by Chris Bodenner
It's worth noting that the NIMBY response to closing Guantanamo is not a partisan affair. Here's Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat and close ally of Obama:
"We've got to discontinue the use of Guantanamo Bay. ... I think it gives the world a real question about how America values our democratic principles. It seems to violate everything our Founding Fathers said in the first place."
Yet, in the same sitting:
"I don't have to want them in Kansas. Closing Guantanamo Bay doesn't mean the prisoners come to the heartland of America."
At least Sen. Brownback (R-KS), the leading critic of a detainee transfer, has opposed closing Guantanamo in the first place. Thus, he can't really be accused of NIMBY, since he doesn't want detainees in the backyard of any American. Sebelius, on the other hand, seems to think that "everything our Founding Fathers said" is not worth risking political heat for her '10 Senate run. Either that, or she sincerely thinks the greatest military in the world can't handle a few dozen prisoners.