Majority Rejects Terrorist Rights

That's according to the latest Rasmussen poll. A solid majority of 58% support the use of "waterboarding and other aggressive interrogation techniques" to get information out of the underwear bomber. Only 30% oppose. And a full 71% oppose treating the terrorist bombing attempt as a normal civilian crime, as the Obama administration is doing.

It's funny, when you hear the self-righteous moralizing of terrorist rights supporters, and their contemptuous disgust of those who don't share their fanatical belief that U.S. constitutional rights apply even to alien terrorists. You might think think they were in the majority, condemning some fringe extremists -- barbarians who support the use of torture. Whereas in fact, they are actually a minority. Whenever terrorist threats gain the attention of the public, minority support for terrorist rights drops even further. That's what happens when foolish utopian ideas run up against harsh reality. Pretending that foreign terrorists are just common criminals who should have rights and normal access to the legal system is fine with many, as long as they aren't paying too much attention to terrorism, and the threat seems pretty abstract and remote. 

Are the supposed "rights" of a known foreign terrorist more important than gaining information that might prevent future acts of terrorism? When that question is framed against the backdrop of a real terrorist threat, most people will rightly reject terrorist rights.