"I wouldn't join the International Criminal Court. It's a body based in The Hague where unaccountable judges and prosecutors can pull our troops or diplomats up for trial.
"And I wouldn't join it. And I understand that in certain capitals around the world that that wasn't a popular move. But it's the right move not to join a foreign court that could -- where our people could be prosecuted." - George W. Bush 09/30/04
"Men without conscience are capable of any cruelty the human mind can imagine." - Dick Cheney 01/26/05
Matt Yglesias at TAPPED has a good comment on the Republicans' comma-dancing over torture in the Bush Gulag: Their Pound of Flesh 06/20/05.
It's interesting as a case study in the operation of the [Republican] smear machine, but really more telling as an instance of the ethical black hole into which the contemporary right has fallen. Nowadays, every time somebody raises the topic of immoral torture-related policies undertaken by the Bush administration the instant conservative reaction is to transform the conversation into a debate about the appropriateness of the critics' rhetoric. Every time, the point of the defense is not to defend the conduct in question, but simply to note that someone, somewhere, at some time has done worse things. We're better than Saddam Hussein! Our prisons aren't as bad as Auschwitz! People may be detained arbitrarily without hearings, appeal, due process, or POW status, but it's no Gulag!
But the Democrats have fallen into the comma-dancing trap in some cases. Dick Durbin was criticized by some prominent Democrats for his comments in the Senate last week criticizing the torture policy. And then he half backed down himself with a classic politician's non-apology apology, i.e., I'm sorry if someone was offended. Liberal Oasis comments (06/19/05; scroll to the bottom):
Durbin could have gone on the Sunday shows himself, stuck to his guns and repeated his earlier demand for an apology from Bush for the Gitmo policies that led to this un-American abuse.
Instead, Democrats from Biden to Sen. Chris Dodd and former Sen. George Mitchell shook their fingers at Durbin and fed the GOP narrative.
Did Durbin’s "regret" stop the attacks from the GOP? Of course not.
On Fox, Newt Gingrch called for Durbin to be formally censured. While McCain graciously offered that while censure is not necessary, he "owes...the Senate an apology."
LiberalOasis would have loved to stand up for Durbin against these ridiculous attacks, but you can’t stand up for a guy who won’t stand up for himself.
Other Dems, take note.
It's ridiculous. In a world in which Amiercan liberals and conservatives both had a basic agreement about the need to respect human rights, including observing the laws against torture, any elected official would have been afraid to say more in criticism of Durbin's comments than, "Well, I might not have chosen those exact words myself, but he's dead right on the need to stop the torture and find out who ordered and tolerated it."
But we don't live in that kind of world. Not with the Bush Republicans in power.
It's a good rule of thumb in regular political scandals that when an accused politician's supporters start saying, but, hey, everybody does it, that's a good sign the accused is about ready to try to cop a plea.
The torture defenders are now at the point of arguing, with outraged passion, but at least we're not as bad as Saddam Hussein! They may not be ready to cop a plea. But it's a pretty good sign they know the pro-torture case is in real trouble.
That there even has to be a debate over torture is a genuine shame for American democracy.
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