republicans are correct that the democrats are hypocritical. when a republican is in office the dems lose their crap over illegal detentions/waterboarding/drones/waging wars of aggression/wars fought for oil/gay rights/etc. by contrast, if a democrat is in office the dems all sit on their hands when civil liberties are threatened.
i say that so that i can make a bigger point. republicans(conservatives) care relatively little about civil liberties, including the freedom of the press and the fourth amendment stuff brought up by the NSA. when a conservative is in office they preach fear of terrorism. when a "liberal" is in office they preach dem hypocrisy. if this isn't true, then why are conservatives so ineffective at raising hell about civil liberties infractions? all they can muster is attempts to mock liberals for not achieving the ideals they espouse.