Okay, that's a little dramatic. But it's kind of hard to avoid the impression.

Comments

[Brian]

I don't how a Big Brother comparison in this regard is at all applicable. Obama's television ad isn't spying on citizens as in 1984. Nor is he even using the government to run the ads.

However, the Patriot Act... that's a bit more like Big Brother if you ask me.

The comparison is utterly off-base and I hope that you either explain or retract.

[Chris Clukey]

Gina, I too am scratching my head over the Big Brother comparison. Could you help me out?

Brian, can you quote the language from the Patriot Act that you find objectionable? You see, I've asked people of every political stripe that question for seven years now and I still haven't had anybody give me a good citation.

[Gina Dalfonzo]

It was a reference to the ubiquity of Obama's face on TV screens last night. As I said, it was an impression; it wasn't meant to be an exact parallel. Of course, the almost worshipful impulse that face inspires in some, which has been a fairly frequent topic of discussion here lately, does little to help dispel the impression.

And from what I've seen thus far of the Senator and his attitude toward dissent, I'm not optimistic about the future of our First Amendment rights in this country, should he be elected. Though I don't like to say it, I feel it's possible that the impression could come to look more and more like a parallel over time. That's why it puzzles me that haters of the Patriot Act are so eager to vote for him. There's an old saying about the frying pan and the fire . . ..

[Samuel X]

So not so much "Big Brother is Watching You" specifically as "Two-Minute Hate" or possibly "Minitrue"?

[Samuel X]

(Although that's clearly not an adequate description either...)

[Chris Clukey]

Gina--

Good points (I see where you were going now) but I'm not puzzled at all that the folks who like Obama (and in many cases, the Fairness Doctrine) hate the Patriot Act. It's all about bias.

I'm certain that if Al Gore had won in 2000 and signed the Patriot Act in the wake of 9/11, a high percentage of those who now blast it would have hailed it as as sign of Gore's strong commitment to national security.

How do I know that? I know it because virtually none of these constituencies raised a fuss when most of the provisions in the Patriot Act were applied to drug dealers and mafia dons. And I know it because some of these folks defended Bill Clinton when he lied under oath about sex but thought that it was a huge deal if Sarah Palin wasn't a virgin on her wedding night or had a pregnant daughter.

Of course, I'm sure that if the Patriot Act had been Gore's idea there would be conservatives talking about it as a huge abuse, but I generally find that liberals are far more likely to judge a policy or behavior by what letter the politician pushing it has after his or her name.

[labrialumn]

The FCC has sent letters to some thirty military analysists who are resources for the news media, charging them on multiple counts for saying positive things about our victories in Iraq.

This is the taste of things to come under a Soetoro/Reid/Pelosi triumvirate.

The several officials in the State of Ohio - all heavy Democrat contributors, who broke federal law to investigate everything about Joe W.'s life after he dared ask a question of their Lightworker is another shadow of things to come.

Big Brother is watching you. Soon he will do more than watch.