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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Rockefeller and Harman are worthless. Reyes appears to be no better. Pelosi should be stripped of her leadership position. Dare I begin to wonder if Alcee Hastings might just have been a better choice for the House IC chairmanship? He was next in seniority for that post IIRC.
I'm one disgusted Democrat.
This title, and what Correntewire says it is riffing on, is a winner.
"We are Democrats. They are enablers.""And the headline is a riff on Pelosi’s famous statement:" “They are advocates. We are leaders.”
http://tinyurl.com/2tfe6j
What a crying shame.
https://www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releases-statements/hpsci-chairman-reyes-honors-d-ncs-jose-rodriguez.html
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
THE WORK OF A NATION. THE CENTER OF INTELLIGENCE.Press Releases & Statements
HPSCI Chairman Reyes Honors D/NCS Jose Rodriguez
August 16, 2007On Tuesday, 16 August 2007, during the 4th annual "Border Security Conference" in El Paso, Texas, Congressman Silvestre Reyes presented Jose Rodriguez, Director of the National Clandestine Service, with a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol in recognition of his three decades of dedicated service with the Central Intelligence Agency. Here is an excerpt:
CHAIRMAN REYES: [...] We have an individual here that Mike Delaney tells me was the impetus to – I hope all of you are familiar with the TV series “24.” This gentleman that I’m about to thank was really the genesis – with a few liberties that Hollywood takes – the exploits of Jose Rodriguez are documented in the series “24.” So he admitted to me that he likes fast cars. I won’t tell you about the women, but I will tell you about the fast cars. (Laughter.) He is a connoisseur of fine wine. [...] Mr. Jose Rodriguez, Director of National Clandestine Service. Please give him a big round of applause.
(Applause.)
JOSE RODRIGUEZ: When I said yesterday that I was a little nervous because I was dropping trou – I didn’t mean it in the “24” series sense; I meant it in dropping cover. But I am truly honored, Congressman. [...]
- - www.cia.gov
Thanks to Lindsay Beyerstein for the www.cia.gov link.
http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2007/12/jose-rodriguez.html
December 09, 2007
Jose Rodriguez is Jack BauerThe Chair of the House Intelligence Committee favorably compared the former head of the National Clandestine Service to the fictional torturer Jack Bauer at a CIA awards ceremony last August. [...]
- - Lindsay Beyerstein
See this concise, little ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvTp0PYVLZA
I think the two key phrases of this election are, or should be...
1. Darcy Burner's "More and better Democrats"
2. moveon.org's underused "Bush's Third Term"
We may literally not be able to afford another term of Bush (in the guise of Giuliani, Romney, Huckabee, etc.).
Yet there is little we've seen in the past year that says "more Democrats" without "better Democrats" is the cure for what ails us.
Given what the Repubs have done with absolute power these past two terms, I'll be damned if I'll do anything but vote (D) next November. But in the meantime, I'll work hard to see that the best possible names are on the other side of that (D).
When Pelosi was selected for Minority Leader a few years ago, I gave her six months before she was booted out. She seemed like a housewife out of her depth.
And, hey, she was.
I don't think she supports torture, per se. But I believe a handful of foreceful intelligence figures could persuade her that the torture was necessary to protect our country. And that if she made any moves against it her political career would be over. I'm certain it was presented to her as One Of Those Tough Decisions You Have To Make.
It would take more balls than most of us have to stand tall and buck The Experts in such a high-pressure situation.
I'm not defending or supporting Pelosi, on any level, but I think it's important to understand how seemingly reasonable and sensible folk can find themselves on the side of the indefensible.
That said, Pelosi can still do the right thing. And she needs to do it now.
I should have also mentioned that Lindsay Beyerstein gives a hat tip to Booman for the CIA web link.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2007/12/8/182042/080
Jose Rodriguez is Jack Bauer
by BooMan
Sat Dec 8th, 2007 at 06:20:42 PM EST[...] REP. REYES: Okay, now, thank you very much, Jose. Thanks for your 30 years of dedicated service to our nation. [...]
My brother, a Republican, once argued that the difference between Republicans and Democrats is about as much as that between Coke and Pepsi. I don't think it was true back when he said it, but I think it's become true, and I feel sick about it. Come 2008 I might just spit them both out.
This must surely be the hundredth Eureka moment that finally awakens the public and the press to the current "white house horrors" to vanish into thin air amid the roar of crickets.
From the energy meetings to Enron, from the Downing St. memos to Abu Ghraib, from Hurricane Katrina to the the Libby trial, each gross violation of American law and tradition was duly reported, and quickly forgotten.
While congress clearly has been complicit, I think that the slavish devotion lavished on the right by the media is the real cause. Democrats refuse to honor their offices because to do so would be tantamount to self-immolation; not just on Fox but in the Washington Post on down.
Courage simply is not rewarded, unless it's the false kind that dresses up for TV.
Admittedly, it's a chicken or egg question, but Democratic leaders' pathetic acquiescence is rational, albeit unacceptable.
Of course, it's hard to test this theory......
Cowardice seldom ruins careers, and if everyone's doing it, no one wants to take bravery out for a spin.
Arthur Silber's been right for a long time.
The current crop of Congressional Dems want these powers too, so we shouldn't be surprised when they go along with the Repubs.
More Dems in office means more of this until the people wisen up.
what options do the people of this nation have. clearly, the united states is no longer a nation that abides by the rule of law; how do we hold these rancid, traitorous, lying scumbags to account?
i weep for what has become of my country. i NEVER could have imagined that the democratic 'leadership' would be so craven, so cowardly, so utterly without any allegiance to this country, that they would so enthusiastically embrace kidnapping, rape and torture as foreign policy instruments.
i wonder if nancy and jane and jay all have their own personalized copies of the abu ghrabi dvds. i bet they do.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
