In an interview with Larry King, the liberal John Cusack again ripped Barack Obama, declaring him as bad as George W. Bush. On the topic of free speech and privacy, the actor lectured, "Well, after 9/11... a lot of rights went out the windows because we say magic words, like terror and so we don't need to respect constitutional rights..."
Regarding his group, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Cusack said it defended "all these quaint ideas that are in the Constitution that have been totally decimated by Bush and Obama." Pressed on Rand Paul, the celebrity said he did not support the presidential candidate, but conceded, "I think that on civil liberties issues, he and his father have been consistent. I don't know how that squares with the Republican Party."
Cusack previously trashed Obama for "continuing the imperial presidency" of George W. Bush.
King offered his own commentary on the NSA and privacy issues, saying, "It's sad that 61 percent of Americans want to keep that, want to keep invasion of privacy, want to keep checking your phone records, all based on fear."
A partial transcript of the Larry King Now segment that will air on Wednesday night, is below:
LARRY KING: You're a founding member of the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
JOHN CUSACK: True story.
KING: What is that?
CUSACK: A group of us got together and – because – well, let's see. Do you really want the answer to that, Larry?
KING: Yeah, the real answer.
CUSACK: Do you want the real answer?
KING: Yeah.
CUSACK: Well, after 9/11, right, a lot of rights went out the windows because we say magic words, like terror and so we don't need to respect constitutional rights and – with the NSA and the privacy thing and Keith Alexander, all that stuff.
KING: Play on fear.
CUSACK: Yeah.
...
CUSACK: It's an advocacy group trying to protect the right of journalists to do their job, to protect their sources and have the assumption of the right to privacy, the right to freedom of assembly, all these quaint ideas that are in the Constitution that have been totally decimated by Bush and Obama.
KING: I imagine you like Rand Paul.
CUSACK: Uh, no.
KING: You must have liked the fight he put up to –
CUSACK: I did. I mean, I do, I think that on civil liberties issues, he and his father have been consistent. I don't know how that squares with the Republican Party.
...
KING: It's sad that 61 percent of Americans want to keep that, want to keep invasion of privacy, want to keep checking your phone records, all based on fear.
