WP editorial: "Profiles in Cowardice": Bush enablers in both parties

[DeepModem Mom]

Profiles in Cowardice
On prisoner abuse and detention, President Bush finds enablers in both parties.
Sunday, October 1, 2006; Page B06

.... the artificial emergency Mr. Bush created has served his political purpose. His goal was to press opponents to cave to his will, against their better judgment, or to create an issue allowing his party to tar the opposition as soft on terrorism. In this case, thanks in part to the Democrats' weak-hearted abdication, he got both....

***

Mr. Bush must bear responsibility for his cynical pursuit of the wrong answer, but he could not have prevailed without a lot of help. Republicans in both chambers, forgetting that Congress is supposed to be an independent branch, snapped to attention when the president told them what to do. At least some of them obviously knew better. Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) courageously championed an amendment to restore the judicial oversight that Mr. Bush opposed. When his amendment failed on a 51 to 48 vote, the senator said he would vote against the bill, calling it "patently unconstitutional on its face." Then he voted for it. The bill, he explained, had good points, and the courts "will clean it up."

Democrats hoped that they could duck behind Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and two other Republicans who for a time fought a lonely fight for a better bill. When the three renegades settled for very little, the Democrats were left exposed, and it wasn't pretty. Nearly all of them voted for Mr. Specter's amendment, yet 12 -- including Joe Lieberman (Conn.) and three other senators facing reelection -- voted for the bill afterward. The rest contented themselves by voting no but did not lift a finger to slow it down or stop it.

"By allowing this administration to further stretch the definition of what is and is not torture," Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) said, "we lower our moral standards to those whom we despise, undermine the values of our flag wherever it flies, put our troops in danger and jeopardize our moral strength in a conflict that cannot be won simply with military might." Stirring words -- but apparently not stirring enough to justify a filibuster....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/30/AR2006093001027.html?nav=most_emailed

[wakeme2008]

1. Sad but true.... Kick and Nom.

:cry:

[jbfam4]

2. DeepModem Mom

Sorry, I didn't mean to dupe ya, I don't know how to remove what I had posted.

I will kick and recommend this article for ya.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Please don't worry -- we posted at almost exactly the same time!

And we DUers dupe all the time -- it's unavoidable.

:)

[Demit]

4. "and Republicans are blasting Democrats as terrorist-coddlers anyway"

That's the tragic result of the maneuvering that Harry Reid thought was so slick. All I've got to say to "Give 'em Hell Harry" is Go to Hell, Harry.

[Zodiak]

5. Libert or Death, Fight or Die

those are the words of patriots.

Some of the Democrats are about "cut and run", but it isn't about the war. It is about cutting and running from the fight for AMERICANS against the most unamerican president EVER!

Whether or not the Republicans lose power (and let's all work hard that they will), the Republican wing of the Democratic party has declared itself inept and moribund. George Bush did ONE good thing to America, he woke up the vocal majority in the Democratic party.

[mom cat]

6. "Stirring words -- but apparently not stirring enough to justify a

filibuster"!

I felt the same way about all the stirring words that were too little and far too late!

[Eric J in MN]

9. It's not the fault of the Democrats who were against the bill.

They didn't have enough fellow Democrats or Republicans on their side to sustain a filibuster.

It's the fault of Republicans and the minority of Democratic Senators who supported the bill.

[chieftain]

7. Great editorial; great post, but The WP has been one of the

biggest enablers of this criminal regime from the minute the Republicans on the Supreme Court stole the 2000 election.

[Eric J in MN]

8. I don't like how they blame Hillary Clinton for the lack of a filibuster.

With only 34 Senators even willing to vote against this awful bill, if she filibustered it would have been quickly shut down with a cloture vote, which takes 41 votes to fend off.

[nealmhughes]

12. Well, guess what, there are a lot of people who don't....

An angel with mud on her face?

For all the Hillary Lovers, she is just a backbencher. One of many. But if the backbenchers stand together....

[Straight Shooter]

10. We have no idea what kind of arm-twisting was going on behind the scenes.

I bet it was ugly back there.

You have to wonder what kind of file, thanks to domestic spying, that Rove has on everyone. And remember that bush went personally to bully everyone himself. The man has a lot of people tyrannized.

Even if he is a farter.

[civildisoBDence]

11. Arm twisting, purple nerples, wedgies, Indian sunburns, wet willies

and any other kind of adolescent torture method the frat boys from hell could dream up.

Newsprism

[illinoisprogressive]

13. How far we have fallen

As a little kid I was taught that the United Nations was good and it's purpose a nobel one. We were taught to respect other cultures and to understand. As a teenager I listened to my mother's stories about being a girl in France when the Nazi's came and spending those years under the boot.
As an adult I read about WWII and the atrocities. I remember one I read about 5 years ago by the psychologist who was there to help with the Nazi prisioners. They were in clean warm cells. They had thier things and books. Given good food. ect. The trials were fair and just.
Then, we were the great nation. The just, good, and compassionate one. We were the gold standard. We were what other nations strove to be like. We were the forefront in justice and humane treatment and fairness.
What are we now?
What have we become?
We horrify other nations.
We turned our back on the Untied Nations idea
We have made a mockery of those nobel people in 1945 and are more like the prisoners.
We are what other nations hold up as a rouge.
We are now nothing.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[yojon]

15. Timing of Foley Revelation?

Why did it come out now? Could this have been news manipulation? Like they needed something really juicy to divert attention from their suspension of the Constitution, which otherwise could have been big news.

I could not find anything about why the Foley stuff leaked now...

[woodsgirl]

16. I've been

wondering about the timing as well. MSM has covered for Bush
since he came on the political scene running for prez. Maybe
the good people know that if we nuke Iran, we will be nuked
back. Russia and China are getting cozy...The cold war was all
about the two biggest communist countries getting together
against US. Maybe it's the fasters for peace. Maybe it's a
combo.