Lunchtime

QOTD: The soundest argument will produce no more conviction in an empty head than the most superficial declamation; as a feather and a guinea fall with equal velocity in a vacuum. -Charles Caleb Colton, author and clergyman (1780-1832)

Sully's Quote For The Day

"The United States is committed to the world-wide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example. I call on all governments to join with the United States and the community of law-abiding nations in prohibiting, investigating, and prosecuting all acts of torture and in undertaking to prevent other cruel and unusual punishment. I call on all nations to speak out against torture in all its forms and to make ending torture an essential part of their diplomacy," - George W. Bush, urging the investigation and prosecution of prisoner abuse and torture under his command, June 26, 2003.

Among the specific techniques cited by Bush were repeated beatings, something he authorized, along with waterboarding and stress positions, for prisoners in US captivity.

Why should we not apply George W. Bush's public standards to George W. Bush?

Atrios: Torture Is Bad

I'm not really sure that the job of the news media should be to "moral clarity and leadership" as Will Bunch suggests, but it's obviously the role that many of them have imagined for themselves. It is David Broder's job, and he sucks ass at it. He's an enabler of moral monstrosities, wrapping sociopaths in neat WASP packages. But I think much of the problem is that elite journalists have styled themselves as the country's shepherds, trying to herd the wayward flock towards its appropriate destination.

But, more generally, it is the case that journalists should stop pretending they can't make judgment calls. They do it all the time, both explicitly (I think they're allowed to think that racism is "bad," even if the details are messier than that), and in ways which require them to spend a lot of time going through contortions to pretend that they aren't.

Krugman: Masters of disaster

So Bobby Jindal makes fun of “volcano monitoring”, and soon afterwards Mt. Redoubt erupts. Susan Collins makes sure that funds for pandemic protection are stripped from the stimulus bill, and the swine quickly attack.

What else did the right oppose recently? I just want enough information to take cover.

Sully: Calling Their Bluff

I like this kind of bipartisanship:

Obama asked Cantor to present him with a list of places where the federal government could save more money. The self-described conservative eagerly agreed.

“You can expect us to have something very soon,” Cantor said, explaining that he’s “looking for wherever there is waste or duplicative spending.”

C&L: John Meacham to Peggy Noonan: Americans Can Handle the Truth

Heather Monday Apr 27, 2009 5:30am

From Fareed Zakaria GPS. John Meacham pushes back against Peggy Noonan's "let's move forward" nonsense.

John Amato: Peggy Noonan sounds like she ate a few of those funny mushrooms about forty five minutes before she went on the set and everything just turned so damn mellow. Digby puts it best when she says:

If I had only been listening with half an ear I would have thought that I was hearing some very stoned woman having a stream of consciousness conversation with herself at a Grateful Dead concert. I half expected her to bring up the dolphins again. What in God's name is she smoking? And why is she on my TV?

I think I understand Glenn Beck now. He's channeling Peggy Noonan's schtick, but adds an eight-ball of coke to the emo-cocktail that takes his phony compassionate crying to a new level of absurdity. They think they will look more credible if they seem to care more than you or I in the fuzzy dice kind of way.

ZAKARIA: Let's talk about Obama and terror, because that's another part of this whole puzzle. You've had Dick Cheney giving a very unusual interview in which he says, effectively, Obama is weakening the country and setting up a scenario where, if there is by some chance another attack, it could be seen as Obama's fault.

You know, other Republicans saying that he should have kept in place all these provisions regarding torture, regarding whatever else, in order to fight the war more vigorously.

You've had a little bit of a controversy around all this, Peggy. You think that the memos about torture should have been released, but we should have moved on, or should never have been released?

NOONAN: Oh, it seems to me the world knows that things were done wrong. I think Obama has made it clear, coming forward, that his plans are to leave that old stuff behind.

There is always a temptation to focus on what the last administration in its mistakes did. I think the problems that are here, however, are so pressing, that sometimes you've just got to stop and say, "That was then. This is now. Move forward."

MEACHAM: Winston Churchill said that the British people can face any misfortune with fortitude and buoyancy, as long as they are convinced that those who are in charge of their affairs are not deceiving them, or not themselves dwelling in a fool's paradise.

The American people can do that, too. We can handle the truth. The covenant of modern democracies is, give it to us straight and we will do what it takes.

And as General Powell, I think, once memorably said, you know, we've gone abroad many times, and the only thing we've asked for is the ground in which to bury our dead.

I think that governments have to be responsible, because governments are us. I mean, otherwise, the entire idea of civic and republican -- lower case "r" -- virtue collapses. So...

ZAKARIA: So, you would be comfortable with investigations?

MEACHAM: Sure.

ZAKARIA: Walter?

ISAACSON: I actually agree with Peggy on this, which is, I'm glad that they were open about it. But I very much like President Obama's speech at the CIA, in which he did say...

NOONAN: Yes, so did I.

ISAACSON: Yes, OK -- in which he did say, don't be disheartened. What you do is very important at the CIA. And we're not going to try to prosecute or go back and criminalize what was done in the past.

NOONAN: That's good.

ISAACSON: If people want to hold hearings, OK. But let's not dwell in the past. And certainly, let's not make the CIA, which is trying to do the right thing, feel that somehow they can now be subject to criminal investigations.

NOONAN: I thought that was excellent. I thought it was sensitive, and it was smart, and it was sophisticated. And it was helpful towards an agency that understandably feels beleaguered.

ISAACSON: Which I thought was also typical of Obama, to be able to get the balance there.

MEACHAM: And I'm not sure...

NOONAN: You're an (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Come on.

(CROSSTALK)

ISAACSON: You're agreeing with me on this.

NOONAN: Well, I'm agreeing with you on that appearance. It was really good.

(CROSSTALK)

NOONAN: It was smart. It was good.

MEACHAM: ... I do -- I would be very reluctant, particularly since the lawyers at the administration were telling everyone that it was OK.

But in terms of...

ZAKARIA: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) investigation...

MEACHAM: ... in terms of investigations, here's what happened.

Are we a better or worse country because of the Church Committee?

ISAACSON: No. Although I would much rather have Senate investigations on how we got into this economic mess. I'd love to know...

MEACHAM: We can do both.

ISAACSON: ... you can't even remember what AIG did...

(CROSSTALK)

NOONAN: I want more journalism. I want more investigative journalism. I want these two gentlemen to...

ISAACSON: We've got to say, the journalism for all three of us.

NOONAN: ... look into everything.

But we do, indeed. That's a bigger threat.

ZAKARIA: On that note, Jon Meacham, Peggy Noonan, Walter Isaacson, thank you very much.

Benen: THE LATEST IN A SERIES OF PATRIOTISM TESTS...

In the context of the renewed debate over Bush administration torture policies, I'm almost surprised we haven't heard more offensive attacks on Americans' patriotism. Newt Gingrich apparently hopes to pick up the slack.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) argued that Obama had already missed his opportunity to exert leadership on the issue by backtracking on his administration's initial opposition to any sort of hearings or prosecutions.

"The pressure from the anti-American left rattled him and he opened Pandora's box," said Gingrich.

Got that? If President Obama voices even tepid support for possibly holding Bush administration officials accountable for alleged crimes, he's necessarily rattled by the "anti-American left."

Those of us who take the rule of law seriously aren't just wrong, the disgraced former Speaker argues, we literally don't love our country as much as he does.

It's hard to overstate how tiresome this is. The right's approach to the political discourse, too often, hasn't progressed at all since 2002. If you disagree with Republicans about national security, you necessarily can't be patriotic. You're either with Newt or you're with the nation's enemies.

Indeed, it probably never occurred to Gingrich to consider how ridiculous these kinds of attacks are. If you support torture, you're pro-America; if you support the rule of law, you're anti-America. If you believe war crimes should be ignored, you're pro-America; if you believe in accountability, you're anti-America.

Why this clown continues to help speak for the Republican Party in the 21st century is further evidence of a party with a very serious leadership problem.