Media Criticism, Political Commentary

They Should Have Thought Of That Before They Released The Memos

7 Comments

The Democrats don’t have a waterboarding exit strategy:

For Democrats…the damage could be significant. Nancy Pelosi already has lost a great deal of credibility from her changing stories. Dozens of other Democrats, including such senior Senators as Jay Rockefeller, apparently also were briefed on the interrogation methods and either were silent, approved, or encouraged the policy.

The irony is that a full blown investigation and hearings will turn mostly on what the Democrats knew, and when they knew it. The Republicans mostly couldn’t care less if they were “blamed” for keeping the country safe even if it necessitated waterboarding the mastermind of 9/11 to prevent further attacks. When faced with sacrificing a city versus using harsh interrogation methods, most voters would opt for harsh interrogation.

That the Democrats have more to lose is demonstrated by the looming fight between Democrats in Congress and the CIA. The Democrats are complaining that the CIA is out to get them through selective leaks of documents. These are the same Democrats who cheered when the CIA leaked information damaging to Bush administration policies. So that complaining is going to go nowhere.

Other foot, meet shoe. Frankly, I find this hilarious.

7 thoughts on “They Should Have Thought Of That Before They Released The Memos”

  1. Obama’s “exit strategy” on torture is explained well by Andrew Sullivan, today:

    My immediate shock that Obama would be willing to suppress evidence of prisoner abuse, torture and even murder – stunningly widespread in the Bush-led military – somewhat distracted me from the politics of this. That is often a mistake with Obama who both takes his own responsibilities as commander-in-chief seriously and always appears to be playing a longer game than his opponents.

    and this . . .

    I will note this too about the politics. If Obama wants to get the truth out, and does not want to be slimed as a partisan avenger (the propaganda line from the Rovians), it helps him to have symbolic spats with those of us who believe we have no choice but to confront the war crimes of the last administration. This has long been his mojo: give symbolic gifts to your opponents while retaining the core issue. These gestures – Rick Warren dinner with Bill Kristol, summits with Cantor – help insulate him from being drawn into them kind of partisan fight the Rove right likes to fight. In this rope, in other words, the anti-torture movement is the current dope.

    = = =

    The timing of the release of those controversial ESAS appendices suggests a similar strategy being used to end ESAS without an “in the open” head-to-head confrontation with NASA’s upper echelon.

    Same tactics are being used against those in the Bush Administration who tortured — maneuver, circle, wait — then win.

    Neither the Right nor the Left have yet learned how good Obama is at political maneuver warfare.

  2. “he irony is that a full blown investigation and hearings will turn mostly on what the Democrats knew, and when they knew it. ”

    Never predict the outcome of a congressional hearing.

    The Watergate hearings were going nowhere until Alexander Butterfield mentioned the Tape System. Torture hearings could just drift aimlessly until someone mentions torturing 8 year old children, or, well, after the 85th suspect died, we decided to change this protocol….

  3. Torture hearings could just drift aimlessly until someone mentions torturing 8 year old children, or, well, after the 85th suspect died, we decided to change this protocol….

    You have a rich fantasy life, Mr. Moron.

  4. Bill,

    Are you kidding? I thought Obama was better at this sort of thing before he took office. He seems pretty inept at non-campaign politics. That was true of his predecessor, who also campaigned fairly well.

    Obama is looking weaker and weaker. He’s getting the party into potential trouble, and he can only be withholding the photos because we have no intention of totally eschewing the torture option in the future. If we did, then a total come-clean move would be his best move. It’s not like inflammatory pictures aren’t already out there, nor is the torture a secret.

  5. “Same tactics are being used against those in the Bush Administration who tortured — maneuver, circle, wait — then win.”

    Win what?

    who tortured in my opinion tortured. Fixed that for you.

    The assumption the Obama syncoplants keep making here and elsewhere is that he can control Pelosi. The House can have their “truth commision” without any input from the White House. The Senate would be easier for him to stop but the House, another story.

    I would hesitate to quote Mr. “Glutes” about anything right now.

  7. “orture hearings could just drift aimlessly until someone mentions torturing 8 year old children, or, well, after the 85th suspect died, we decided to change this protocol….

    You have a rich fantasy life, Mr. Moron.”

    So, you believe that it is fantastical that children were tortured or
    that prisoners died during interrogation?

    So if any Children were tortured or if Any prisoners died in Interrogation
    would you be willing to apologize for calling me a Moron?

Comments are closed.