Thus Sen. Lindsey Graham describes the Bush administration’s attitude toward the law and “enhanced interrogation techniques.” Eric Zimmermann has the scoop. (Note: I would have plugged this into my just-published post on torture, but ultimately decided Graham’s soundbite deserved its own spotlight.)

“This is the destiny of democracy, as not all means are acceptable to it, and not all practices employed by its enemies are open before it. Although a democracy must often fight with one hand tied behind its back, it nonetheless has the upper hand.” – Supreme Court of Israel, 1999 ——————— Torture. It was a prominent topic in yesterday’s news — with ongoing debate about former VP Cheney’s stubborn defense of “enhanced interrogation”...

Sen. McCaskill (D-MO) plots Missouri stimulus projects via her Senate office Web site. I don’t see anything similar on the Web site for Sen. Bond (R-MO). Not surprising, I suppose, considering his “no” vote on the stimulus bill. Do either of your U.S. Senators offer a resource similar to McCaskill’s? Also, while we can probably guess the answer, I’ll ask the question anyway: Does the presence or lack of such data track with their stimulus votes?

I am. Here’s why. And while his race for the GOP nom may not be an easy one — I wouldn’t bet against him given the endorsements he has already lined up.

They’re at it again. For those of us who hope that a semblance of fiscal sanity will eventually prevail, let’s also hope the Blue Dogs are a little more unified and forceful this time around than they were on the budget resolution.

Would today’s GOP nominate Abraham Lincoln as the party’s presidential candidate? I think not — as argued in a two-part essay at Shaun Mullen’s blog, Kiko’s House. The first part was published yesterday (May 10); the second part will be published next Sunday (May 17). These contributions are installments in a much a larger series on Lincoln that Shaun has planned this year, the bicentennial of the great man’s birth. Check here for an index of other installments...

A reader shared the following, citing this source: I don’t mean to minimize the tasteless, offensive nature of Wanda Sykes’ remarks about Rush Limbaugh and kidney failure, but what are we to make of Nixon and Agnew’s performance at the 1970 Gridiron Dinner? “Things got no better at the Gridiron that night. Absolutely determined that a good time would be had by all, and equally determined to bring down the house, Richard Nixon appeared as the final act. The curtain pulled back to reveal the...

In my recent commentary for St. Louis’ NPR affiliate, I noted that there are rewards for those who pay attention to state and local politics, and risks for those who don’t. In an attempt to practice what I preach, I recently subscribed to the RSS feeds of a number of St. Louis and Missouri news sources. One of those is the St. Louis Beacon, an online news project fueled by several former employees of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and funded, in part, by Emily Rauh Pulitzer, who not that...

Thanks to Sen. Coburn for making essentially the same point I was trying to make yesterday. Granted, some of Coburn’s remarks — e.g., “regardless of how imperfect or incomplete the president’s list may be” — seem a bit snippier than mine, but the fundamental argument is the same. As I wrote yesterday, “Budget paring is a process, not a light switch.” In that vein, I applaud the Senator for noting that … These proposals must be followed by real...

They’re at it again, and apparently quite proud of it. In an email TMV received this morning from Ericka Andersen with the House Republican Conference, she describes this particular work, released last night, as “a great video” and encourages us to “Spread the word!” OK. I’ll take the bait. And while I’m at it, I’ll turn the video’s concluding question — “How does closing Guantanamo Bay make us safer” — back to the...

Perhaps the non-puritanical pragmatists have a prayer in the GOP, after all. Josh Kraushaar reports for Politico.

Andrew Sullivan holds up this video as one reason he’s not a Republican. He then links to Hilzoy who articulates the conclusion that any semi-intelligent adult should be able to reach: “If we can’t have dangerous people living among us, then we are going to have a whole lot of extra prisons sitting around empty.” (Not to mention all the job losses among prison security personnel.) I’m actually (enthusiastically) in favor of putting the members of the Gitmo gang into...

It may be an isolated incident, but that doesn’t make it any less frightening. Conservatives, of all people, should be outraged. Just ask Mickey Edwards. For my part, one of the key reasons I was initially drawn to the conservative movement was my disdain for concentrated power, my fear of Orwell’s 1984 some day becoming reality. If the story linked above doesn’t remind you of that novel, I suspect nothing will. [H/t Andrew Sullivan.]

$100 million then. $17 billion now. If he keeps up that pace, Obama will next propose spending cuts in the range of $2.89 trillion.* Presto: We’re running a surplus. Of course, that level of cutting ($2.89T) won’t happen, nor am I suggesting it should. Hell, the $17B might not happen; “every program has its patrons,” as the NYT article notes, paraphrasing “administration officials.” Regardless, I’ll repeat the less-than-profound point I made a couple weeks...

Regardless of what you feel about this subject, regardless of what you believe is right, regardless of what is right, this is reality. Kudos to Chris Cillizza for the analysis, for telling it like it is, no matter how uncomfortable this might have been for him to write, no matter how difficult this might be for some of us to read.

Former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill once famously opined: “All politics is local.” In my latest commentary for St. Louis’ NPR affiliate, I voice a nagging concern that too many of us (including me) have forgotten the wisdom of Tip’s counsel.

Four more percentage points and Independents will be the largest political force in the U.S. [H/t Daily Dish.]

Obama’s not the only one with a pick to make. Eric Zimmermann of The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room emailed us the following summary. A really interesting aspect of the Souter retirement is that Republicans, because of Specter’s defection, are lacking a leader on the Judiciary Committee, which will handle the nomination of a new Justice. The Republican chain of succession here is REALLY messy. The next highest Republican is Chuck Grassley, but he already is the top Repub on Finance,...

While I don’t recall exactly when, it was within the last three to four weeks that I used the contact form on Senator Claire McCaskill’s Web site to share my concerns with her about President Obama’s proposed budget. I didn’t save a copy of my message to her, but its central point was that — while I had voted for both her and the President and was generally supportive of many things the President is doing or has suggested doing — I found his proposed budget and...

We each make assumptions about who we are, what we’re about. And sometimes, those assumptions change over time. Between voting age and late 2006, my running assumption about my own politicalness was that I was more Republican than anything else. Since late ‘06, with a few fluctuations in between, I’ve consistently felt more Independent than Republican. The latter was validated when I looked at these two charts — and saw more of my own mind in the trendlines on the first...

Two reactions after reading several, torture-related WaPo articles this morning: First, I was compelled to publish updates to my post on this topic yesterday. Both the updates and original are offered below. Second, I couldn’t help but wonder if, in rejecting a truth commission, Obama is experiencing some of what Gerald Ford experienced, when he decided to pardon Nixon. The rationale for both, it seems, is quite similar, anchored in an overarching concern that poking at national wounds will...

Of the endless cascade of reports, posts, and conversations this week on recent-past U.S. torture practices, there are three that perhaps bother me more than all the rest. The first can be found at the end of this CSM report: Interrogators, who spoke to the [New York] Times on condition of anonymity, said they believed Zubaydah told them everything he knew before waterboarding began. They communicated this to agency higher-ups in Washington, who nonetheless insisted on the use of the practice, and...

As of 5 p.m. CT, the Drudge Report had prominently labeled this AP item a “slap” against Obama’s earlier-announced $100M cost-reduction effort. I recall (though haven’t had time to go back and source) similarly snide dismissals of McCain’s earmark-fixation. Running through both critiques is a common, wave-of-the-hand theme: “Posh. A drop in the bucket. Won’t do any good.” Perhaps. But don’t we have to start somewhere? Isn’t it better...

Today, President Obama said: Without significant change to steer away from ever-expanding deficits and debt, we are on an unsustainable course. Some will dispute (with merit) my credentials as a fiscal conservative. But let there be no question that I have been fiscally concerned of late about the massive deficits (and corresponding increase in total debt) projected by Obama’s administration during Obama’s administration. I understand that the trendline for the current budget year is,...

After his less-than-inspiring response to President Obama’s address in February to a joint session of Congress, Gov. Bobby Jindal (La.) appears to be engaging the first stage of rehabilitation, leaning hard into the “question policies not motives” meme. Good for him. Love him or not, it’s the right thing to do; the cornerstone of civilized debate.