Taking a brief glance over at Memeorandum I can’t help but notice the radio silence from the Right on the release of the Bush OLC torture memos. Andrew Sullivan made the same point earlier today. The biggest voices on the right – Malkin, Instapundit, Drudge – have said absolutely nothing about the release of these stunning memos.

Why is this worth mentioning?

Because, just yesterday, these same figures on the Right touted a nationwide series of demonstrations against all sorts of supposed government oppression. In hundreds of demonstrations around the country, protesters waved placards proclaiming Obama a fascist, supporting individual liberty, and decrying the Federal government’s abridgment of Constitutional limitations.

And so, the very next day, we get explicit evidence that the Federal government DID, in fact, live out the fears of these protesters by shredding all legal proscriptions against torture. So, where is the outrage on the Right about this? I thought the protesters were angry at Obama AND Bush for “expanding the government.” Surely, there is no greater expansion of the government than the ability to disregard all Constitutional protections of detainees, and then to torture suspects – some of whom have been PROVEN to be completely innocent.

Needless to say, none of this surprises me. I saw through these protests for the partisan joke that they were. When they mean “liberty,” they just mean no taxes for wealthy people or the right to own any firearm they desire. But any definition of “liberty” beyond that boundary is unknown to these folks…unless, of course, they themselves are the target of the DHS.

So here it is: If you can’t express at least some degree of outrage over the OLC torture memos released today, you cannot claim to be a lover or defender of liberty.