A friend writes in:
I just saw Steve Hayes's report that prisoners held in Afghanistan will get Miranda warnings. In September 2008, when McCain-Palin pulled ahead of Obama-Biden, Candidate Obama publicly mocked Sarah Palin's suggestion that Obama favored giving captured terrorists Miranda warnings. It happened in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
A Washington Post blog noted this at the time, but offered only a few quotes. The Obama campaign posted the larger exchange at YouTube. Skip ahead to about 1:55, where Obama picks up this argument.
He brings up a GOP Convention line about Miranda warnings ... but simply responds with a theatrical smirk.
From there, he proceeds to mock the federal government for failing to catch Bin Laden (not that that's on Obama's front burner anymore), and then discusses the need for terrorist detainees to be allowed to file habeas petitions in federal courts. The Miranda issue, however, is simply laughed aside, as if it was preposterous to even raise the subject.
And two months after his Inauguration, President Obama reiterated, "Now, do these folks deserve miranda rights? Do they deserve to be treated like a shoplifter down the block? Of course not."
So much for the smirk and sarcasm. I guess the joke's on us.
In fact, it was Sarah Palin who said at the GOP convention: "Al Qaida terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America, and he's worried that someone won't read them their rights."
