“The 112th Congress began with a historic reading of the U.S. Constitution. Will anyone subscribe to the First and Fourth Amendments tomorrow when the PATRIOT Act is up for a vote? I am hopeful that members of the Tea Party who came to Congress to defend the Constitution will join me in challenging the reauthorization.”
This was a good political move that exposed the blatant lie that the Republicans stand for the Constitution. Now, granted, some Republicans, probably the more libetarian among them, did buck their party. And some coward Democrats, fearful of being labeled as soft and weak on terror, voted for it. But it is not hard to see which party is more for the Constitution and which is more against it. 26 Republicans out of 242 in the House voted for the Constitution, or in percentage terms, 11%. 89% of the Republican Party have just told you their constitution posturing was just that… posturing. Meanwhile, 65% of the Democrats voted for protecting civil liberties.