Drones and Wacko-Birds

Only 12% of the public approves of the work of the US Congress, its lowest approval rating ever.  But last week this national show suddenly became as entertaining as reality TV.  They might even get a ratings bump. 

In a performance that was covered widely and praised and damned by both left and right, Kentucky Republican Senator and Tea Party leader Rand Paul held forth in an old fashioned filibuster.  Obstructing any other legislative business, he spoke from the floor for over 13 hours, occasionally spelled by fellow Tea Party colleagues, condemning the possible use of militarized drones to kill US citizens on US soil.

Americans in general are increasingly concerned about our military’s use of drones overseas, the secrecy of the decision making about it, the growing power of the Executive branch to wage war without authorization, and possible uses of drones in the US for surveillance and attack. 

Paul had asked US Attorney General Eric Holder for an official opinion on whether Obama could order drone strikes here, and Holder’s response was long and very hedging and bureaucratic, and said, well we wouldn’t do that, but we could if we wanted to, maybe. After 13 hours of TV coverage and widespread approval of Paul’s concerns, Holder released another letter saying, well, no, I guess we wouldn’t do that, as long as the citizen was a non-combatant.

An odd coalition applauded Paul for bringing attention to this issue and forcing a response from the administration, from fellow Tea Party members to ACLU members and the anti war group Code Pink.  Paul and his Tea party colleagues, as civil libertarians and strict constitutionalists, object to undeclared wars, invasion of privacy and what they see as excessive federal spending. Code Pink and many other liberal Democrats (even the San Francisco Chronicle and Jon Stewart chimed in in support) echoed Paul’s concern about the Obama administration’s vague definitions of terrorism, inconsistent attitudes toward civil liberties, and secrecy about the use of drones against US citizens abroad and at home.

But not everyone approved of Paul’s actions.  His fellow Republican Senator John McCain and other old time Republican leaders lashed out at Paul’s questioning of aggressive US action against terrorists.  “We’ve done a disservice to many Americans to make them think they are in danger from their government.  They’re not.  But we are in danger from a dedicated, longstanding, easily replaceable-leadership enemy that is hellbent on our destruction,” said McCain.

Or to put it another way; McCain told the Huffington Post that Paul is a “whacko-bird.” 

Lamenting the amount of press coverage Paul and other Tea Party leaders get, McCain said, “It’s always the wacko birds on the right and left that get the media megaphone.”

John McCainBut some then called out McCain for his own inconsistency, since he is a frequent guest on Sunday news programs.  Commentator Jed Lewison wrote on the Daily Kos, “There isn’t anyone in the US Senate who gets more media attention that John McCain…There is no one else in DC who has an easier time getting covered by the press.  Which I guess means John McCain thinks he’s a wacko bird too.  He just wants the other wacko birds to stop crapping on his damn lawn.”

Sorry, that was a cheap shot.  It’s so easy to find this kind of stuff out there in comment land on the web.  But it’s funny, and I do enjoy the schadenfreude of watching the Republicans crapping, uh, commenting on each other, as their precious united front against Obama falls apart on national TV.

But it is seriously sad to think that it took a Tea Party guy (who lead the stupid pledge never, never to raise taxes which now shackles any action by Congress, who thinks the civil right bills were unnecessary and should have been left up to the states, who opposes all abortion even in the case of rape, who thinks the government should have nothing to do with education), that it took a nut case like that, a bird of the wacko family, to focus the national eye on the shameful secrecy of the Obama administration about drone warfare.  And finally to exact from Attorney General Holder, after those 13 hours, the answer he sought, and to keep that national eye sharply focused.

Rand Paul is the son of Ron Paul, the Libertarian former congressman and Presidential candidate.  A medical doctor, like his father, he is a strong proponent of term limits, decrying career politicians.  So he might not be Senator for too long.  But he’s already being touted as the Republican nominee for President in 2016. 

We’ve not heard the last of his caws.

Copyright © 2013 Deborah Streeter