A week after saying that the American public has “a right to know” the contents of the diplomatic documents released by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, Rep. Connie Mack, R-Cape Coral, once again defended the site yesterday, and sharply criticized the federal government for intimidating citizens and businesses associated with WikiLeaks.
“The people are not really understanding what’s happening here,” Mack said in response to a question on the Fox Business program Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano. “The fear should be: What will our federal government do to try to punish American citizens and corporations if those citizens or corporations do something that the government doesn’t like? It doesn’t make sense.”
“The idea that we’re focusing on WikiLeaks and not focusing on what the federal government is trying to do, it’s a head fake,” Mack also said, comparing government outrage over the leak to the PATRIOT Act and the warrantless wiretapping of Americans’ phones.
As I noted last week, Mack’s views put him strongly at odds with others in the Republican Party. Panhandle resident and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who is touring Florida this week promoting two new Christmas-themed books, last week called for the execution of whoever was responsible for the leak.
The Freedom Watch segment, in full:
Watch the latest video at video.foxbusiness.com
