Quaking In Their Boots

Hope everyone had a lovely Holiday. I spent it in Atlanta with my in-laws (don't worry -they're nice). I spent several days in one of the reddest of red areas - Atlanta suburbs and exurbs. I can rant about sprawl another time. Instead I just want to mention that there is a lot of unease in Redland over these illegal wiretaps. From the conversations I had, middle class white males in Southern exurbs - something like a 90% Republican constituency - was experiencing some serious cognative dissonance. Whenever the issue came up, the response ranged from a shifting of the seat & visible disappointment to open statements of outrage and betrayal: "I support President Bush, but..."

It is the civil liberties angle that has these people upset. And it is up to us to keep reminding them.