Comments (19)

drew wrote on October 4, 2007 12:00 PM:

I am SOOOOOOO sure that the WH will be more than willing to have them turned over.

Oi vey.

Stand by for three rounds of sternly worded letters, four ignored subpoenas and Pelosi getting another round of botox shots.

Props to Conyers for trying though.

Pelosi fiddles while the republic burns.

Legalize wrote on October 4, 2007 12:07 PM:

DOJ to Congress: "get bent."

Diane wrote on October 4, 2007 12:17 PM:

It's time for everyone reading this to write to their Congressmen and demand impeachment. Whether Congress heeds our views or not, history needs to record our names and our efforts to nonviolently overthrow this regime so that history does not record us as having condoned this torture.

Anderson wrote on October 4, 2007 12:20 PM:

Congress should defund Bradbury's position unless & until he's confirmed by the Senate. How hard is that?

Patrick wrote on October 4, 2007 12:33 PM:

I'm with Drew.

More Democratic posturing over very real criminal activities by this Administration that will lead nowhere. The Dems (and particularly their leadership) lack the fortitude to press the inquiries forward against the stonewalling, obstructionism, legally insupportable claims of executive privilege and outright lying that the Administration will resort to in order to keep this information from ever coming to light. All in the name of "safeguarding our Homeland against the hordes of evildoers bent on destroying us." And we'll be treated to the drumbeat refrain of how the Democrats compromise our national security by pursuing these inquiries, a charge the Democrats will lamely try to rebut.

As bad as things were with the Republicans in the majority, I don't think I truly despaired for our country until the Democrats won majorities in both Houses and did, practically speaking, nothing to hold this Administration accountable.

Lots of people seem to be thinking, just wait til January '09; that once Bush is gone, the Rule of Law will be restored and the Republic saved. Bull. The Bush Administration is merely a symptom of a much deeper malady that has corrupted every branch of government and both political parties. Bush and Cheney simply presage the darker days we're all in for (call it "The Darkening of Numenor," to use the late Rick Santorum's half-assed analogy to Tolkien's works).

chabuka wrote on October 4, 2007 12:39 PM:

I'll bet they are just shaking in their boots....what a waste of time...where is Harriet Miers, testimony..? The 600 or so e-mails..the investigation of the DOJ's USA's..even the impeachment hearings....where is justice and accountability???? Wimpy damn Democrats

stephennnn wrote on October 4, 2007 12:39 PM:

Of course the acting AJ will parse the phrase "provided immediatley". Hopefully the committee will simply send a supoenae now to save time.

TheraP wrote on October 4, 2007 1:29 PM:

The only good news is that things keep coming to light and bush/cheney are being slammed with press questions and congressional subpoenas, and public outrage.

We the People can do a lot by keeping these crimes in the forefront, demanding answers, expressing outrage.

Thank you tpm!!!!!!

anonymouse wrote on October 4, 2007 1:29 PM:

One interesting thing to note.

Whether or not torture existed... whether or not the definitions varied... Bush entrusted the laws and formations of laws and regulations, not to people with integrtity and sympathy for the countless number of patriots who gave their lives to prevent this display of animalism... but rather, to people who were entirely willing to throw away a couple hundred years of national beliefs in human rights for their own dispicable goals.

He may deny torturing, but he sure cannot deny his belief in it....

BTW: I have contacted my senators and congressman to push for impeachment as well as other measures (contempt of Congress, lying to Congress, etc.) they do not listen to us anymore...

workaday joe wrote on October 4, 2007 2:00 PM:

Boy, I'd hate to be on the receiving end of that sternly-worded memo.

JNagarya wrote on October 4, 2007 2:21 PM:

"workaday joe wrote on October 4, 2007 2:00 PM:

"Boy, I'd hate to be on the receiving end of that sternly-worded memo."

Get a few clues, political infant:

1. Congress operates according to law. Law is a process which functions 99 per cent on paper. Showing respect and decorum is the necessary norm; being outraged and foul-mouthed does nothing to resolve anything; rather, it makes the outraged/foul-mouthed into the issue.

2. Democracy cannot exist without the rule of law. Democracy is "ineffieicnt" -- it takes time.

3. The alleged Democratic "majority" is largely an illusion: a "majority" of one in the Senate named Lieberman. Neither Reid nor Pelosi are responsible for Lieberman's actions and votes.

4. The "power" the Democrats have, including in the House, must rely on support from sufficient Republican'ts -- they are the foot-draggers and filibustering obstructionists, not the Democrats -- if it is to get anything done.

All you putative "Democrats" who so condescendingly and smugly bash the Democrats -- at every opportunity -- never seem to find the time to even mention in passing that there are also Republican'ts in the room; and that it is they, not the Democrats, who are blocking nearly every Democratic initiative.

Either wake up, or continue the fashionable, and naive, cynicism, and risk a return of Republican't control of Congress.

Jack Newhouse wrote on October 4, 2007 2:28 PM:

Not only are they sending sternly-worded memos, but they're putting on their grumpy faces. Finger-wagging will no doubt follow.

I expect capitulation in days.

Jack Newhouse wrote on October 4, 2007 2:42 PM:

JNagarya,

Accusing others of being "political infants" is an odd way of prefacing a lecture on respect and decorum.

Leaving that aside, the problem is not with any of the points you raise, but with the Democrats' apparent unwillingness to use what leverage they have to force concessions from the Republicans. They would not take strong steps in oppossition while in the minority, and inexplicably still refuse to do so now that they have the majority. Instead, they seem content to suffer Republican obstructionism, while using it as the excuse for their own inaction.

phred wrote on October 4, 2007 2:46 PM:

JNagarya --

So according to you, the Republicans ran roughshod over the Dems when they were in the majority, because they had the majority. And now, the Republicans are running roughshod over the Dems because they are the big stumbling block that is the minority.

Hmmm, perhaps the Dems should borrow the Repubs copy of Roberts Rules of Order and figure out how they can actually achieve their professed goals whether they have the majority or the minority, just like the Repubs.

The Dems have all the power they need to put a stop to the illegal conduct of this administration. They don't. The leadersheep are complicit and have a great deal to hide I suspect.

Sully18 wrote on October 4, 2007 3:30 PM:

I said this yesterday,and Ill reiterate it again.I don`t have much patience for this Bush gang of criminals.I want them in jail for what they`ve done,but I know that confronting their treasonous acts must be done by the rule of law,and that takes time.It is important to be careful and lawful about this.
Whenever I feel like these thugs are going to prevail,

Sully18 wrote on October 4, 2007 3:41 PM:

Sorry about the glitch

I said this yesterday,and Ill reiterate it again.I don`t have much patience for this Bush gang of criminals.I want them in jail for what they`ve done,but I know that confronting their treasonous acts must be done by the rule of law,and that takes time.It is important to be careful and lawful about this.
Whenever I feel like these thugs are going to prevail,I become angry,depressed,cynical,I have to remember the part of me that is so upset is not necessarily the reasoned ,rational adult.Then I remember that it is the children who more often than not are impatient and want everything to happen now
I have to remember what a friend of mine says about it: "Children have insatiable needs.Adults let what`s given be enough."
When I think about that I can become more patient and trust that truth and honor will be restored.

Jack Newhouse wrote on October 4, 2007 8:11 PM:

Sully18,

I'm glad you find comfort in your serene acceptance of "what is given," and that it gives you a sense of serenity, but it is also, famously, said that "all that is required for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing."

That, sadly, is what this Congress is ultimately doing. Threats of action mean nothing unless they are followed by action.

Jack Newhouse wrote on October 4, 2007 8:46 PM:

Sully18,

I just wanted to add that, perhaps I'm cynical, but your "friend's" saying does not sound like advice for adults, but rather, like something that is told to children to get them to accept the dictates of their elders. Somewhat along the lines of "children should be seen, but not heard."

This is definitely what our elected representatives would prefer, but it is not, I believe, a citizen's duty in this republic.

dee illuminati wrote on October 4, 2007 9:42 PM:

It appears that the position on torture is as much as an exoneration attempt at bad policy initiated by a small cadre of zealots than on balance an effective tool in combating terrorism.

Thinking back that 1 Billion and as many documents that Saddam wanted concerning WMD and that we could have as a matter of 'gun ship diplomacy' forced him into an initial exile, that that act would have been a 'power move' visible to the middle east, effective, clean, undeniable, of hey: "the troops mass on the borders" and your regime is over.

But instead of demonstrating that power?

An invasion and embarrassments of the use of torture that has undermined the GWOT and undermined US influence while tacking the testicles of the US armed forces into the sand of Iraq.

Meanwhile: Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Venezuela, North Korea, and Bolivia expand ideas that are contrary to vital US national interests while 'due to the circumstances' of occupying Iraq are ignored.

The acts of a superpower, do not need to be vulgar, abusive, or even military. The manner in which US power has been projected and exercised is an example of poor management that seems unreceptive to learning lessons.

There is no turning back from Globalization, there is no turning back from the challenges that lie ahead concerning energy and pollution, But I have to observe that this administration is like a dog chasing a car, and has demonstrated again and again, that similar to a dog chasing a car, "the question of what you are going to do when you catch that car" has to be considered.

We (the USA) could have chased Saddam from Iraq.

But behold the spectacle we have instead.

I suggest that torture be conducted by the highest ranking officer present, that the act require jury nullification after the fact, and that in 'extraordinary' cases (lurid and insidious) circumstances that it is the correct thing to do. But I point out that that jury nullification be required as that the act of torture is illegal.

In the marketplace of Ideals, the one differing quality that the west held as an alternative to radical islamic, communist, or opposing political and economic rivals was our human rights.

This administration seems to have snatched defeat from the palm of victory REPEATEDLY!

And no I do not suggest that our military forces have been defeated, but instead that the price of political progress (if it could indeed be measured) or national security goals met, makes me wonder just how long can a wrong-headed policy be sustained?

There seems to be an obstinate instead of an effective policy to meet national security goals that can be sustained.