Yesterday, I noted John Kerry’s propensity to criticize President Bush over tactical military decisions, including ones that he himself had supported. Last night, Kerry showed that this prospensity extends to domestic law enforcement. Specifically, Kerry attacked the president’s implementation of the Patriot Act because the Inspector General thinks that in two cases the administration acted illegally in its efforts to combat domestic terrorism. Under a Kerry administration, one must assume, no anti-terrorism law enforcement activity would ever be found by a reviewing body to go to far.
One must also assume that Kerry “has a plan” to prevent such findings. There is, in fact, an approach that might keep the Inspector General happy in all instances. It’s the pre-September 11 approach, wherein Justice Department lawyers veto all law enforcement recommendations from the field that sound controversial.
Is this what Kerry has in mind? With most politicians, one could be confident that it is not, and that the politician is demagoguing the issue. Kerry too may be demagoguing — that practice has become a staple of his campaign. Yet Kerry’s instincts when it comes to protecting this country are so bad that one cannot be sure.
-
-
Most Read on Power Line
Donate to PL
-
Our Favorites
- American Greatness
- American Mind
- American Story
- American Thinker
- Aspen beat
- Babylon Bee
- Belmont Club
- Churchill Project
- Claremont Institute
- Daily Torch
- Federalist
- Gatestone Institute
- Hollywood in Toto
- Hoover Institution
- Hot Air
- Hugh Hewitt
- InstaPundit
- Jewish World Review
- Law & Liberty
- Legal Insurrection
- Liberty Daily
- Lileks
- Lucianne
- Michael Ramirez Cartoons
- Michelle Malkin
- Pipeline
- RealClearPolitics
- Ricochet
- Steyn Online
- Tim Blair
Media
Subscribe to Power Line by Email
Temporarily disabled
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.