Racheal Maddow and the Left Start to See Through the Obama Fog

Here are my past blogs on this issue.

I often watch Rachael Maddow’s show, just to see how long I can watch before I have to change it. Its kind of like seeing how long you can hold your breath underwater before you faint. Given her abysmal ratings and far-left attitude, I am shocked she remains on the air.

As much as I despise Rachael Maddow, I am very glad to see her integrity on this issue. I expected her to defend Obama without restraint. Instead, she took a principled stand on the issue of imprisonment. Obama lied to the left to get their support, now they are starting to realize this. It has become clear that he is only different from Pres. Bush on a superficial level.

Imprisonment is a big problem in the U.S. generally - despite the fact that the Bill of Rights has more provisions for the accused than any other type of provision. America imprisons over 10% of its population, most of which is based on drug related convictions. The problem is so bad in California that the state plans to release a significant percentage of its inmates soon.

The way the accused are treated is something that separates the good guys from the bad guys. Our founders knew this. They built our law to have strong judiciary and justice system for this purpose. It is largely considered the best in the world.

I have argued from the beginning that Guantanamo would be a serious problem in this country because it conflicted strongly with our national values. Speculative fear that someone will commit a crime cannot justify imprisonment. I argued that imprisonment without any judicial oversight blurred the lines between who are the good guys in the War of Terror. I never felt we had to give them full Constitutional rights, but just some kind of hearing with transparency.

You see, it has gone widely unreported that Guantanamo holds people who are not even accused of terrorism. This is why the Bush and Obama administration do not want to release these individuals. They are actually holding people who have not done anything wrong – at least not by our standards (in China it is wrong to speak against the government).

For those who respect the “rule of law,” it was important that Obama change this glaring weakness in the Bush record. Unfortunately, it probably wont happen.