May 18, 2009

David Waldman, also known as Kagro X at DailyKos and Congress Matters, appeared on a CNN webshow and showed these mealy-mouthed Democratic Party talking heads how to really frame and control the debate on torture. Finally, someone on who has a firm grasp of the facts and will not allow the discussion to get sidetracked to pointless distractions. Jane Hamsher put it best:

The successful hijacking of the torture debate by its proponents obscures the underlying facts, as Kagro makes abundantly clear:

  1. Private contractors were conducting torture
  2. It was torture for political gain
  3. Pollsters should be asking if Americans support using torture to extract false confessions for political purposes, because that's what happened

There were no "ticking time bombs" -- as former State Department official Lawrence Wilkerson and McClatchey have confirmed, torture was conducted to extract false evidence linking Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. It was ordered by Dick Cheney and George Bush just as it was during the Spanish Inquisition, to force political compliance.

The Washington Examiner's Chris Stirewalt objects when Kagro invokes the obvious parallel, shamelessly hiding behind the military when he says "On behalf of American soldiers, on behalf of American soldiers, that's not cool." In classic Yellow Elephant fashion, Stirewalt apparently never served in the military.

You know what else is not cool, Chris? Invoking some quasi-patriotic symbol to obfuscate over what should be patently obvious to even mouth-breathing Republican apologists like you: Torturing people is a crime against humanity. Torturing people for political gain is an even more despicable crime against humanity. It doesn't matter who commits it: Spain, the Catholic Church, Japan or Dick Cheney. It is a crime. And you are an apologist for it.

Jane has started a Facebook group: I Oppose Torture and Kagro X Is My Hero.

It's for people who don't see much "reality based" discussion of the subject of torture on cable news, and want to see David Waldman on TV every day.

Personally, I would LOVE to have someone like David Waldman on every day instead of the pathetic bunch we have now.

A closing note on Erica Williams of Center for American Progress. Her statement

The American people right now are actually not interested in this sideshow and this discussion. The American people are interested in looking forward -- nobody is concerned anymore with what the Bush administration was doing and did. We decided it was torture. Conservatives may or may not disagree. None of that matters at this point and time.

had me rushing to the Google to make sure that CAP was actually the organization I thought it was, instead of some sound-alike astroturf right-wing organization, so shocked was I to hear her say what she did. However, I'm happy to see that Erica herself has issued a mea culpa for what appeared to be a demonic possession of her brain. David is equally as relieved.

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