Crackdown overrode liberty: Tom Ridge

[The Sushi Bandit]

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/09/1078594362827.html

America's top anti-terrorism official has conceded the country courted an international backlash by failing to temper its security push with respect for privacy and civil liberties.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said yesterday that some of the tough measures imposed in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks - including racially-based checks on foreign visitors to the US - had been unfair.

"America knows we cannot seek a double standard and America knows we get what we give. And so we must and will always be careful to respect people's privacy, civil liberties and reputations," Mr Ridge said here at the start of a regional tour. "To suggest there is a trade-off between security and individual freedoms - that we must discard one protection for the other - is a false choice. You do not defend liberty to forsake it."

[NNN0LHI]

1. Mr. Ridge will be yearning to spend more time with the family really soon

Thats my guess here.

Don

[indepat]

5. My God, is that not heretical, does it not fly in the face of everything

sacred about this Administration? What am I missing here?

[Just Me]

11. He's just BSing,...to quiet the discontent,...

,...that continues to brew. He only says such things because he views the "administration" as sacred.

[displacedtexan]

7. Or maybe "personal endeavors in the private sector?"

the second favorite excuse.

[aquart]

2. The little creep is trying for better PR?

What is this he's spouting? That he's refined the discrimination? Does he plan to refine the no fly and always hassle lists, too?

Just another BushCo liar trying to put on lipstick without looking in the mirror.

[Khephra]

3. He's just on message

The administration is trying to head off any area of potential attack from Kerry. It's time to become "compassionate conservatives" once again. And, god forgive us, a lot of the public will buy into it again.

[ScrewyRabbit]

6. You nailed it

That's exactly what the strategy is.

[OldCurmudgeon]

10. Ridge isn't a hardcore 'winger

he's not an anti-abortion sealot, for example. Like Christie Whitman: definitely a 'pug, but excluded from the inner circle for being too moderate.

My suspicion is that ShrubCo made a concious effort to suck people like Ridge and Whitman into the administration, in positions that were generally powerless, so that they could clear the way for hard core 'wingers and generally marginalize the 'pug moderates.

Too bad for Ridge that he fell for it.

[Ready4Change]

4. Look past the curtain.

I'm tired of listening to what this administration SAYS.

Watch for what this administration DOES.

- No child left behind = children left behind.

- Tax cuts for all = Tax cuts for the rich.

- Demand 9/11 investigation = Resist testifying to 9/11 commission

- Fight terrorist who "hate our freedoms" = Pass Patriot act restricting freedoms

- Fight terrorist who "hate our freedoms" = Propose amendments restricting freedoms to gays

- Fight terrorist who "hate our freedoms" = Violate Gitmo detainees freedoms

- Fight terrorist who "hate our freedoms" = Hold US citizens for 2 years without charging them nor giving them access to legal counsel.

And on and on...

[pinto]

8. oh oh, bait and switch alert, Dept of Homeland Compassionate Security!

[catzies]

9. So, if "America knows we get what we give," Mr. Ridge,

then how can anyone say, "Why do they hate us?"

:eyes:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

12. SPIN SPIN SPIN

SPIN SPIN SPIN

for the elcection cycle