If Clinton jumped off a cliff …

Posted by Joshua Holland at 11:40 AM on December 22, 2005.

The truth slides off the right's spinmeisters like they were coated with intellectual Teflon.

The charge that Clinton authorized warrant-less wiretaps -- based on a distortion of the FISA laws and on the 1993 testimony of one of the right's favorite whipping-girls, Jamie Gorelick -- was bouncing around their echo-chamber on Tuesday and Wednesday.

It's been well-debunked. Media Matters did a number on both arguments here and here. Atrios chipped in, and an op-ed by Gerald Posner, the conservative legal scholar, in the WaPo was pretty thoroughly trashed.

No matter. Today's Moonie Times, for example, spews the same flaccid talking points.

But even if it were true, it still isn't relevant. When I tried a similar excuse, at age 15, apropos of everyone smoking pot at a high school party, my mom broke out the ancient mom wisdom: "If everyone jumped off a cliff …"

Which leads me to wonder: If a future Repub president were to be caught being serviced in the Oval office by some chubby harpy, would the same logic apply for our persecuted culture warriors on the other side?

I think not, which brings me to my point. This spy-ola scandal (our Rachel Neumann hates the 'gates') truly marks the defeat of American conservatism, replaced, tragically, with the whimpy and terrified ideology of the wingnuts who dominate today's right. Truly, you can't call yourself a conservative if you don't understand why the government being able to listen in on your private conversations without a warrant is troubling.

Remember the jabber about "limited government?" I guess it went the way of extinct creatures like the dodo bird and the Republican budget-hawk.

Joshua Holland is a staff writer at Alternet and a regular contributor to The Gadflyer.