rssPalin mocks Obama for respect for civil rights
Thursday, September 04, 2008 at 9:58 am
- 6 Comments
Last night, at the Republican National Convention, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin took a dig at Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, for what’s apparently become an embarrassing notion to Republicans: the American commitment to civil rights.
“Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America,” Palin pronounced in her folksy Alaskan twang. “He’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights.”
Judging by the applause, it was an effective rhetorical swipe at the Democratic standard-bearer. But it’s an odd thing to hear a vice presidential candidate mocking the very American notion that people suspected of wrongdoing have a right to defend themselves against the charges.
The Bush administration has decided that those rights don’t apply to anyone suspected of being linked to terrorism — no matter how thin, or faulty, or just plain absent the evidence against them might be.
That more than half of the men and boys detained at Guantanamo Bay as suspected terrorists — many for years and many subject to torture by U.S. authorities — were eventually released without charge suggests that there may be a reason for having those minimum rights accorded to suspects after all.
Like current Vice President, Dick Cheney, the GOP nominee apparently thinks that respecting “rights” are just another way of coddling our enemies.
Such actions are not without precedent in the United States. During World War II, for example (a war that was officially declared and did have a definite end, unlike the present one), FDR signed an executive order forcing the internment of more than 100,000 Japanese nationals and Japanese-Americans for the duration of hostilities with Japan. The issue went to the Supreme Court; and in Korematsu v. U.S., the court upheld the executive internment order. That, of course, has become one of the huge embarrassments of 20th century American history.
“I remember studying Korematsu in law school, and thinking, of course, that could never happen again,” said Eric Lewis, a partner at Baach Robinson and Lewis, a Washington law firm, who’s representing former Guantanamo detainees suing former Defense Sec. Donald Rumsfeld and others for authorizing their torture.
Until now. “This,” Lewis continued, “is the legal issue of our time.”
Palin’s speech last night suggests that in a McCain-Palin administration, the indefinite detention and abuse of foreigners without charges will remain an issue for at least another four years. And it could well be that if McCain has his way with the Supreme Court, we could easily end up with another decision as infamous as Korematsu.
6 Comments
Comment posted September 4, 2008 @ 9:43 am
This is an issue that needs to be taken VERY seriously. Anti civil rights demagoguery is particularly scary when you consider that a group of protesters in St. Paul are now being charged as terrorists! Think about it – citizens protesting at a political convention are arrested as terrorists, while the candidate suggests that terrorists should not have the right to a fair trial. Combine that with the Bush's assertion that the “War on Terror” gives the commander in chief the right to break any law, you have a formula to turn the US into Zimbabwe – where the executive branch claims to have the right to arrest and detain protestors as terrorists, and detain them indefinitely without rights. This may seem hysterical, or exaggerated, but a popular demagogue like Palin is extremely dangerous and we must take these concerns seriously, now, before it is too late.
Comment posted September 4, 2008 @ 12:04 pm
I hope for Palin's sake that her view on civil rights isn't implemented. This would mean SHE would have to go to prison immediately for her alleged abuse of power by firing her ex-brother-in-law. After all, no reason to read her her rights or to assume she's innocent. Straight to prison Palin. Careful what you wish for.
Comment posted September 5, 2008 @ 9:52 am
Hurrah! Someone who has some sense and critical judgment. The author of this article points out something that we should all take note of – - the absurdness of a vice presidential candidate mocking our civil rights, with the audience dutifully chuckling in response. Shouldn't we all be troubled by the very potential that this woman is going to be the leader of our country that was build upon the very principles that she is now belittling?
Comment posted September 5, 2008 @ 1:29 pm
The Japanese internment is a sad and shameful episode and not tocompare with the approach to Al Quaida or islamic terrorist suspects. While torture is unacceptable and against the Geneva convention, providing them the same rights like american citizens and instructing them of the Miranda law when captured in battle is ridiculous. You cannot treat an islamic extremist who has no respect for human life nor democratic laws without trying to extract some information,even before he or she has access to a lawyer.We are in the middle of a war and the end is in sight , wether democrats or republicans take over the white house But a war it is and an appeasement policy may have the exact same results like the appeasement attempts before and in the beginning of world war 2 that resulted in Hitler's ascent, the subjugation of all european democracies to a demented tyrant and the killing of 40 million innocent people. For those who survived it the war seemed to NEVER end. It is very questionnable that even a brilliant man like Obama will know how to handle the islamic treat nor the communist expansionim for that matter
Comment posted September 5, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
Hurrah! Someone who has some sense and critical judgment. The author of this article points out something that we should all take note of – - the absurdness of a vice presidential candidate mocking our civil rights, with the audience dutifully chuckling in response. Shouldn't we all be troubled by the very potential that this woman is going to be the leader of our country that was build upon the very principles that she is now belittling?
Comment posted September 5, 2008 @ 6:29 pm
The Japanese internment is a sad and shameful episode and not tocompare with the approach to Al Quaida or islamic terrorist suspects. While torture is unacceptable and against the Geneva convention, providing them the same rights like american citizens and instructing them of the Miranda law when captured in battle is ridiculous. You cannot treat an islamic extremist who has no respect for human life nor democratic laws without trying to extract some information,even before he or she has access to a lawyer.We are in the middle of a war and the end is in sight , wether democrats or republicans take over the white house But a war it is and an appeasement policy may have the exact same results like the appeasement attempts before and in the beginning of world war 2 that resulted in Hitler's ascent, the subjugation of all european democracies to a demented tyrant and the killing of 40 million innocent people. For those who survived it the war seemed to NEVER end. It is very questionnable that even a brilliant man like Obama will know how to handle the islamic treat nor the communist expansionim for that matter
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