In New Mexico, Mary Johnson, recording secretary of the Las Cruces Tea Party steering committee, described why she fears the government. She pointed out how much easier it is since Sept. 11 for the government to tap telephones and scour e-mail, bank accounts and library records. “Twenty years ago that would have been a paranoid statement,” Ms. Johnson said. “It’s not anymore.”

I would bet any amount of money that Ms. Mary Johnson was perfectly okay with George W. Bush’s administration having access to her phone, her e-mail, her bank accounts and library records.  Ms. Mary Johnson was probably one of the many, many people who shrugged off the Patriot Act as necessary for George W. Bush to “protect” her.  In fact, in early 2008, Ms. Mary Johnson would probably have argued that those crazy, wacky liberals who opposed the Patriot Act had “something to hide” or were being “paranoid”.  Well, Ms. Mary Johnson, you can kindly go fuck yourself now.