Not my focus, but ...

Generally I ignore the kneejerk idiocy of screamers at Free Republic, figuring it's just as easy to find comparable examples on the left, say in the comments at Atrios or Democratic Underground. Let's worry more about the idiocy of those who actually hold the reins of power.

But the right wing echo chamber is real and it's a good thing that not all reasonable people ignore it. It does in fact feed public perceptions far too much for my liking, so I'm glad some are vigilant at exposing its hypocrisies.

Angelica, at Battle Panda, found some priceless comments from Free Republic during Clinton's days expressing outrage at his use of the FISA process to obtain warrants rather than doing it in open court. Do you think these same folks are beside themselves now that W is even bypassing the FISA process?

Angelica summarizes:

So now you know. Circumventing the FISA court is just a part of doing your job as a commander in chief if your name is G.W. Bush. But going through the FISA courts instead of getting a warrant in open court is a jaw-droppingly Kafkaesque abuse of executive privileges if you happen to be Bill Clinton.

She also pointed me to a wonderful screed by Glenn Greenwald noting the utter misapprehension of the terms "liberal" and "conservative" by Bush loyalists:

Now, in order to be considered a "liberal," only one thing is required – a failure to pledge blind loyalty to George W. Bush. The minute one criticizes him is the minute that one becomes a "liberal," regardless of the ground on which the criticism is based. And the more one criticizes him, by definition, the more "liberal" one is. Whether one is a "liberal" -- or, for that matter, a "conservative" -- is now no longer a function of one’s actual political views, but is a function purely of one’s personal loyalty to George Bush.

One might call it just talk, but Greenwald backs it up with examples aplenty.