From the Cafferty File:

Since the release of those Bush-era interrogation memos, former Vice President Dick Cheney hasn’t been able to stop tallking. This was a guy who we barely saw or heard from for eight years. Cheney insists the harsh techniques kept the country safe and President Obama should release more documents to prove that.

Bush’s former top political adviser, Karl Rove is accusing Mr. Obama of seeking “show trials” of former administration officials. Even Senator John McCain, who fought for limits on interrogation during the Bush administration, says any talk of prosecution is about “settling old political scores.” I guess the fact that laws may have been broken doesn’t matter to McCain.

But with all the talk — one person we haven’t heard from is former President Bush himself. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy insists an independent commission is needed to find out who exactly authorized this stuff, saying: “I want to know who was it who made the decisions that we will violate our own laws; we’ll violate our own treaties; we will even violate our own Constitution.”

While president, Bush repeatedly denied that his administration authorized torture of prisoners. But just last week a Senate report showed top Bush officials as early as 2002 gave the CIA approval to use techniques like waterboarding — which has been considered torture since the Spanish Inquisition.

Here’s my question to you: When it comes to the torture debate, why has former President Bush been silent?

Raymond from Charlotte, North Carolina writes:

Bush has probably “lawyered-up” and his lawyers have told him to remain silent on everything until the smoke settles from his administration’s disastrous policies.

Deb from Nauvoo, Illinois writes:

George Bush is hoping that one old saying is true: out of sight, out of mind… and that one old saying isn’t: the buck stops here. Just who do you think is ultimately responsible for the acts of torture committed in the name of The United States of America? I think George Bush knows too.

Adam from Thousand Oaks, California writes:

My guess is: he is at peace with the decisions he’s made and believes they are no small part of what has kept our country safe since 9/11/2001. I agree with John McCain that it is a slippery slope when we start prosecuting people for their political views and interpretations.

Jay writes:

Because Bush knows that he is not as smart as Cheney. And when he hears how absolutely stupid Cheney sounds when he tries to defend this nightmare, he understands how much dumber he will come off if he opens his mouth.

Lesley writes:

I was never a fan of George W. Bush. I would love to write something not so nice about him. However, in the case of torture, I have always believed that it was Cheney who was pushing all the torture buttons, along with his pal Rumsfeld. Cheney feels the need to defend himself, and Bush has nothing to defend.

Jim from North Carolina writes:

Former President Bush’s silence is very simple: he doesn’t believe waterboarding is torture. Torture is Nancy Pelosi lying about what she knew.

Jack from Nice, California writes:

Jack, Who cares? I spent over eight years wishing President Bush would remain silent, so now I just want to enjoy it while I can.