Reply #214: You're not claiming Sirota called Obama a dictator on "Jan 18, 2009?" Because he said no such thing. [View All]

[DirkGently]

If you mean this piece (Sirota, Jan. 18, 2009)

http://articles.sfgate.com/2009-01-18/opinion/17197866_1_power-robert-moses-democratic

Sirota spoke about rising trends of authoritarianism in the executive branch -- pretty hard to discount after the Bush years -- and did criticize some call for administrative shortcuts by the incoming administration. He did not, under any possible interpretation, "declare that America is being run by a dictator."

Nor did he say that or anything resembling that about Obama. Not even close.

The current president reminded us that executives see all-powerful "deciders" when they look in the mirror. And Americans - sans kings to rally around - have been elevating commanders in chief to superhero status well before Barack Obama's Marvel comic-book debut and George Bush's flight-suited "Top Gun" impression in 2003.

In recent years, this culture of "presidentialism," as Vanderbilt Professor Dana Nelson calls it, has justified the Patriot Act, warrantless wiretaps and a radical theory of the "unitary executive" that aims to provide a jurisprudential rationale for total White House supremacy over all government. But only in the past three months has American czarism metastasized from a troubling slow-growth tumor to a potentially deadly cancer.

"Lunatic stuff?"

Are you referring to another piece? Because if you're referring to this one, you've either misremembered badly, or unconscionably distorted the piece in order to unfairly attack Sirota.

He said nothing remotely like what you said he said.