Boehner: GOP Preparing Major Attack On Obama For Mirandizing Terrorists
Buried in this interview that John Boehner did with ABC News is a preview of the Next Big And Very Scary GOP National Security Attack: A full-scale assault on the White House for Mirandizing terrorists.
Boehner told ABC that national security was Obama’s Achilles heel, then added:
“I think most Americans will be appalled that we’re providing Miranda rights to terrorists,” Boehner predicted. “This thing is going to bubble up big.”
Boehner’s office confirms that’s the first time he’s made the charge, making this a kind of call to arms for the GOP and the right. The reference is to this report in the Weekly Standard, which said that Obama’s Justice Department has “quietly ordered FBI agents to read Miranda rights to high value detainees captured and held at U.S. detention facilities in Afghanistan.”
But is it true? A Justice Department spokesperson emailed us that while that there have been “specific cases in which FBI agents have Mirandized suspects overseas,” there has been “no policy change” and “no blanket instruction” to Mirandize detainees.
Interestingly, Boehner’s call to arms came after it emerged that no less a national security luminary than David Petraeus said he had “no concerns at all” about the Mirandizing of terrorists. Not even Petraeus’ word can dissuade Republicans from taking this tack.
This suggests, I think, an interesting new dynamic: The national security attacks coming from Republicans are opening up a bit of a schism between them and former allies in the Defense establishment who say such attacks are baseless. But more on this later.
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Bring on the Atwater vibe!!! Good Lord…these guys are running uphill in sand…
Uh,oh. Time for the waterworks! Boehner’s gonna bust out cryin’ again!
I just wish an administration would define what a terrorist is in the first place.
Can this possibly have legs? I mean, who cares?
When was the last time Boehner was right about anything?
Is Obama making detainees wear big fruit hats? That’s degrading!
Ironic that some HVDs are Mirandized while po-po in this country actively seek ways to avoid the implications of the Miranda case, and other constitutional criminal procedure cases.
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Please note that this reflects my opinion of police in this country, not the merits of giving detainees procedural protections (which I think are obvious; you know, “rule of law,” etc.)
Republicans are really out of touch if they believe that this issue is even in the top 50 on voters’ minds. Also, if you’re gonna make a national security attack, shouldn’t you choose one that isn’t supported by popular military leaders? Not to mention that the Obama administration says that the Bush administration was mirandizing as well. Bottom line: This is yet another “if Obama does it, it’s bad” knee-jerk attack from the Republicans.
I think I heard something on TV last night that Bush actually started the reading of Miranda Rights to detainees. Sounds pretty unlikely but that’s what I heard. Think I heard it on MSNBC, but I can’t recall who said it. Was I dreaming??
Even assuming that it is happening, why would it be a problem? Seems to me that the rightwing bullies just enjoy abusing people to the greatest extent possible and then some.