Padme was right...

In Star Wars Episode III, Senator Padme Amidala watches in horror when the Republic is reformed into the Empire, and comments, "So this is how liberty dies: to thunderous applause." Salon's Glenn Greenwald argues that this is George Bush's tragic legacy:

...the most radical and controversial Bush policies -- from warrantless eavesdropping to detentions, torture and rendition carried out in secret and with no oversight -- have not made us remotely "safer." But even if one assumes that they had, our core political values are profoundly betrayed by the notion that we should vest blind faith and tyrannical powers in the president in exchange for promises of "protection." The central rhetorical premise of the Bush presidency, however, has been that eliminating all risk of the Evil Terrorist Threat is paramount. Hence, the whole array of authoritarian powers seized by this administration is justified because none of the principles and values that are destroyed in the process really matter when set next to the scary prospect that The Terrorists will kill us. In his 2004 acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, the president described his all-consuming mission this way:

THE PRESIDENT: This election will also determine how America responds to the continuing danger of terrorism -- and you know where I stand. (Applause.) ... Since that day [9/11], I wake up every morning thinking about how to better protect our country. I will never relent in defending America, whatever it takes.

AUDIENCE: U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

I have a very bad feeling about this...