Holy Geez, the tea baggers are being proven right by Obama

[RobertEarl]

They feared that Obama would bring down the country by using the government to oppress everyone. Right?

Now this whole NSA scandal is exploding and only the blind can not see that the improper use of the NSA could become very oppressive.

OMG.

[hrmjustin]

1. "Tea baggers are being proven right" I am sorry I don't like what the NSa is doing because it is

wrong IMO but the tea baggers were not right.

[RobertEarl]

5. Eh?

You think gathering intelligence on everyone can't be used to oppress everyone?

Obama needs to put an end to it right now.

[hrmjustin]

6. No it can be used to oppress but proclaiming the tea party right on this board is not appropriate

IMO.

[RobertEarl]

8. It can be used to oppress

And that is what the TB have been saying. I think Obama better get off his ass and end this spying shit right now. Don't you think?

[hrmjustin]

9. What has the tea party been saying? And why doyou care what they say?

Yes the president needs to fix this issue, but not because to the tea party people.

[mercuryblues]

78. No

They only started saying that AFTER the power was transferred from bush to the black man. If Rmoney was in office they would be cheering.

[kelliekat44]

59. When has it been used to "oppress?" What has been stopped? nt0

[hrmjustin]

61. I don't know if it has been used to oppress people.

[Whisp]

11. good gawd.

[notadmblnd]

92. Obama doesn't have the power to end it. Congress does

and- as we have seen, the House is controlled by cons and they will do nothing to pass a bill (good or bad) that Obama might get credit for.

Instead of coming here and finding blame with Obama, people should be calling their Republican congress criminals to end this. And if they don't, try not voting for them when they're up for re-election.

[Recursion]

2. Shark. Jumped.

I'm going to go take a nap.

[Narkos]

10. Agreed. People are losing their frigging minds

[silverweb]

12. You got that right.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]The premise is nuts.

[RobertEarl]

15. Eh?

This whole NSA scandal is exploding and only the blind can not see that the improper use of the NSA could become very oppressive.

And we have proof of improper use. You can deny it ll you want, but the proof is right there.

[silverweb]

35. Absurd.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Regardless of what you think of the whole NSA business (which started long before Obama), it's far from "bringing down the country."

You're minimizing or denying all the good that President Obama has done during his tenure so far. You're throwing it all out, despite everything he's gone through to accomplish as much as he has. I don't agree with all of his positions or actions, but you are, in effect, calling him our enemy. That's nuts.

J. Edgar Hoover, the John Birchers, and Joe McCarthy didn't bring down the country, and they were as egregious in their day as NSA violations are in ours.

You're putting responsibility for the whole (pre-existing) NSA mess on President Obama and equating him with those goons, and saying that our arch enemies, the John Birch zombies in their current incarnation of the Koch/Tea Party maniacs, are right. That's nuts.

Yes, the premise of your OP is nuts.

[LordGlenconner]

54. If a tree falls in a forest...

You know the rest.

[gulfbreeze]

99. You are right

posted on the New York Times, here is an unbelievable NSA documentary created by documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras. I just discovered it and it's been out for a year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/opinion/the-national-security-agencys-domestic-spying-program.html?smid=pl-share

[greatauntoftriplets]

81. Thank the gods I have my new toy.

[maddezmom]

102. LOL

Putting it to good use I see!

[greatauntoftriplets]

103. I have so many opportunities to use it!

[VanillaRhapsody]

3. You have officially just witnessed the far-left meeting the far-right...

wasn't that an incredible sight to be party to? Wow just Wow...never thought I would get the opportunity to see it actually happen at the moment that it happened...and there it was!

[RobertEarl]

7. I don't know what you know

But there are many people who do know that the government spying on everyone is just the first step to the government oppressing everyone.

[Narkos]

16. Uh huh

[JoePhilly]

53. Next the government will offer universal health care so that they can ...

get control of your medical records.

Then the FEMA camps and death panels kick in.

[Summer Hathaway]

36. And that's exactly what happened.

Glad to share the moment with you - it was stunning beyond belief.

You can keep your meteor showers, your Aurora Borealis pics, your computer-generated Big Bang explosion.

THIS was the moment to be witnessed above all others.

I will tell my grandchildren that I WAS THERE to see it happen. Sadly.

[VanillaRhapsody]

51. OMG...I just saw the Teabaggers and the Anarchists shaking hands...

I guess that means that hell is frozen over too! I fully expect to see pigs flying at any moment now!

[CakeGrrl]

47. +1000

The paranoia, the hyperbole, the insults, the 'with us or against us'...it's convergence.

[KittyWampus]

63. Well, some of us have been trying to explain why agendas matter (regarding Greenwald/Assange).

The OP is exactly the reason.

[MFrohike]

4. A little disconnect

They like to claim he is doing this, which is different from could do it. The only thing I think they get right are their names and, like I said, I only think that.

[Demo_Chris]

13. Reccing this because it deserves some thought....

I get your point, but respectfully I think the way your said it is using far too wide a brush.

[Demonaut]

14. omg......

whatever

[RobertEarl]

19. Eh?

This whole NSA scandal is exploding and only the blind can not see that the improper use of the NSA could become very oppressive.

And we see the proof already of improper use of NSA. Obama best get moving on this, quick, or it will do great damage to what little faith remains in the government.

[4bucksagallon]

17. Yep, none of this would be happening if only...........

someone else, like Robme, had been elected to the White House........LOL!

[hrmjustin]

18. Are you claiming that Obama is bringing down the country?

[Cali_Democrat]

20. The teabaggers were right and Obama has oppressed us and brought down the country?

Holy fucking hell

[sagat]

21. Obama's oppressing us and bringing down the country?

Are you fucking serious?

Wow.

[Rex]

22. So you are saying that he will be coming for your hard drives

and NOT guns!? Geez...don't give them anything else to freak about. Bad enough RimJob is the leader of the Preppers.

[RobertEarl]

25. Hard drives?

Like the electronics of the fellow who was a friend of the journalist? Damn.

[Rex]

28. Just trying to make sense of your screed.

nt.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

23. You lost me after teabaggers are right. The rest is just mindless letters

and noise.

Agreed with earlier poster. But it's something about "Fridge" and being "Nuked" as well as "Shark" being successfully "Jumped."

[Gman]

24. Puh-leeeezzz

such drama.

[JI7]

26. revealing yourself now ? like hannah did

[SidDithers]

33. +1...nt

Sid

[KittyWampus]

68. it seems premature

[NYC Liberal]

27. No. The racist, right-wing fanatical shitheads are not "right".

[delrem]

29. Heh, you realize that you just set yourself up to be identified with the most despicable teabagger?

By our resident geniuses...
What else can they do?

[Summer Hathaway]

30. Right now

there are over-worked, tired-to-the-bone sharks desperately trying to keep up with their job of being jumped on DU.

[DevonRex]

31. Please proceed, Earl.

[bravenak]

32. The tea party is never right.

About anything. Look at my former Govornor Sarah Palin. Never right.

[struggle4progress]

34. Death panels! Area 51! Birth certificate! Sasquatch! Bengazi! Ooga Booga!

[JoePhilly]

55. FEMA Camps!!! And wait until they get your medical records!!!

[bunnies]

37. A DUer posted a vid the other day.

Its perfect for this thread.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="

?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[maddezmom]

38. Yikes, drama much?

[alcibiades_mystery]

39. Go join their movement

OMG indeed.

[RobertEarl]

40. Wow, people having a hard time reading and comprehending

It is quite fucking obvious that I oppose the government oppression via the NSA. At least to those who can read and comprehend.

[uponit7771]

101. "government oppression" = winger term

[snooper2]

41. .

[bunnies]

43. heh. More like:

[MineralMan]

42. Holy Geez, you're way off base on this.

Uff da!

[MineralMan]

44. This applies:

[HappyMe]

45. OMG is right.

What a steaming pile of crap.

[RobertEarl]

48. Truth hurts, don't it? It makes you unhappy, right?

Hardly one cogent reply in this whole thread, but when one is made and my response blows them away, they hide.

It is OMG to see that Obama has not yet clamped down on the spying. What is he waiting for?

[HappyMe]

49. lol!

I seriously doubt your responses are blowing anybody away. Nobody is hiding. The lack of responses has more to do with your happiness with teabagger thinking.

[RobertEarl]

50. Obama can prove them wrong

He can clamp down on the spying which is the first step to oppression.

Why hasn't Obama acted yet? Does it make you happy he is not doing anything but telling the people there is nothing to worry about?

Obama needs to change course, like he promised us he was in office to do.

[greatauntoftriplets]

84. The responses are making me...

Do you suppose that the OP was intended as comedy?

[HappyMe]

85. I would hope that it was

meant as comedy.

[greatauntoftriplets]

87. Funniest thing I've read all week!

[HappyMe]

89. The RobertEarl Comedy Hour!

[greatauntoftriplets]

91. Only thing is...

he thought he was doing Shakespearean tragedy!

[leftynyc]

88. Hide? from you?

That you think your ridiculous OP has "blown them away" is laughable which is why you're getting the only response you deserve - ridicule.

[geek tragedy]

46. Second thread today endorsing the Tea Bagger view of Obama.

This place has been infested by the Ron Paul crowd.

[bunnies]

56. And I get the feeling there are quite a few DUers...

silently agreeing with this thread. Call it a hunch.

[RobertEarl]

57. Obama can prove them wrong

Or are you saying he can't? Or he shouldn't?

What is your point?

Are you happy that you are being spied on?

[bunnies]

62. I feel bad that those who agree with you are leaving you twisting in this thread.

As I said, Im sure there are others who agree with you but decline to say so. That said, I dont feel that the President is using the gov't to oppress everyone. The potential may be there but I don't think its happening. I also dont think the teabaggers are right on this any more than I think theyre right when they say hes a socialist-marxist commie Muslim.

Im not sure ANY President, if given this type of power by congress, would refuse the ability to use it as they see fit. Im not excusing anything... and no, I dont like the idea of being spied on, but I'd always been under the impression that it was happening, to some degree, anyway.

Lets say Obama walks the programs back & something happens afterward... regardless of whether or not the program could have thwarted it or not... he will be blamed mercilessly for everything and anything and we'll get our asses handed to us in the next election(s).

Please dont take this as an attempt to rationalize the NSA overreach. I believe that American citizens doing no wrong should be left alone. I just think it must be a very difficult position for the President to be in. Dont you think?

[RobertEarl]

73. Leave me twisting? Ha

The attackers here would attack me if I posted a sky is blue thread. They are inconsequential.

I see a whole lot of very good, "far lefties" on DU who feel much the same way as I. We need leadership. The whole country needs it. Did not Obama say he was president of everyone? Well, both spectrums are pissed off.

Obama is in a tough spot. He didn't put the NSA in place, but he can put the NSA in place. Instead he tells us we have nothing to worry about.


Frankly, I think Obama is looking to have his feet held to the fire.

[bunnies]

77. Feet to the fire.

I think you might be right about that. Its going to take a massive amount of pressure from ALL sides to get these programs walked back for the exact reasons I posted above. Its got to get to the point where he and "the left" wont be the ones shouldering the blame if something goes wrong on his watch.

I think what he really needs to do, ASAP, is get out in front of this issue. Stop treating us like we're idiots and give it to us straight. Tell us the truth about Americans communications being swept up and make a REAL effort to fix it. Not do stupid shit like appointing Clapper as overseer. Gimme a break.

[haele]

65. I think what they're saying is since presidents from Roosevelt through Johnson didn't stop Hoover -

Who tried the very same thing the NSA is doing now with the technology at the time, and would have done exactly the same if the technology was compatible didn't stop the program, they must have been equally as destructive as Pres. Obama is now.

Not saying it's right, but I know I have an FBI file from 1976, when I was still in High School, and my parents have had a pretty comprehensive one from 1961 on.
In fact, we used FOIA to get my dad's FBI file to get the dates and places/activities straight when we planned his memorial service. It might have seemed rather strange, but he did a lot of traveling and social/political stuff; and Mom was still pretty torn up and didn't remember their time in the 1960's very well.

Now, I'm not poo-pooing the seriousness of NSA data collection, but honestly, in this current United States of America LLC we are living in, the President doesn't have half as much power as one might think the position should have.
Frankly, the President's position of power is the same no matter what the NSA does, will do, or has done, but the companies that have investments? The ones that buy congressional elections and insure pork-barrel contracts go their way? The ones using insider information to go after threats to their organizational goals?
Hell no, they're the ones fighting, and honestly, they're the ones pushing on the government to get Snowden, and Greenwald, et all.
The problem with these rogue entities is that there's way too much private money involved; and too many people are making profits off government activities. No matter who the people at the top are, it's a structural drive for any organizational entity to survive.

Thank St. Ronnie Ray-gun and his cabal of corporatist and CIA stooges for the NSA, and the transition from the United States of America, land of individuals and cultural melting pot, to The United States of America LLC, land of the CEOs and BoDs.

Follow the money, and you'll see who is behind this NSA swamp; but the problem is, I don't see a way to drain the swamp anymore. To elect people who are interested in governing instead of profiting or making a political statement is required, because the only way to really reign in or break up the NSA structure is through cutting the funding - and Congress handles the purse strings.
Between Citizen's United, poor citizen participation, and "tea-party" intransigence, it's pretty much settled that primaries don't require the candidates to actually debate or practice compromise to get their votes. Just glad-hand community "leaders" (aka, the Chamber of Commerce or primary local religious institution) and do what they say, and you'll get elected...no need to think beyond your clique.

Cut the purse strings and outside money influence! That's the only way you'll get any organization now-a-days to listen.

Haele

[railsback]

52. It burns….

[tabasco]

80. CALL CONGRESS RIGHT FUCKING NOW !!1!!1

WHAT A CESSPOOL DU HAS BECOME.

[Skraxx]

58. This Place Get's More and More Amusing by the Day! Bravo! Good Show!

[vaberella]

72. That's all I could say. Wow, man. Teabaggers alive. I want my government run healthcare then. n/t

[one_voice]

60. .

[Old and In the Way]

64. I knew when Obama rammed through the Patriot Act and created DHS/TSA that we were in for trouble....

Last edited Wed Aug 21, 2013, 04:39 PM - Edit history (1)

Seriously, lets conduct a thought experiment.

Lets suppose Obama gets into office and is able to successfully dismantle all of the various domestic/international spy agencies back in 2009 Hooray! Then, an awful act of domestic terrorism happens on his watch. Who gets held responsible? <remember, 1/2 the people in this country didn't hold their own elected party leaders accountable for what happened on 9/11 and 3000 Americans died, even though we know they were criminally negligent in not raising the flags when they were told of impending attacks...but these same people are more than willing to impeach this President over the Benghazi attacks> . I'm sorry, but no Democratic President would ever risk his life or reputation on actions that could expose him to these end results.

Here's a far better solution. How about CONGRESS and BOTH PARTIES unite behind a series of proposals that will address the issues of domestic spying/intel gathering and civil liberties? Perhaps by unanimous legislation that insulates the Executive Branch - now and in the future - from the consequences of unilateral action on this matter. After all, it was Congress (particularly the Party of Bush/Cheney) who were quite instrumental in allowing/creating the conditions that made these abuses possible.

[RobertEarl]

71. Indeed

The problem is so huge it is going to take real unity to overcome.

Just wish Obama would take more leadership and acknowledge that the NSA is out of control.

Obama should start by relaying your facts that he did not institute this, but he is going to clamp down on it. Hey, one can hope for some change, eh?

Thanks for your cogent reply.

[jberryhill]

83. "Thanks for your cogent reply"

Incidentally, could you remind us just when it was that "Obama rammed through the Patriot Act and created DHS/TSA"?

[jberryhill]

79. Heh

*Whoosh*

[MrScorpio]

66. Try drinking decaf from now on, it might help you out with your problem there. nt

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

67. At least you've finally dropped all pretense

About fucking time. Stop beating around the bush I say.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

69. This froma Tea Party fan. Yellow Dog? No, more like yellow bellied traitor.

no wonder you like Snowden. Yellow Snowden.

[Godhumor]

70. Help! Help! I am being oppressed!

Better to burn out than fade away, eh?

[AlinPA]

74. You meant to log into freerepublic, right?

[cthulu2016]

75. They are not. I disagree strongly with this sentiment.

The Tea Party has never had a coherent view of anything.

Obama's errors, when they arise, are ours to discover and weigh, as the RW has none of the wit, integrity or appreciation of reason for the task.

[CBGLuthier]

76. To misquote those folks you now admire for their prophecy

I WANT MY DU BACK!!!

Blecch.

[RobertEarl]

82. Admire?

You can't comprehend much can you?

However, if they really do not want the NSA spying on them, they are not totally crazy.

[Rectangle]

86. WTF? n/t

[notadmblnd]

90. Except that it began under Bush

Remember when ole Rummy wanted to implement the TIA? It included encouraging neighbors and families into ratting each other out. I remember, there was an outrage by all then and Ruy and his fellow neocons supposedly backed off.

They did not back off, they just found another way to do it. But what I really don't understand, is why people would think that once given a power, the government would give that power up with out a fight?

[davidn3600]

93. Yes it began under Bush and Obama has done nothing but make it worse

[notadmblnd]

95. Again, why wold you expect Obama or any other government entity to end it?

I really don't think Obama personally has the power to end it. I think it is something congress must do.

[davidn3600]

108. Sure he does....he's the commander-in-chief.. he's the chief executive

He can end it anytime he wants.

When Snowden came out, Obama could have come out and said he's going to appoint an independent investigator to make sure abuses are not occurring. He could have come clean with what's going on. He could have signed executive orders dictating the NSA to not spy on American citizens. Instead, the man lies to our face and insults our intelligence. He goes on a global manhunt for the whistleblower burning every diplomatic bridge he can find, insulting other countries and leaders, and looking like an arrogant little baby whining because Putin won't do what he wants.

It shows what this nation is becoming. Since 9/11 we have been on a fast-track for a police/surveillance state. And both the GOP and the Democrats are in full support of that. In the end, the only people that will win when history looks back at this era is that Al-Queda won. Osama Bin Laden has succeeded in making the American people and its government so scared its willing to shred its own constitution and destroy its own foundation of freedom, liberty, and democracy.

[RobertEarl]

94. Yep, we re in a real fight, finally

I have been trying to get people to become aware all this time. Now even the crazy tea baggers are in the mix. It is not Obama's fault, but then, what's he doing about it?

[notadmblnd]

96. What? You think he can put pressure on congress to end it?

If you think congress is going to do anything Obama encourages them to do, then I got a bridge to sell you.

I think maybe some reverse psychology could work here. If the baggers and other nutjobs get enraged enough along with the rest of us, then congress might just do what needs to be done to spite Obama.

[RobertEarl]

98. There was vote to defund

It nearly passed. Obama was against it. Why?

Most democrats were for defunding and a whole bunch of Rats were also.

The house leadership followed Obama. Both sides.

[notadmblnd]

105. News reports in December 2005 first revealed that the National Security Agency (NSA)

has been intercepting Americans’ phone calls and Internet communications. Those news reports, combined with a USA Today story in May 2006 and the statements of several members of Congress, revealed that the NSA is also receiving wholesale copies of American's telephone and other communications records. All of these surveillance activities are in violation of the privacy safeguards established by Congress and the US Constitution.

https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying

But yeah, I'm certain the NSA had a back door into the Windows OS as early as the mid 90's and could access any computer they wanted. However, I don't think it was the massive data collection program the NSA is running since 2005.

[uponit7771]

100. ***********FUCKIN WOW!!!!!!!*********************

[DinahMoeHum]

107. Meh, they're like a stopped watch. . .

. . .correct time only twice in a day.