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Health Insurance Mandate Appears Headed to Supreme Court

Like all this county needs is more drama. The upcoming presidential election may get the extra tension of a Supreme Court decision on the health insurance mandate:

The constitutionality of the 2010 health-care law will likely be determined by the Supreme Court this term, meaning the decision could come next summer in the thick of the 2012 presidential campaign.

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SNL: GOP Debate With Alec Baldwin and Kristen Wiig (Video)

Starring Kristen Wiig as Michele Bachmann and Alec Baldwin as Rick Perry.



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Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) Is Over! (VIDEO)

Last night, Rachel Maddow covered the end of a shameful era in American history:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Caption This!

Embarrassing. In a group photo with world leaders, U.S. President Barack Obama becomes the center of attention by waving and blocking the face of the world leader (the president of Mongolia?) standing at his side.

UPDATE: [No, it wasn't photoshopped, unfortunately. Besides the above link, this photo was also seen at MSNBC and then traced back to Getty Images.]

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Elizabeth Warren Leads Scott Brown 46 - 44

Wow. Stand back and watch this woman rise:

Elizabeth Warren has had an incredibly successful launch to her Senate campaign and actually leads Scott Brown now by a 46-44 margin, erasing what was a 15 point deficit the last time we polled the state in early June. Warren's gone from 38% name recognition to 62% over the last three months and she's made a good first impression on pretty much everyone who's developed an opinion about her during that period of time.

UPDATE: Elizabeth Warren is the kind of liberal leader we haven't seen in a very long time. Watch her!:

Video via Big Tent Dem

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White House Denies That A White House Dominated by Misogynists Could Be Sexist

The White House and its friends continue to deny that a White House dominated by known misogynists Larry Summers and Rahm Emanuel could possibly turn out to be 'a hostile workplace for women.'

Meanwhile the Washington Post reveals that author Ron Suskind played the tape of the disputed comments to a Washington Post reporter. The tape included this from Anita Dunn:

“I remember once I told Valerie that, I said if it weren’t for the president, this place would be in court for a hostile workplace. Because it actually fit all of the classic legal requirements for a genuinely hostile workplace to women.”

Known misogynists Larry Summers and Rahm Emanuel may be gone from the White House, but misogynists certainly are not:

Quote of the Day: Geithner Disses Romer's Value

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Book: President Obama Has A Woman Problem; White House Is A Boys' Club

Here's a surprise. According to a new book - by journalist Ron Suskind - the White House is a boys' club! The White House is a "hostile workplace" for women.

In that hostile boys' club, women are routinely ignored and excluded. Wow. Who could have ever predicted such a thing?

The author names names in “Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President:”

In an excerpt obtained by The Post, a female senior aide to President Obama called the White House a hostile environment for women.

“This place would be in court for a hostile workplace,” former White House communications director Anita Dunn is quoted as saying. “Because it actually fit all of the classic legal requirements for a genuinely hostile workplace to women.” . .

“I felt like a piece of meat,” Christina Romer, former head of the Council of Economic Advisers, said of one meeting in which Suskind writes she was “boxed out” by Summers.

“The president has a real woman problem,” an unnamed high-ranking female official told Suskind. “ The idea of the boys’ club being just Larry and Rahm isn’t really fair. He [Obama] was just as responsible himself.” . . According to the book, female staffers, like Dunn and Romer, felt sidelined. In November 2009, female aides complained to the president about being left out of meetings, or ignored. . .


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Hillary's Popularity Soars

Pollsters call her "the most popular national political figure in America today," but she's still not running for president. America had its chance and blew it. Unless, of course, Obama decides to refrain from seeking a second term.

Buyers remorse continues to grow:

Nearly two-thirds of Americans hold a favorable view of her and one-third are suffering a form of buyer’s remorse, saying the U.S. would be better off now if she had become president in 2008 instead of Barack Obama.

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Rash of TV Shows Revisit Overt Brutal Sexism of Yesteryear

Done right, shows like Pan Am and Playboy Bunny could be a sorely needed education for girls and women too young to remember the bad old days:

“Pan Am,” set in 1963 when the airline was a symbol of progress and cosmopolitan savoir faire, has a “Mad Men” gloss: lush cinematography and Buddy Greco singing “Around the World.”

One of the executive producers is Nancy Hult Ganis, a former Pan Am flight attendant, who relied on her own experiences. One of the earliest scenes shows the airline’s mandatory weigh-in and a sour-faced matron slapping one of her charge’s fanny to make sure her girdle is on.

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New York Times Book Review Slams "The Rogue": Sarah Palin Could See This Guy From Her House

Joe McGinniss, the guy who moved in next door to Sarah Palin so that he could stalk her family and author a gossip-ridden book about her, has done just that in "The Rogue." If you've been listening to the stalker-authored soundbites coming from cable news, you've heard dirt worthy of the National Enquirer.

But from the New York Times book review, we learn that the stalker's book "The Rogue" is a "nasty" and "petty" screed that is filled with anonymously-sourced, illogical and "unsubstantiated gossip."

Funny, the little details the cable news channels forget to tell you.

Sarah Palin Could See This Guy From Her House:

Mr. McGinniss explains that he was shocked, just shocked, at the angry response his presence in Wasilla provoked. But “The Rogue” makes the Palins’ widely publicized anger understandable, even to readers who might have defended his right to set up shop in their neighborhood and soak up the local color. Although most of “The Rogue” is dated, petty and easily available to anyone with Internet access, Mr. McGinniss used his time in Alaska to chase caustic, unsubstantiated gossip about the Palins, often from unnamed sources like “one resident” and “a friend.”

. . . Mr. McGinniss’s most quotable, inflammatory lines call Ms. Palin a clown, a nitwit, a rabid wolf and a lap dancer — and those aren’t the parts that assail her as a wife and parent. . . “The Rogue” is too busy being nasty to be lucid. Mr. McGinniss suggests both that Ms. Palin is committed to stealth religious control of government, and that she is not sufficiently devout.

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Support for Obama from California Democrats Drops 10 Points, to 69%

Quote of the Day

"What's sinking him is that most of the decline is among people of his own party and the nonpartisans."

--Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo

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Omen for Obama: Dems Stay Home in NY, GOP Wins

In a New York district held by Democrats since 1923, liberals stayed home last night. Thanks to Obama's betrayal of core Democratic values, the longstanding New York Democratic House seat now belongs to Republicans:

Polling leading up to the race indicated Obama was dragging down the Democratic candidate. Democratic pollster Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling said that a Turner win would be “largely due to the incredible unpopularity of Barack Obama dragging his party down in the district” after PPP’s polling found Obama with just 31 percent approval in a district he won with 55 percent of the vote in 2008.

A Democratic strategist said Obama has become such a problem for down-ticket Democrats that he was wary of encouraging candidates to run next year. “I’m warning my clients — ‘Don’t run in 2012.’ I don’t want to see good candidates lose by 12 to 15 points because of the president,” said the strategist. . . Republicans were badly outspent in the race, but it didn’t matter.

Also, pissed off labor unions and "disloyal voters" led to a defeat in Nevada for Dems.

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Elizabeth Warren To Run For US Senate

Yay! Elizabeth Warren will make it official Wednesday when she announces that she is running for the United States Senate.

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GOP Debate Audience Cheers Idea Of Letting Uninsured Sick Man Die

From the same sick party that recently cheered the death penalty:

Blitzer asked if under Paul’s libertarian philosophy, a sick man without insurance should be allowed to die in the hospital rather than have the state pay his medical bills. Before Paul could answer that question, shouts of “yes!” and cheering bubbled up from the audience.

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U.S. Poverty At 27-Year High

Poverty is up in the USA and the USA's already infamous 'highest child poverty rate in the industrialized world' has now risen to 22%:

More Americans are living in poverty than they have in 27 years, according to census data released Tuesday. About 46.2 million people, or 15.1 percent of the population, are considered in need, which the government currently defines as having an income of $22,314 a year for a family of four or $11,139 for an individual.

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Why Can't A Frat-Boy Nation Take Care Of Kids?

America's failing education system is just another symptom of a frat-boy nation that puts its money where its frat-boy mind is. If we moved kids out of the falling-apart, trailer-filled parking lot, ugly warehouses that pass for schools and moved them into our sweet shiny football stadiums and paid teachers what football players make, kids would get the novel, life-changing idea that they matter.

If kids mattered in patriarchy, men would take care of them.

Why Can't American Students Compete?:

Massachusetts, the only U.S. state with a majority of students (51 percent) above the proficiency mark, trails well behind students in South Korea and Finland, as well as those in top-performing Shanghai.

The percentage proficient in the state of New York (30 percent) is equivalent to that achieved by students in debt-ridden Portugal and Spain. California, the home of highly skilled Silicon Valley, has a math proficiency rate of 24 percent, the same as bankrupt Greece and just a notch above struggling Russia. By the time we get down to New Mexico and Mississippi, we are making comparisons with Serbia and Bulgaria.

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Barbarians Inside the Gates: Republicans Cheer at Executions of Human Beings (Video)

All it took was the mention of Texas Governor and presidential wannabe Rick Perry's sick record of state imposed deaths ("more than any Governor in modern times") to cause the GOP audience to wildly cheer.


"Wildly cheering the execution of human beings as though one's favorite football team just scored a touchdown is primitive, twisted and base." -- Glenn Greenwald

"What you heard echoing in the Reagan Library last night was not reason. It was bloodlust, pure and simple, and it was repulsive." -- Will Bunch

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Jon Stewart: Joke of a GOP Debate (Video)

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Liberals and Young Leaving Obama

Liberals who can stand the President who stands for nothing are now at just 69 percent. Young people also have a problem with the Conceder-in-Chief. Among 18-to-29 year olds, all of 47 percent are said to actually approve of Obama's performance. That can't last long.

Never fear, the Post-Partisan President is still striving to win over some Republicans and lose some more liberals. And when Obama announces his shameful plan to raise the eligibility age for Medicare, he'll lose more of both.

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JC Penney's Sexist T-Shirt, Aimed at Teen Girls, Pulled From Shelves

The good news is that feminist outrage and petitions actually work. The bad news is that some girls and some parents actually bought this degrading piece of J.C. Penny's sexist crap.

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Al Gore Disappointed With President Obama

Quote of the Day

"Instead of relying on science, President Obama appears to have bowed to pressure from polluters who did not want to bear the cost of implementing new restrictions on their harmful pollution—even though economists have shown that the US economy would benefit from the job creating investments associated with implementing the new technology. The result of the White House’s action will be increased medical bills for seniors with lung disease, more children developing asthma, and the continued degradation of our air quality."

-- Al Gore, Confronting Disappointment

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Barbara Boxer Hopes Greens Sue President Obama

In a relatively mild criticism of Obama's latest broken promise, i.e., Obama's embrace of Bush's dirty rotten polluted air standards, Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer said she hopes Greens sue the President.

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Obama's Ozone Decision Angers Liberals

Quote of the Day

“Many MoveOn members are wondering today how they can ever work for President Obama's reelection, or make the case for him to their neighbors, when he does something like this, after extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich, and giving in to tea party demands on the debt deal. This is a decision we'd expect from George W. Bush.”

--MoveOn Executive Director Justin Ruben

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What Would Hillary Have Done?

A letter writer from Seattle answers the question: What Would Hillary Have Done?

Rebecca Traister writes that Hillary Clinton’s presidency would probably not have looked so different from Obama’s. Really? Would Hillary have spent all her political capital passing a watered-down health care act? Would she have bailed out the banks and corporations? Surged in Afghanistan? Extended the Bush tax cuts? Signed a deficit-reduction act that balances the budget on the backs of the poor and working people of this country? I think not. The difference between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is that Clinton knows that the Republicans don’t play fair. People have a right to be bitterly disappointed, and it is only human nature to ask, “What if?”

WILHEMINA CONDON,
Seattle

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