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Would Obama prosecute the Bush administration for torture? Obama's brain trust wants to form a commission on torture and call Bush officials as witnesses, but put off prosecutions -- if any -- till a second term.
  • "perceived by Republicans as a partisan witch hunt"

    At some point, somebody ought to investigate and prosecute Republicans in spite of the (apparently exonerating) reality that a large number of Republicans suffer cognitive dissonance when confronted with the possibility that members of their own party have committed crimes.

    Whining about partisanship should not in any way deter a President from enforcing the law. Indeed, willingness to prosecute high crimes that have been committed is a sign of strength.

    The current generation of political leaders seem to have completely lost any sight of the fact that there is a reality underlying all actions. It often seems that this generation cannot tell between rightful prosecution and wrongful prosecution. How else do we understand a party leadership that sits by while a member of their party and a governor of a state (Don Siegelman in Alabama) is indicted based on the testimony of a known liar, while administration officials repeatedly lie to Congress, violate laws left and right, and generally mock the rule of law.

    It seems the Democratic leaders are still so whipped by the Gingrich years that they are afraid of offending the most rabid Republicans. It is really bizarre to live in a nation where the actions and desires of the most rabid Republicans are the determining factor for not only what their own party does, but what the opposition party does, too.

    Here's a crazy idea. If the Democrats win the White House and control massive majorities in both Houses of Congress after the 2008 election, perhaps they shouldn't give a damn whether Republicans "perceive" legitimate investigations as a "witch hunt". At this point, we know that real crimes have been committed. The only question is who knew what and did exactly what when?

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