Boehner Recycles GOP's "Club Gitmo" Talking Point
By Jon Perr Friday Jan 23, 2009 6:21am
On the very day President Obama signed an executive order calling for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention center within one year, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) regurgitated one of the GOP's tried and untrue talking points in its defense. Claiming the facility "has more comforts than a lot of Americans get," Boehner is just the latest Republican to present that blight on America's international standing as "Club Gitmo."
At a press conference today, Boehner rejected the notion that Guantanamo had given the United States a black eye. To Boehner, the accommodations at Gitmo are figuratively, if not literally, to die for:
"I don't know that there's a terrorist treated better anywhere in the world than what has happened at Guantanamo. It is - we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build a facility that has more comforts than a lot of Americans get."
That sound bite made its first appearance in June 2005 in the wake of revelations regarding the torture of Gitmo prisoner Mohammed al-Qahtani. On June 12, Time published details of an 84-page document spelling out the abuse of Qahtani, treatment including sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity and prolonged exposure to cold, which left him in a "life-threatening condition." The result, as Americans learned last week from military commission chief Susan Crawford, is that Qahtani's case could not be referred for prosecution because, "his treatment met the legal definition of torture."
The abuse of Qahtani, however, did not meet the Republican definition of torture. As John Boehner, Dick Cheney, Duncan Hunter, Mel Martinez and Mike Huckabee alike attest, Gitmo is more country club than detention center.
That jaw-dropping assessment was standard fare from the mouthpieces of the right after the 2005 Qahtani revelations. Vice President Cheney announced, "I think people there are being treated far better than they expected to be treated by any other government on Earth." Just how well was explained by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA):
"The inmates in Guantanamo have never eaten better, they've never been treated better...the idea that we are somehow torturing people in Guantanamo is absolutely not true, unless you consider eating chicken three days a week is torture."
While Hunter was distributing menus from Guantanamo to reporters as proof, his Florida colleague Mel Martinez worried the U.S. detention facility had "become an icon for bad stories and at some point you wonder the cost-benefit ratio." Still, as Fox News reported:
Martinez has said, however, that prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are treated better there than those in Florida's Orange County jail.
The prison envy American inmates would experience was a point hammered home repeatedly by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. During the Republican presidential primaries in which he and Mitt Romney ("My view is we ought to double Guantanamo") battled to heap praise on Guantanamo, Huckabee declared that prisoners in his state wished they had it so good. After announcing in June 2007 that "most of our prisoners would love to be in a facility more like Guantanamo," Huckabee that December fawned over the creature comforts at Gitmo:
"The inmates there were getting a whole lot better treatment than my prisoners in Arkansas. In fact, we left saying, 'I hope our guys don't see this. They'll all want to be transferred to Guanatanmo.' If anything, it's too nice."
That sentiment was perhaps best expressed this summer by Sean Hannity and his guest Kyndra Miller Rotunda. Rotunda, a former Judge Advocate General officer at Guantanamo from August 2002 through March 2003, had argued in her book, "to some extent, yes, it is Club Gitmo." And on June 29, 2008, she told Hannity:
"I know there have been a lot of allegations about Guantanamo Bay, but the truth is it's really more like a Boy Scout camp than it is a prison camp."
Amazingly, she continued, "sure there are plenty of allegations of torture in Guantanamo Bay, the problem is there's just no facts to back it up." That, of course, is completely untrue.
But then again, the truth was never a barrier for John Boehner and his Republican allies.
(This piece is crossposted at Perrspectives.)
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I understand prisoners in our prison system are being under fed and lack almost any kind of health care and many have died due to lack of medical attention. Rape is common and so are gang wars, murders and beatings.
Gee, i guess better than that is just being too fucking nice, eh?
Treating them in any way resembling humane treatment would be coddling them...pfffft! Might as well serve them tea and dumplings while you're at it!
correctional facilities, I can personally attest to lack of quality (and quantity) of food and medical care. If you want to catch TB, just get yourself locked up for six months...
Detained for years in cells without legal charges, or a day to prove guilt or innocence? I don't remember that part of Boy Scouts.
Maybe Mr Sun Tan Boehner might want to speak with Secy Gates. I was watching a tape on c-span this morning, it was made yesterday at a press conference with Gates. He said the announcement of the closing of Gitmo had been met favorably around the world. And now some countries were in favor of helping if they could. Countries who had refused before to have any part in the prison.
I thought that they refused to help because it was Bush's problem. Now, since Club Gitmo is such a wonderful place, i suggest that we send House Minority Leader John Boehner there for an extended vacation. I am sure that he will love the accommodations.
If things are so nice in Gitmo, then the Boner.. oops.. Boehner should be glad that it is being closed and these dangerous people will be moved to real prisons.
At Alcatraz.
Oy.
And the electric chairs come with seat warmers.
Anyone else think it was a little too convenient that the story comes out today about one detainee who had been released and is now said to be an al qaeda leader in some country?
They have, as pointed out on Rachel Maddow's Show, claimed various numbers of released detainees have "returned to the battlefield." The numbers come across like some insanely long combination lock code where they keep the truth locked away.
"2, 12, 5, more than 5, 61, 20, 8, Hike!"
What has not been stated is any names, photos or descriptions of their actions.
Absolutely P.O.P.. The thing is they're too stupid to realize that their the ones who fucked up.
They didn't do a good enough background search on these people.
This is actually a good thing for the Obama admin.
Couldn't have happened at a better time.
I wonder...how effective their propaganda would be if Rove was out of the picture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZyXDeNx24I
The only one getting loans from the bank is kafka.
I can't understand why the right is fighting this so hard. Don't they want justice or do they just like using these people as symbols of victory?
They like people in cages. They like being bullies. They like torture. This is fun for them. It is the closest thing to being a slave owner they will ever experience.
It appears the super religious some people are, the more they defend Gitmo. It's the most bizarre thing.
The most publicly religious.
Yes, thank you for that correction.
Is what I call 'em.
At first I read that as publicly ridiculous. Then I took a closer look and realized my mistake. Then I thought about it and realized my version is correct too.
... believing that the Great Invisible Sky Poohbah has given his blessing on your illegal actions.
He certainly cured me of all the extra money i was plagued with.
Fri, 01/23/2009 - 06:47 — Shadowgm
... believing that the Great Invisible Sky Poohbah has given his blessing on your illegal actions.
_______________________________________________________________
http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2008/11/orig...
Is God?
In Texas.
he is past puberty. Unless he wants a Division I scholarship.
I heard somebody on TV or the radio compare the West Bank to the Flinstones yesterday. I laughed, then cried.
Bombed back to the stone age?
i was a registered repubican, merely because i hoped to moderate their party through primary voting and then vote democratic in the general election. i recently switched to my heart's party of democratic when i realized that i couldn't for any reason pull a lever for a gop candidate. simply put they're all quite insane.
boner's got a bad case of needing to gitmo satisfaction.
...out concerning crime and punishment on any level. Typical Conservative, solve crime by killing and locking up as many (suspected)criminals(usually minorities) as possible.
I find the, not in my back yard, argument a straw man. We have killers in our Florida State Prison. If these people are tried and convicted, I won't worry if some of them are in that prison. I don't worry about the ones that are there now.
If a detainee is tried and found not guilty, he isn't going to put on his hat and walk out the door headed for the beach.
Precisely. I've been wondering the same thing - do these people soil themselves knowing Manson is locked up in our "backyard"?
It's not like they're going to be living next door to a house full of adorable blonde orphans.
all last nite the GOP is regurgitating the same old tired talking points..."if we bring the terrorists here...WE'RE ALLLLL GONNA DIE!!!"
GOP wives must spend a lot of time on diaper duty, changing all these bedwetters.
he's the headliner for Meet the Press...
surprise? ... maybe gregory will grill him good, eh? ...
yea, me either...
Gregory will just remark on how incredible his tan is rather than bring up how utterly ridiculous his Gitmo talking points are.
Dancing with the Stars segment they are adding to MTP.
If it were on the books that Bush/Cheney/Rice and others were going to be spending a few years there................
I can hear the squealing now.
How about gnashing of teeth, screams of utter despair and demands for humane treatment?
... we should use cheap beer.
No...I recommend using hard cider.
That shit is friggin nasty!
..thrown in for all the lies. Isn't that what yer Mama did when you lied when you were little?
mom was a hippy, we didn't use no damn soap!
put the Kitty in a bag and give it a hit of second hand smoke?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqko1yNUv5I
saved America from the scourge of red revolution sweeping across the World during Orwell's formative teen years. If Dylan had seen this he would have answered his own question about Mr. Jones.
When do you show the Ayn Rand clips?
If Bonehead is right, I've got two weeks vacation coming up in early May. Been trying to decide where to go.
they plan on staying there indefinitely.
Better book your room now. With the wild reviews it's getting, it may get crowded during tourist season. Warning though, like the Hotel California, "You can check out any time you like,
but you can never leave!".
I don't care if gitmo is the fu*king Ritz, we should not be keeping anyone locked up this long without giving them a trial. I wonder where the term kidnapping might come in?
is the term, I think, when there is habeas corpus.
Boehner is sort of like Blago. Never met a camera he didn't love and god knows where he would be without his comb. Sarcasm does not become either of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bnpTK5mgZQ
that got him all the Middle Eastern trim at the bank.
So if your comfy, its ok to have no rights? Somehow I'm not surprised that repugs genuinely feel that way. They'd happily hand over all their rights to the govt for some comfort in return. Bunch of self-centered arrogant assholes.
That's it Johnny boy, keep bitching about topics the GOP have been wrong about for years and public does not agree with you on. That'll give the GOP a platform in 2012.
..of being a piece of shit. the only thing about him that does not continue to "lessen" as the years go by is the smell.
Somebody sign this fugitive from a tanning bed up for a trip to Club Waterboard.
"sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity and prolonged exposure to cold". I honestly wonder about the validity of that statement. Personally, I crave solitude; I haven't had a decent nights sleep since the market crashed; nudity is one of my favorite things; and just how the hell does one get "cold" in Cuba?
Keeping people locked up without charges or due process is another thing entirely. When President Obama closes that facility, these prisoners will finally be afforded due process.
...don't think I'd be boasting about how many "hundreds of millions" he and his Repug buds have spent to provide "comforts' for our so-called enemies.
You could put me under house arrest in the Ritz, but I wouldn't enjoy it if I was kept there indefinitely without charges and without being able to see the evidence against me. Idiot.
Maybe it has already been said but maybe Boehner (don't you love how he changed the pronunciation of his name?) and his clan should be sent there for a couple weeks. Give him the full experience and don't leave it at just the three chicken meals a week. Throw in some stress positions and a little extra electricity to his ball sack and maybe a little water up his nose. I wouldn't want him and his henchmen to go away without the full experience.
I see no reason to believe any or the parties responsible for getting that story out here. It has already been acknowledged that the Pentagon and the CIA do not "follow" the prisoners once released. Meanwhile, we KNOW that the Pentagon, the CIA, et al, are liars. And so are the news outlets that carry such stories. It was in the TIMES this morning. And they're inveterate liars.
"I don't know that there's a terrorist treated better anywhere in the world than what has happened at Guantanamo. It is - we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build a facility that has more comforts than a lot of Americans get."
this is, without a doubt, a classic boehner. a throbbing statement, bordering on the obscene, that is even less impressive than low expectations expect.
the WHOLE issue is whether or not these people are "terrorists". and boehner's statement either gives evidence of the failure of the GOP to grasp the basic issue, or it demonstrates once again that no matter how blatant their lies are, no matter what level of depravity they stoop to the GOP still has the ability to go lower, to lie more, to further undermine their credibility.
yet, i couldn't help but chuckle at the quote. it sounds more like an onion headline than a 'real' statement. boehner is, without a doubt, a grade-a shit nugget.
Maybe this punk oughta spend about...say...7 years there without trial!
Better yet, how about this?
Teach Boehner how to dance.
[Deleted. Do not advocate violence on this site-Sitemonitor]
Like the rest of these America-hating assholes.
Fri, 01/23/2009 - 07:25 — Samson-
...(T)his is, without a doubt, a classic boehner. a throbbing statement...(a real gusher.)
you picked up on my (not so) clever word choice
boehener rubs me the wrong way.
his attempts to lead are always flaccid
that is one twisty and small penis. (ok, i gave up trying to be clever)
is that both of you have a 'penetrating' wit!
:)
like the penal system.
I remember being told, as a young man in a border state, to be careful when crossing the border because it wasn't like the USA, if you got into trouble with the law, you may never get a day in court. Somewhere that changed in the USA in the past eight years. We are the roll models to the world. W never understood that and it seems the trolls and rethuglican knuckle draggers can't reconcile it. You don't change the way you live in a country because of some camel jockey who lives in a cave and wants to destroy you.
just when you think Republicans couldn't possibly make themselves lower than they already are, they fall throught a trap door.
points"
Shouldn't that be tired and untrue??
Boner is such a dick. Do you remember what he said when the Obama economic team revealed there plan and how much it would cost? He said "OH........ MY........ GOD" As if it was the first time he had heard the figure or he had absolutely no idea how much the thing was going to cost. His false surprise was as ridiculous as his evaluation of Gitmo. Keep talking Boner. Before you are done the Republican Party will be a footnote in history.
He's always either crying or being Mister Dramatica
no. doubt.
in fact, the transcript should habe been recorded more accurately:
*sniff* I don't know that *sniff* there's a terrorist treated better anywhaaaah in the world than what has happened at Guantanamo. *boo hoo hoo* It is - we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars that should have *sniff* gone to big tobacco. *boo hoo hoo*
Excellent Congrtessional health care has made it possible for him to last more than four hours.
His time serving as understudy to Tom Delay has certainly paid off for him! Can't wait to see his mug shots.....
wonder how many ohmygods he spilt when zillions--planeloads of skids of bricks of hundred dollar bills--were being shipped to Iraw for Bush's buddies to steal by the briefcase load.
go home and rejoin their turrist brethren" is SO f'ing old as well. Does anyone really believe that these few dozen guys solely hold the patent on angst against the US and the ability to blow shit up successfully? C'mon, PLENTY more have learned the tricks of the trade in their absence...
Hell, they've been in prison so long they have forgotten the secret code and the secret handshake. If they didn't hate us when we put them in there, I have a feeling they are pretty agitated at us now.
I sure as shit would be if I'd been detained illegally for 7 plus years getting tortured the whole time...I'd have ALL KINDSA schemes in me head for revenge...
Thanks ALOT bush! ASSHOLE!
So. Obama was a lawyer and constitutional scholar before he got into public life. Now remind me: what was Bush again?
Spoiled rotten rich deserter?
that they may be shunned as pariahs if they get home. They may well be assumed to be brainwashed double agents sent back to spy for the 'Murkins.
The New, Improved, 100% Conservative GOP:
"Working hard to lower the bar on the American Dream since 1981."
Build a WalMart in Gitmo, so all the detainees can have really shitty jobs. Then take away their health care and have them all develop diabetes. Woohoo! Then they'll be living the Conservative version of the American Dream.
will have to call them on their bullshit:
That's not true, sir, it's been debunked by all the experts. Your opinion is wrong, plain and simple. Is there anything else you want to lie about???
Good Luck on that one. The "journalists" are right now tearing out their hair because the music that was played at the inauguration was pre-recorded.
Wow! Just like home. Take a look:
http://www.theatlantic.com/slideshows/guantan...
Click on the slideshow for a narrative and photographs of Guantanamo. Much of the facility is based on the model of a maximum security prison. I'm sure Boehner would LOVE to live that way, kept a prisoner.
What a jackass...
"I don't know that there's a terrorist treated better anywhere in the world than what has happened at Guantanamo.
How they are treated is not the issue. The issue is are they being held legally and, if not, what should be done to ensure that their detention is legal or they should be released.
Also, there has been no evidence presented that these people are, in fact, terrorists. I would like for every person who states something like "these people are terrorist" or "these people are dangerous" that they be asked "How do you know?".
Why does boner look like a Brokeback Mr. Spock playing kissy-face there?
Photo Op for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)
Photo Op for House Leader of the Minority, John Boehner (R-OH)
Photo Op for Minority Leader of the House, John Boehner (R-OH)
Photo Op for John Boehner, Minor asswipe for the House.
Did I mention Photo Op?
Election coming?
Is this guy the republican leader for the tanning industry?
Think this place is the Ritz-Guantanamo? Fine, check yourself in and experience for yourself what the true luxury you lame cowards boast about really is. Then maybe you will appreciate how valuable our constitutional rights are and how you lying fascists compromised them.
And besides, you Neocon imbeciles really belong in a well secured facility with barbed wire anyway. Then America will really be safer.
By being so overwhelmingly stupid and deceitful, the Republiscums had it coming. Being out of power for, hmmm, let say 25 years should be enough to help a new generation oust the idiots they have at their helm now.
Their apologist view of Guantanamo and the whole War on Terror joke is so sickening. It is indeed a miracle that we STILL have some civil liberties left.
Perhaps the have nice sleeping accommodations and fed well, but the ugly truth about torture is a blind spot for the republicans.
They will never tell the truth because no one is being held accountable for the torture in the first place.
If we hold the former administration accountable, then the fact that people were tortured cannot be discounted.
The republicans will never change if they have no consequences for their behaviors, they have been getting away with flaunting our laws for years, since Nixon.
Of course the ironic thing is that if Gitmo were half as comfortable as nut jobs like Boehner want to pretend then Republicans would be screaming for it's clousure.
Would be to release the gitmo detainees in America and give them maps to everyone in the bush administrations homes.
Wow that would be so much fun!
Could you imagine all the crying you would hear from the republiidiots then?
I am just sick to death of these republican morons and their idiot supporters!
It doesn't matter how they're treated. Try them if you have a case. otherwise set them free.
This guy is so predictable. And why do I keep wanting to pronounce his name "Boner"?
Just the fact that he admits that detainees are treated better than some citizens is a sad confirmation that he doesn't really care that some americans live under worse circumstances.
If Boehner thinks so highly of the treatment at Guantanamo, he should sign in under an assumed name, and identify himself as being charged with domestic terrorism. Then, and only then would he have a right to assess treatment of those incarcerated there.
Yeah, but I heard the wine list sucks...
hey is that the asshole who told the UAW, go F*#K yourself on a bail out.
People like the Boner are why Ohio continues to fall behind. We had people just like him in control of our entire state government for almost 20 years. They took us from budget surpluses and low unemployment to $7 billion dollars in debt and massive brain drain.
WE WON YOU JACKASS.
NOW SHUT THE HELL UP!
Why don't we put YOU in Gitmo, you Bone head, and see just how cushy and wonderful it is? We'll see how much you crying you do then.
What is wrong with Ohio that they continue to let this man represent them?
After WWII some of the concentration camps have been preserved as a reminder to future generations of what happened. The same thing ought to happen with Guantanamo. And at the same time, it would put the lie to these scheisskopfs who think it is so wonderful. And think what it would do for tourism in Cuba.
That dufus-brain Boehner is so partisan that he looks more like Limbaugh's love child than a Congressman. He can't figure out that Guantánamo is a "poster child" to recruit followers into Al Quaeda.
he's the one who made it acceptable. like so many other things the republican party made acceptable through coordinated uncontested repetition to catapult the propaganda.
These people are IDIOTS.
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