Listen commies (term of indearment) it ain't that hard. I don't remember what the running pubic opinion was during the Patriot Act "debate", but I don't recall it being anywhere near as openly defiant as with the TSA. Also, an aweful lot of the Republicans in now are different folks. Time does change, but it's not all because of party politics. A lot of the public is frankly weary of things grinding on and are just getting cranky. FWIW, there was relatively little opposition to th PA from Democrats, though granted virtually nill except for RP and a couple others from the Republicans.
Now, how about all those anti-war protests that seem to have gone virtually silent when Obama was elected.
