Campaign ads are no excuse for supporting this. If the Republicans can make the Democrats dance like little puppets by just running some campaign ads then that is the problem. More likely, most elected democrats actually support the existence of the no-fly list, just like most elected republicans do. I am not saying they are the same parties or that every issue is the same, but the Democrats are still responsible for things they have actually done.
Sometimes you have to make compromises, but you don’t ever have to listen to political pundits. And if you are going to make calculated moves so that you can do more positive good later, then you have to actually do that positive good later, not lose control of the house and the senate despite your calculated moves. Whatever strategy the democrats have taken to hold power is currently a failure as a strategy to hold power so I’m not very impressed when people use it as an excuse for them doing bad things while they had power.
I know my own bias - I tend to perceive monstrousness and idiocy in direct proportion to authority. Also, I don’t forgive people for their stated intentions. People tend to think that a thing is a good idea in proportion to how much wealthier it will make them (see recent eating bugs post). Stated reasons are after-the-fact justifications more often than not. When someone justifies something as necessary to keep power so they can do something else, that translates directly to “power for power’s sake.”
That’s the kind of bullshit stuff that I expect politicians to do to hold power - suits, saying “God Bless America,” etc. (although obvious in Obama’s case that stuff was the product of straight-out racism, and complete bullshit). Extrajudicial killing, prosecuting whistleblowers, etc., not so much.
Again, I know the Democrats are better. If Gore had become president in 2000 it is outrageous to believe there would have been an Iraq war, for instance. But, like I said above, the Democrats have to at least own what they support - even if they supposedly supported it through clenched teeth.
