Electronic Frontier Foundation Praises the Tea Party, FreedomWorks and Birther Larry Klayman

Yesterday, tax day, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) posted an article titled “Tea Party, Taxes and Why the Original Patriots Would’ve Revolted Against the Surveillance State,” and it wouldn’t surprise me if the authors were wearing tri-corner hats with hand-written “Rand Paul 4 Prez” placards stacked up on their desks while they hammered out the post.

The EFF is, in its own words, “the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world,” and has stationed itself on the front lines in the battle against the National Security Agency and the intelligence community. It’s best known recently for pursuing NSA to release an 85-page opinion from the FISA Court detailing an operation a FISA judge had ruled unconstitutional.

Believe it or not, I admired the EFF’s strategy on this FISA matter. Rather than clandestinely horking documents from an inside source, it pursued NSA through perfectly legitimate means, specifically the Freedom of Information Act. That said, this article and its irresponsible lionization of the tea party is a huge red flag, as well as a further indication of an emerging and ill-advised alliance between the libertarian far-right and the far-left.

If the following chunk of the EFF’s tax day article doesn’t make you rethink any future donations to the organization, I don’t know what will:

Today the Tea Party movement continues the legacy of the founders, championing the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Never afraid of controversy, Tea Party activists and elected leaders are fighting against mass surveillance in the courts and in the halls of state legislatures and Congress.

It’s difficult to find a more ridiculous whitewashing of the tea party outside of the tea party itself. The legacy of the founders? Wow. First of all, the tea party doesn’t even understand the actual Boston Tea Party, much less the intent of the founders. Yet the heretofore respected EFF has bedazzled the tea party with the gilded legacy of the almighty founders. As for the leaders the tea party has elected, is there one — just one — who’s not completely nuts or totally unqualified for the post?

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By: Bob Cesca

Bob Cesca is the managing editor at The Daily Banter (www.thedailybanter.com) and a Huffington Post contributor since 2005. He's worked in journalism since 1988 as a print writer/editor, a radio news anchor, a digital media columnist/editor, a book author and blogger. He's the co-host of the Bubble Genius Bob & Chez Show podcast and a Thursday regular on the syndicated Stephanie Miller Show. He's appeared on numerous other radio shows including the John Phillips Show and Geraldo Rivera Show in Los Angeles. Bob has been a commentator/analyst on the BBC (TV and radio), MSNBC, Current TV, CNN and Sky News. Following him on Twitter: @bobcesca_go