Rand Paul Squandered The Only Shot At NSA Reform For A Long, Long Time

Posted by | November 20, 2014 08:00 | Filed under: Bob Cesca Contributors Opinion Politics Top Stories

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The Keystone XL pipeline wasn’t the only piece of legislation that was killed on Tuesday. Make no mistake, it’ll unfortunately be back after the new Congress is sworn in next year, but for now it’s been blocked. The other item on Tuesday’s agenda was the USA Freedom Act, a bill designed to reform the National Security Agency. Naturally, it was successfully filibustered by all but four Republicans and one Democrat. The cloture vote failed, 58 to 42, with Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT), Dean Heller (R-NV), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) voting in support of the legislation.

Among other things, the bill would’ve ended bulk collection of electronic metadata by NSA, mandating that telecoms retain that information to be accessible by NSA with a warrant. It would’ve also appointed a citizen advocate on the FISA Court to argue in support of privacy and civil liberties. The entire story is an exercise in how utterly clueless the supporters of Ed Snowden really are, this time squandering the only real chance at NSA reform they’ll likely see in a while.

Regardless, one of the senators who voted to filibuster the legislation was Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), the hero of Snowden disciples everywhere. The bill would’ve only needed Rand Paul and one other senator for cloture. But nope.

To be fair, Paul said he voted to filibuster because the law didn’t go far enough. In hindsight, it makes perfect sense because it suits his well-known duplicity on a wide variety of issues. When he’s kissing the asses of civil liberties people, he can roll out the “it didn’t go far enough” excuse. But when he’s kissing the asses of conservative primary voters in New Hampshire or South Carolina, he can say he’s all for beefing up our national security in the face of threats like ISIS, so he voted against it. A flip-flopper needs to flip-flop. Rand Paul is a slick used-car salesman who’s always on the lookout for opportunistic material with which to trick voters into buying his clown-sized jalopy.

What makes his filibuster vote additionally suspicious is… CONTINUE READING 

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Copyright 2014 Liberaland
By: Bob Cesca

Bob Cesca is the managing editor at The Daily Banter (www.thedailybanter.com) and a Huffington Post contributor since 2005. He's worked in journalism since 1988 as a print writer/editor, a radio news anchor, a digital media columnist/editor, a book author and blogger. He's the co-host of the Bubble Genius Bob & Chez Show podcast and a Thursday regular on the syndicated Stephanie Miller Show. He's appeared on numerous other radio shows including the John Phillips Show and Geraldo Rivera Show in Los Angeles. Bob has been a commentator/analyst on the BBC (TV and radio), MSNBC, Current TV, CNN and Sky News. Following him on Twitter: @bobcesca_go

6 responses to Rand Paul Squandered The Only Shot At NSA Reform For A Long, Long Time

  1. searambler November 20th, 2014 at 08:56

    Senator Aqua Buddha, the human windsock…

  2. searambler November 20th, 2014 at 09:56

    Senator Aqua Buddha, the human windsock…

  3. Boehner-Monkey November 20th, 2014 at 11:10

    His opposition to the illegal spying was one of the only reasons some Democrats considered crossing over. He may have increased his chances in the primaries, but there is no demographic way he can beat Hillary.

  4. Guest November 20th, 2014 at 12:10

    His opposition to the illegal spying was one of the only reasons some Democrat voters considered crossing over. He may have increased his chances in the primaries, buy he has lost some appeal with independent and cross-over voters, which are necessary in the General Election. The funny part is, it is all moot because from a demographic perspective he simply cannot beat Hillary Clinton. (Barring a major scandal the week before the election.)

  5. Kick Frenzy November 20th, 2014 at 12:59

    “What makes his filibuster vote additionally suspicious is…”
    unknown, because this is yet ANOTHER article that requires me to pay to finish reading it.

    Look, Alan, et al, if you want this to be a gateway to get people hooked on The Daily Banter and all the payments that go with it, fine… just say it up front.
    But, it’s really f*n annoying when almost every article I want to continue reading is locked up behind payment requirements.
    (And kind of weird that so many articles are being submitted by Daily Banter staff who stand to benefit from increased paid readership.)

  6. Kick Frenzy November 20th, 2014 at 13:59

    “What makes his filibuster vote additionally suspicious is…”
    unknown, because this is yet ANOTHER article that requires me to pay to finish reading it.

    Look, Alan, et al, if you want this to be a gateway to get people hooked on The Daily Banter and all the payments that go with it, fine… just say it up front.
    But, it’s really f*n annoying when almost every article I want to continue reading is locked up behind payment requirements.
    (And kind of weird that so many articles are being submitted by Daily Banter staff who stand to benefit from increased paid readership.)

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