Do you sometimes sleep in on Sunday morning after a busy Saturday night, or do other commitments and pleasures, such as church or golf—not necessarily in that order—make it hard for you to catch your favorite Sunday morning talk shows?
Well, not to worry, over at The Huffington Post, Jason Linkins has got you covered.
In his weekly “TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads,” Jason covers the waterfront, not only in terms of the number of shows and subjects he reports on, but, more important, in terms of the variety and detail of issues and subjects.
This morning, it was no different.
Having been disappointed, numbed and—to be frank—offended by the flood of sickening revelations about the Bush administration’s torture orgy—aptly called “The Torturers’ Manifesto” by the New York Times this morning—I was curious as to what equally sickening rationale and excuses the Bush administration defenders and apologists would offer on the talk shows.
Because of a commitment, I couldn’t watch them. But Jason was there.
From reading his summaries of what he calls “this week’s political light opera,” I got a good feel for the disgust and outrage on the part of some, and for the righteous spin and rationalization on the part of others, on the issue of torture.
A couple of examples.
From FOX NEWS SUNDAY:
Michael Hayden is on teevee right now, complaining that no one will be allowed to indulge in torture anymore. Doesn’t Obama realize that the “basic foundation of the legitimacy of the CIA” is sadism? “Agents will be stepping back from the kinds of things the country expects them to do.” No, agents will be stepping UP to what is expected of them, which is to project an image of America that’s not immoral and sadistic and fraudulent and which puts our own soldiers at risk.
Anyway, I wonder who’s going to be on this show to take the other side of this issue – you know, the one that’s not about Jay Bybee coming up with twisted, effed-up things to do with boxes of insects, as if 1984 was the field operating manual. Hayden believes that “these techniques did work,” but offers no proof other than other people giving speeches about these techniques working.
On Claire McCaskill versus Lindsey Graham:
McCaskill is glad this “dark chapter” is out in the open. Graham hates the techniques, but isn’t happy about the memos being released. He seems to believe that this was a strategic matter, that gave away critical information to al Qaeda. But how could it be that al Qaeda didn’t know we were torturing people? McCaskill makes this point: the terrorists knew we were doing this, and were using it as a means to recruit other terrorists.
.
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As for prosecutions, McCaskill and Graham are against putting the field agents on trial, both sort of hedge on opening up prosecutions on higher officials, with McCaskill doing less hedging. Though, seriously, you do not get to shudder at the thought of Jay Bybee having a lifetime appointment to the federal bench in one sentence, and then, when asked if he should be impeached, hem and haw.
Finally, on the torture memos:
This panel discussion is going to be a dark and painful chapter in our history. Hume says that it “ends a dark public relations period” in our history and that Obama is preferring to be thought of well in Brussels and Berlin than to be an effective leader against torture.
I think, however, that antipathy to torture is a mainstream position, a clearly moral position, an objectively American position, and that – far from worrying about the opinion of Belgians – ending these warped and sadistic practices send the message that the mainstream American position is a moral one, instead of a depraved and demented one.
Brit Hume is yelling at Juan Williams, basically making the case that the American people have no right to know about what was done in the name of protecting their freedom. “What are the positive benefits of America knowing?” Well, Brit, the positive benefit is that I, having a right to know the contents of those memos, NOW KNOW IT. Also, a positive benefit is that we won’t be WASTING OUR TIME WITH A BUNCH OF OF BAD INTELLIGENCE.
THIS WEEK, WITH GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS:
George Will says, of torture memos, “The problem with transparency is that it’s transparent for the terrorists as well.” BUT THE TERRORISTS ALREADY KNOW WE TORTURE THEM! Argh. We hear all the time that the terrorists are watching our elections and committee hearings and news programs. SO THEY’VE PROBABLY GOT WIND OF THE WATERBOARDING BY NOW.
Peggy Noonan, on prosecutions, says “some things in life need to be mysterious” and “sometimes you need to just keep walkin…”
Jason, complements commentary from the talk shows with relevant background and current material from various news sources and known blogs and writers.
This week, in my opinion, the most eloquent and forceful indictment of the Bush administration’s “eight years without transparency or accounting,” in general, and its nauseating torture practices in particular, comes in the aforementioned New York Times editorial, “The Torturers’ Manifesto.”
While Jason highlights Saturday’s New York Times report on the use of water boarding and other rough treatment against a prisoner from Al Qaeda, this morning’s Times Editorial rightly points out that Mr. Obama “…has an obligation to pursue what is clear evidence of a government policy sanctioning the torture and abuse of prisoners — in violation of international law and the Constitution.”
The Times suggests a place where to start, along with names and faces:
That investigation should start with the lawyers who wrote these sickening memos, including John Yoo, who now teaches law in California; Steven Bradbury, who was job-hunting when we last heard; and Mr. Bybee, who holds the lifetime seat on the federal appeals court that Mr. Bush rewarded him with.
But back to Jason’s coverage of the Sunday morning talk shows.
While I focused on the torture issue, Jason pretty much summarizes and comments on the whole spectrum of issues that were part of the “week’s political light opera.”
This week, such issues were: of course the economy, the Cuba embargo, Obama shaking hands with Chavez, Chavez giving Obama a book, “British lady who sang a song from Les Miserables,” the environment, EPA, and, of course, teabagging.
Because of the gravity, and the shamefulness, of the torture issue, this week’s opera wasn’t so “light” for me. But generally, Jason does make it “light” to read his reviews.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.