Letters to the Editor
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The Greenwald Room
I come back from a busy weekend visiting a sick relative and get a whole new flavor from Salon's War Room. Glenn Greenwald has taken it upon himself to use the room as a vehicle to criticize the Democrats who would allow a Bush torture & spying policy to be implemented. Good editorial material, but to tell the truth, I have a hard time pulling the meaning and the story out of context and out of the column's references. Remember, I have been away and not picking up every story I can get on the web since Friday at 5:00 pm.
If you don't like his message, he compares you to the Bush followers:
Blindly loyal party partisans
I'm honestly amazed - and more than a little disturbed -- at how many people think that some sort of grave wrong has been committed when someone voices criticisms of the Democratic Party. We're all supposed to be good Party followers and praise the Party Leaders even while they help to legalize torture and permanent lawless detention powers? We're supposed to refrain from criticizing the Party Leaders and simply accept that they know best and follow along meekly and obediently? That sounds a lot like the behavior of Bush followers, and not something I'm particularly interested in emulating.
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Solidarity is the Issue
I'm going to disagee with Mr. Greenwald again on his approach. The Democrats have nothing close to the solidarity among their natural constituency that the Republicans do. I see what Mr. Greenwald is doing: he wants to shame the Democrats into doing what is right on the basis of conscience, but I am not sure that is what is going to allow them to win--not with the approval ratings toward Bush what they are at present. Let them beat themselves with a war that is making less and less sense to more and more moderate voters--and buffoons like Allen they run for office and call "presidential hopefulls."
Sad to say, the torture issue is not what is on the voters minds--so why give Rove the excuse he is looking for to rally his faithful troops? The real story that pertains to the issue is how Bill Clinton made his declaration last weekend that he tried to KILL Bin Laden--the emphasis is on KILL--a word used by someone who is serious about defeating an enemy--not from a party that is soft on defense.
It is my suspicion Mr. Greenwald will eventually support a third party--if that is not something he does regularly. If I am wrong, I'll take my chances and be happy I am wrong. The reason Democrats are losing elections and keep losing elections is not because of the 30 million fundamentalist right-wing VOTERS who will having nothing to do with them.
It is because of liberal ideologues witholding themselves from the reality of politics in this country-AS IT IS-by putting aside their self-righteouness so what happened in '04 doesn't happen in '08.
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Nancy Pelosi Sets a Standard
The House is showing a more resonant opposition than the Senate. I was heartened by Nancy Pelosi's well-framed and measured attack on the Republicans' attempt to ram their version of the detainee bill down the chamber's throat.
She tied the detainee treatment issue to a number of others that identified the Democrats as second to none on national security concerns. She asked why the 9/11 planners have yet to be prosecuted after five years and called out the risk that any of their convictions under the proposed House bill could be overturned by the Supreme Court (which she called Bush-friendly, preempting dismissal of them as liberal activists). She pointed out how Republicans are denying funds for cops on the beat, and she brought up her grandchildren.
She dismissed the opposition's suggestion that Dems think terrorists are guilty of nothing worse than chewing gum and refused to yield when a Republican asked (in the manner now associated with Chris Wallace) for time to correct the "misstatement." She said in effect, "Don't tell me what you meant." A page from Bill Clinton here.
Significantly she raised, more than once, the Constitution, calling habeas corpus the most basic control against executive abuse, and mentioned Congress's oath to preserve it. In fact the Constitution fairly encompassed all she said. She presented as one who feels accountable to American citizens for protecting their liberties and security at one and the same time.
Had Harry Reid shown one-tenth the spine of Pelosi the Democrats would be cutting a far better profile today.
The C-Span clip is linked to on Crooks & Liars.
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A pox on all their houses...
The Democrats, and the Republicans for that matter can vote any way they want, but no officeholder who did not vote against the torture bill will ever get MY vote.
In World War II an issue came up of Germans putting British POWs in chains in retaliation for an alleged breach of correct treatment of German POWs.
George Orwell wrote at the time (shortened version):
"It seems to me that the civilised answer to the German action would be something like this: “You proclaim that you are putting thousands of British prisoners in chains because some half-dozen Germans or thereabouts were temporarily tied up during the Dieppe raid. This is disgusting hypocrisy, in the first place because of your own record during the past ten years, in the second place because troops who have taken prisoners have got to secure them somehow until they can get them to a place of safety, and to tie men’s hands in such circumstances is totally different from chaining up a helpless prisoner who is already in an internment camp. At this moment, we cannot stop you maltreating our prisoners, though we shall probably remember it at the peace settlement, but don’t fear that we shall retaliate in kind. You are Nazis, we are civilised men. This latest act of yours simply demonstrates the difference.”
And this is the answer that should be given to anyone who does not oppose the torture bill. They are barbarians, but we are civilized people. We will treat our prisoners the same way we expect our foes to treat our people in captivity, and woe betide anyone who does anything that puts OUR MILITARY in danger of being tortured.
If we behave like barbarians, then we are no better than they are and we have no moral justification for anything that we do. In fact, we may not even have God on our side any more.
Frankly, it would be better for the Democrats to stand for something and be defeated than to stand for nothing and win.