Dianne Feinstein: Obama Says He'll Stop Spying on Allies

The Wall Street Journal just tweeted that with a link to their general site, not to a particular article.

What? If this is true, it's irresponsible; if it's a lie, why is the Lightbringer so ready to lie?

I think maybe this illustrates my complaint in the comments about arguing that we shouldn't tell the truth, if a lie is in our political interests. No one's smart enough to figure out all the pathways and variations of possible future reality to determine that.

Well, I told the truth: We always have spied on allies (and everyone else) and we should do so.

So, actually, by telling the truth, I'm now actually in a position to criticize Obama for renouncing a necessary function of intelligence (and a necessary function of government).

Those who wished to criticize Obama for spying on allies will now, I suppose, have to... praise him for this decision, I suppose?

Oh, I doubt that. But the inconsistency -- damning him when he spies on Germany, but also damning him when he renounces spying on Germany -- will be noted, obviously.

I told the truth, and I didn't modify my take due to the moment's very short-term political needs, and I said "We have to spy on Germany. Of course we do."

So here I am now in a position to criticize Obama, whereas those who faulted him for spying on Germany are reduced to either flip-flopping on a position so blatantly as to be obviously offering completely partisan, conclusions-driven "analyses," or, less likely, to now be in the odd position of be required to praise Obama for refraining from doing what they previously implied he should indeed refrain from doing.

Some people might have meant that honestly, on principle. If so, I guess they will indeed offer some (restrained) praise for Obama for ending this odious practice.

But one commenter pushed the line that we shouldn't help Obama by speaking the truth about this -- that is, our short-term political needs should trump the truth. Well, I guess this new plan of Obama's sort of scotches that old plan of claiming it's a Bad Thing to spy on allies.

Now I guess it's safe to speak the truth of it...?

I really don't mind when people disagree. I'm just tired of being instructed of what we should or should not say based upon someone's often extremely superficial grasp of current political needs and corporate advertising account messaging techniques.

You really can't figure these things out 95% of the time. Unless the future is very obvious (as it was obviously in liberals' best political interests to claim, falsely, that Clinton hadn't lied under oath), the truth is just the best general policy, not just for political outcomes but as far as fostering a political discourse that consists of actual belief and information and not just of partisan positioning.

Partisan positioning is also boring as hell, which is lethal to discussion. Let's keep that sort of thing where it should be kept, on bumper stickers and in political ads and tv jingles, and permit ourselves to talk here like actual people, not self-appointed Marketing Majors.

Let's just saying what we actually think, not what we think we've Calculated to be our Best Political Positioning Message of the Day.

Spirit Squads are annoying.

Dianne Feinstein: Obama Says He'll Stop Spying on Allies&bodytext=The Wall Street Journal just tweeted that with a link to their general site, not to a particular article. Making America weaker on purpose > @WSJ: Breaking: Obama will halt spying on allies, Feinstein says http://t.co/SRpUkUpOoR— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) October...&topic=world_news"> posted by Ace at 05:45 PM

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