"I am stunned, quite frankly, that the same people who fought against the Patriot Act because it was invasive and violated privacy rights have not howled about this invasion of personal privacy rights."
Say what? I see the same people railing against both, all the time.
I think he's referring to politicians more than private citizens. A portion of the Democratic party, after voting for the PATRIOT Act, spent the last 4-6 years of Bush's time in office speaking out against it. But TSA has generally maintained strong support.
I'm not 100% sure that this is all true, but it is my own impression and, I suspect, the author's as well.
Definitely not all of them. A lot of left politicians raised a living hell about Patriot Act while Bush was in power, but shut up and silently agreed with its extensions and never raised their voice agains TSA and such once Obama came to power. Some were more principled, but I definitely not seeing the same fuss in the same places about it as there was when the people who are now in power were in opposition.
Say what? I see the same people railing against both, all the time.