Wonder just how supportive some people will be about the powers granted under the Patriot Act when President Hillary appoints John Edwards as Attorney General, and he begins using those powers to investigate the possibility that terrorists could be obtaining and stockpiling weapons purchased in the virtually unregulated "gun-show" market.
It's hard to take seriously the arguement that since nothing has happened (at least, that we know about), nothing could happen. My grandpa taught me that it's too late to do much when the fox is already in the hen house - you're better off keeping him far away.
I didn't like some of the provisions of what is now the Patriot Act when Clinton floated some of it long before 9/11. I still don't like much of it.
Better cooperation between local and Federal policing agencies, and appropriate interation with intelligence agencies - all for it. Some of the restrictions put in place in the aftermath of the exposure of wholesale abuses of the 50s and 60s under Hoover, and the CIA operating within the U.S. (the "Church Commission", et al) were undoubtedly too restrictive. There is no doubt that much needed to be changed just to bring the laws up-to-date in response to changes in technology.
I was raised not to trust the revenuers. Doesn't matter much to me if it's Reno or Gonzolez.