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But Still...

When word of the arrest of Faisal Shahzad got out last night, I was tempted to write a post betting that within 12 hours, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) would be on the record calling the administration a bunch of pansies for Mirandizing a US citizen who has committed a crime.  Well, I was right.

Someone from the Right really needs to explain the following contradictions to me:

Government is the problem.  Therefore we can trust it to act as judge, jury, interrogator, and executioner.

Obama was born in a third-world country.  Therefore, the administration must act like one when it comes to crime and punishment.

The administration is turning this country socialist.  Therefore, we must borrow every confession-inducing method described by Alexander Solzhenytsin, make undesirables "disappear," trample on the principle of an independent court system, etc. etc. etc.  

Of course, the political discourse has shifted so far to the right, that when a member of the House thinks that we should ignore 200+ years of constitutional rights that originated from a fight against executive abuses, well no one really bats an eye.  WTF?  Either we're all being sensitized to abuses of power, or deep down we think it's ok when the suspect has a name that's hard to pronounce.

UPDATE:  Upon further reflection, I think it's a mistake on my part to focus on blowhard comments from King and McCain.  The real story here is the successful inter-agency law enforcement efforts.  Here are two posts from the VC on the topic:  a) tracking the identity of Shahzad and b) nabbing him before departure.  

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on May 04, 2010 (boomark / email).