Beginning of the End?
David Broder, the increasingly out-of-touch "dean" of the D.C. press corp apparently can no longer ignore the obvious.
Three front-page headlines on a single day last week testified to the unraveling of the Bush presidency.The article touches on an amazing story which got little play, namely, that John McCain's bill to establish some sort of standards and guidlines for "detainee" interrogations was immediately opposed by Dick Cheney and the White House. They argued that establishing any limits to torture and disgusting abuse would hamper their ability to successfully wage the "war".
The lead story in The Washington Post on Thursday reported that “the Senate defied the White House yesterday and voted to set new limits on interrogating detainees in Iraq and elsewhere,” with 46 Republicans joining the Democrats to pass restrictions on prisoner abuse so unacceptable to President Bush that he has threatened his first-ever veto.
A second story on the same page recounted that “the conservative uprising against President Bush escalated yesterday as Republican activists angry over his nomination of White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court confronted the president’s envoys during a pair of tense closed-door meetings.”
And elsewhere on the page was the news that the CIA’s director had rejected a recommendation from its inspector general that he convene a formal “accountability board” to judge the possible complicity of senior officials in the failures that preceded Sept. 11. The action triggered a statement of concern from the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and criticism from families of 9/11 victims.
These developments came against a background of rising conservative criticism in Congress of runaway spending, of investigations of the administration’s faltering response to Hurricane Katrina and of criminal indictments and grand jury probes that have forced out the chief White House procurement officer and the House Republican majority leader and may implicate other top officials of both branches.
Torture and abuse has been authorized and condoned at the very top levels of our government. They've been thumbing their noses at the Geneva Convention since the beginning of their excellent adventure. How can they now argue that torturing and occasionally murdering prisoners is necessary for them to succeed when, despite their use of torture, they've been utter failures?
posted by The Inside Dope @ 10/10/2005
7 comments
7 Comments:
Yeah.. I wonder what Rich would say if he was aware Young Mike Jacobs all but called him a liar on a story a while back?
And I respect Rich a lot, needless to say, but I'm sure he's got plenty to worry about without fretting about the fate of this blog.
And I'm not sure why you keep throwing the Peoria Pundit into things. I don't believe the reason he quit was because there were no readers. I think it was a little more complex than that.
And since you seem to have a very peculiar notion of what a blog is and how it operates, I'll try to set you straight.
This isn't a business. It doesn't go broke and have to close up shop. And there's no rule where you have to quit if a couple people out of thousands think you should run it differently.
Do you make it a habit to go around telling people how to do their jobs or how to run their businesses? Why do you feel so entitled to tell me what to do and how to do it 10 times a day?
Frankly, who the hell do you think you are?
I mean, you contribute next to NOTHING whatsoever on the issues I raise, but feel you somehow have the right to tell me what to do and how to do it?
I'm all ears for constructive criticism. I've asked for it several times. Readers are always welcome to contact me via e-mail with any suggestions or criticisms. And I'd take them all seriously.
But you're not out to improve the place. You're on some insane jihad to bash it out of pettiness and because you're a control freak.
Frankly, that just ain't right.
And by the way, I'm sure Rich Miller would appreciate it if you let him speak for himself.
Don't let Bush's supporters change the subject. President Bush has revealed himself to be seriously out of step with 90% of the Senate and the vast majority of Americans. Whether or not Americans torture and treat detainees inhumanely is not a Democrat and Republican issue, a left or right issue or an issue that divides those who are for and those who are against the War in Iraq. For 230 years it has been an American value that although others may do such things we do not torture or treat prisoners like animals.
During the Revolutionary War on a number of occasions the British and the Hessians upon capturing American soldiers chose to "give no quarter" -- i.e. summarily execute the prisoners rather than hold them as prisoners of war. When General Washington's army captured some Hessians the men asked General Washington if they should treat them the same way. "No," General Washington said. "We said in our Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal and have inalienable rights. We will treat them the way we would want to be treated."
President Bush's people claim that they have to reserve the option of torturing and treating prisoners inhumanely in order to win the war. Does that make any sense? If this is a war between our values and theirs how can we possibly win if we voluntarily abandon our values for theirs?
Dave, you put it much better than I could. Well said.
And it makes it all the more outrageous that this administration would actually go out and strenuously work to shoot down even rudimentary guidelines for the treatment of detainees.
These people are corroding and perverting the very core of American greatness. They gotta go!
Headcase,
If you're so tight with Jacobs, why are you so intent on revealing what a childish stalker you are for all my readers? How is that helping your guy?
You're suggesting that, because Miller supposedly made a mistake and a reporting error, that I should apologize?
Try reality.
You're smearing Jacobs far more than I'd ever think of doing, by your ridiculous antics here.
The blog is read by many, many readers in Springfield, D.C., and even the statehouse in DesMoines, in addition to all the local readers in Jacobs' district.
You're revealing just what a petty jerk you are to a very wide audience. Couple that with the fact that nearly everyone assumes you're actually Sen. Jacobs himself, and you're doing the candidate amazing damage.
I've tried to save you from yourself, but you're too obsessed to "get it". You're not doing yourself any favors.
And if you find that public opinion of Jacobs is dropping like a rock, you have yourself to blame.
Not the blog.
First, where's the reckless charge? You stated clearly that Miller was lying about the story. Where's the "smear" there?
And I challenge you to cite ONE false story I've written about Jacobs. Name one. You can't.
As to what part confuses me, I'd have to say all of it. And I speak for most readers as well.
Now go away.
Yeah... we remember my April Fools post. What a moron.
What else have you got?
Yep.. I was trying to keep things civil around here back then and defending you. If I knew then what I know now, I don't think I would have come to your defense.
Still waiting for all those "false stories" about Sen. Jacobs you accuse me of writing.
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