General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I am noticing a lot of full-blown denial over Obama calling torturers "patriots" on DU. [View all]NanceGreggs
(27,813 posts)He talked about "our law enforcement and our national security teams" being people who were working hard under enormous pressure. Are you really saying that ALL law enforcement and nat'l security people were torturers?
Here's the exact quote:
"... and there was enormous pressure on our law enforcement and our national security teams to try to deal with this. And its important for us not to feel too sanctimonious in retrospect about the tough job that those folks had. And a lot of those folks were working hard under enormous pressure and are real patriots."
He also never said anything remotely close to "and yes, they did torture and we should remember the hard job they had and they were patriots". Not. Even. Close.
I notice that a lot of the "he called torturers 'patriots'" contingent insist on paraphrasing what was said, as you have just done. Why do you all find the EXACT quote too "inconvenient" to deal with? Is it because the exact quote so obviously doesn't say what you want it to say?
Clearly, in very plain English, "those folks" he referenced in the second sentence are "the law enforcement and national security teams" he referred to in the previous sentence. He then went on to say that "a lot of those folks" are patriots.