Gitmo Decision Reaction on the Right: Have You Guys Read the Constitution?:
So the Rude Pundit just wants to get this straight: if you think yesterday's Supreme Court decision was a pile of shit, then you believe that the United States has the right to hold foreign nationals without allowing them to challenge their imprisonment in fair, open courts. You believe that a special court with special rules of evidence and special procedures is the only means through which a presidentially-designated "alien enemy combatant" held at a United States-run facility can even say, "Umm, do you have any proof I'm anything more than a fuckin' goat herder who was wandering in the right field at the wrong time?" You believe that the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions (except in the narrowest possible interpretation) do not apply to prisoners held at Gitmo. And you're absolutely hysterical, batshit insane over the idea that a human being held without ever being told why might get to ask.

Let's just bottom line this fucker: the nutzoid right wingers who still suckle Bush's nipples hate this country. Their arguments are that the nation is so weak, its judicial foundations so shaky, that America as we know it would crumble and buildings would spontaneously explode if we dare to allow alleged terrorists onto our soil and into our courtrooms.

This ain't overinterpretive hyperbole. Here's what Rush Limbaugh, a man who butters his Oxycontin tablets before downing them, said on his show yesterday: "Now, this is an abomination. This is just outrageous. Never before in the history of US warfare have we had to go out and Mirandize prisoners of war. That's what we're going to effectively have to do. We're going to have to read prisoners of war their rights just as we would a thief at the local convenience store. I'll tell you what this means. This means, don't capture 'em." The title of this lovely transcript is "The Last Days of the United States." It's probably not worth mentioning to Limbaugh that if they were designated "prisoners of war" in the first place and treated in accordance with our treaties on POWs, we wouldn't be having this discussion over the use of civilian courts.

'Cause, see, the Geneva Conventions are pretty fuckin' clear about that. POWs are tried in military courts, according to Article 84 of the third Convention. And "In no circumstances whatever shall a prisoner of war be tried by a court of any kind which does not offer the essential guarantees of independence and impartiality as generally recognized, and, in particular, the procedure of which does not afford the accused the rights and means of defense." But facts, like salads and treadmills, are things that Rush Limbaugh would rather not even get close to.

By the way, Limbaugh later corrected his earlier statement with "We're not at Miranda rights yet. US soldiers do not have to Mirandize Sahib and Skyhook when they capture 'em in Basra." Classy guy. And here the Rude Pundit thought "Sahib" was what Limbaugh called his personal towel boy, the 11 year-old illegal from India who is tasked with oiling Rush down after bathing him in his spa tub, shuddering when the radio host asks him to spend extra time rubbing the seat marks out of his ass and balls. Sahib cannot pray enough to erase those images from his head.

What's stunning is the lack of self-awareness in this bugfuck attacks on the Supreme Court. First there's the presumption of guilt. Limbaugh jowls out, "Terrorists." Over at the peep show slop bucket that is Townhall.com, Hugh Hewitt, a man with the creepy, lipless smile of a snuff film masturbator, says flat-out of the 270 or so remaining Gitmoites, "[T]he 'great writ' is open to the worst killers who have ever set their sights on the homeland." Does it need to be pointed out that the majority of people held at Gitmo have been released without charge?

And then there's the seeming surprise that the Supreme Court is the final arbiter of whether or not laws comply with the Constitution. Hewitt says the majority is "asserting its preeminence over the combination of the president and the Congress" as if this is some new or surprising thing. You'll hear this refrain again and again: that the Supreme Court somehow thinks it's the boss of the President and the Congress. Umm, that's what the fuckin' Constitution says. That's called a "check" on legislative and executive power. This shit is basic civics. Every time the Supreme Court overturns federal laws, it's asserting its prerogative.

Of course, there's hysterical little drama queens like Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Since the Supreme Court has bitch-slapped his efforts at looking tough again and again, he's having a hissy, threatening even, to introduce a constitutional amendment to strip habeas corpus rights. Screeched Graham, "I can't believe we are going to allow unelected judges who are not trained in military matters to make major wartime policy decisions." One might assume Justice John Paul Stevens, the only member of the Court who served in the military and who voted in the majority, would disagree.

Yes, it's gonna be non-stop fearmongering by the rabid right. For them, it's the nation on the precipice of a fall. Really, though, it's projection of the fear of how obsolete they and their ideology have become.