Sullivan: "Where are conservatives who believe in restraining executive power and the dangers of torturing people?"
May 17, 2009 11:39 am ET
Sullivan: "Where are conservatives who believe in restraining executive power and the dangers of torturing people?"
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Their still waiting to come down on torture. It all depends on how the bizzare accusations against Ms. Pelosi come out. To be found on the same side as her is not something that any of them want to be accused of. This is the singular point for them and of vast importance to them. Trumping any other thing comcerning our use of torture.
Further news about the Bush/Cheney administration: Huffington Post on memos sent to Bush from Rumsfeld.
Wasn't it Limbaugh who said, regarding waterbording, "Drip drip, drip."
The truth always comes out.
His motivations, of course, are tough to figure out;
Self-preservation? I think that one's obvious. I've heard it said that Cheney's trying to lay the groundwork for a big fat "I told you so" in the future should terrorists ever get away with anything. I tend to agree with that, but that's not a very good endgame. If anything, I'd say that goal is secondary.
Principle? He's a neo-con, through and through. His 'peace through strength' perspective has been shown to be totally counter-productive on many fronts. His policies have and would only serve to worsen the problems the nation faces, the war on terror especially. Given the obvious problems intrinsic to the former administration's policies, his talk of patriotism rings false. The way he even uses the term 'American people' makes me think he considers them a commodity. His loyalties are suspicious. This brings into question the end-goal of his policies. The level of dissection of his comments seen so far has been unsatisfactory at best.
Fear? Maybe. Under the right (that is to say morally and legally right, not just situationally) circumstances, he's facing some serious consequences. The pressure is definitely mounting. But what evidence is there of fear? And if he's got reason enough to be afraid, why aren't Bush and the rest of those complicit in the whole affair piping up at the same time? That being said, his own defense of his position has been flimsy and assumes a lot of stupidity amongst his audience. Sure, he's got a whole bunch of media figures to back him up, but Cheney is himself a political liability and has been since well before the change in administration. The majority of the American public is against him. He has reason to be afraid. But is this how a frightened man acts? I don't know.
When I first read your post, the first thing that came to mind was; he is arrogant. But most politicians are arrogant. They don't think that they are above the law. Most are not morally or ethically challenged.
I truly believe that Cheney is so convinced that what he did was right,that to be challenged is something he just can't fathom. He alone was privy to things and understood things that rest of us were not/could not. That would help explain the way he "assumes a lot of stupidity amongst his audience."
Presure is mounting, and he will remain steadfast in his beliefs to the very end.
Sullivan is correct on one thing here, however. The conservative movement has for sometime built much of their grassroots appeal on libertarian anti-government rhetoric. Unfortunately, a lot of these rightwing "libertarians" (and I know a few in my personal life), were either stone silent, or worse supportive, of a government that tortured and ignored the fundamental right of habeas corpus. One acquaintance of mine, who was a gung-ho Bush supporter, never once concerned himself with torture until he heard about Pelosi's troubles. Now he is very concerned. Unfortunately, when you scratch a libertarian of this persuasion, you'll often find an authoritarian lurking just beneath the surface.
He's right, of course. And the thing is: The 'conservatives' have only two choices at this point. One is self-examination and reassessment and rejoining with humanity. The other is move even closer to the fascism that Dick Cheney represents. Thus far, the outlook is grim, as Sullivan points out.
Cheney is not frightened. He had 8 years to set up the board for this game. He only loses if he is rejected by the party. And he won't be.