Barack Obama ran a campaign that was based, at least some of the time, on the notion that the American people were smart enough to see through cheap demagoguery

Now, THAT is funny stuff.

Meanwhile, if you can handle even more chuckles, here's another headline talking about what a great job Obama is doing making Republicans happy! Because if Lindsey Graham thinks you're doing a great job you must be a "progressive" "liberal" "new kinda hopey changey" guy:

If one was to go by the amount of problems the president had with the old system during the campaign, the paucity of real cleaning is nothing short of remarkable. His pledge to leave Iraq within 16 months went up in smoke just days after he took office. At this point he seems determined to leave as many as 50,000 troops in the nation indefinitely.

But the moves of the past week were nothing short of monumental. His pledge of transparency vanished on Wednesday, when he reversed a Pentagon decision to release photos of detainee abuse. The move came under pressure from military officials and hawkish Congressmen, who feared that revealing the extent of the mistreatment would put the nation's assorted wars at risk.

"We agree with Congress that before resources, that they should receive a more detailed plan," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters yesterday. He said Obama will address tomorrow whether the detainees would be transferred to U.S. prisons, sent to other countries or a combination of both.

Once those details are resolved, Gibbs added, "the president and Congress will work together on a timeline for a renewed request for whatever resources are needed." Asked whether Obama's closing date would be pushed back, he said, "There's been no change in the date from the executive order."

And, there's this:

Reid said the Senate will make sure that any final plan includes a prohibition on the transfer of detainees to U.S. prisons. "Can't put them in prison unless you release them," he said.

To forestall a showdown with Republicans, Democratic leaders unveiled an amendment to the war funding bill that "explicitly bars" using proceeds from the legislation "to transfer, release or incarcerate any of the Guantanamo detainees in the United States."

What is most damaging about all of this is exactly what Goldsmith celebrated:  that Obama's political skills, combined with his status as a Democrat, is strengthening Bush/Cheney terrorism policies and solidifying them further.  For the last eight years, roughly half the country -- Republicans, Bush followers -- was trained to cheer for indefinite detention, presidential secrecy, military commissions, warrantless eavesdropping, denial of due process, a blind acceptance of any presidential assertion that these policies are necessary to Keep Us Safe, and the claim that only fringe Far Leftist Purists -- civil liberties extremists -- could possibly object to any of that.

Now, much of the other half of the country, the one that once opposed those policies -- Democrats, Obama supporters -- are now reciting the same lines, adopting the same mentality, because doing so is necessary to justify what Obama is doing.

Greenwald

U.S. Representatives and Senators are afraid  that Gitmo detainees in their state or district would prevent  them  from being re elected.  

TChris: "Has Reid decided, without the benefit of trials, that the 240 involuntary residents of Guantanamo are all terrorists?"

Evacuatre US personnel.

so, here we have at least 3 US citizens, who are Islamic terrorists...

do these US citizens get sent to Cuba, considering that Americans don't want terrorists in their backyards?

very interesting to see how this goes...very interesting...
after all, Americans don't want terrorists to be in prison in America (but in this case we are talking about American citizens)...

Oh yeah, these four terrorists will be in court today (what, court for enemy combatants?  seems weird to me...why not just send them away and forget about them?)