CNN Almost Gets Torture News Right

I found this video at AmericaBlog, and while I try not to use the same source more than once in a given day, this one is too good not to post. The most outspoken person in this video, David Waldman, did an amazing thing. He almost cracked through the usual cable news tripe, and talked about the real issues.

I say almost, because even though he got to say a whole lot, none of the other three people--who all seemed to be in opposition to him--were backing him up. Whoever the woman in the upper left was needs to just never go on a news show again. "The American people aren't interested?" The Bush Administration is over, so we're supposed to sweep everything under the rug? A nation that once urgently needed to go after a president who committed the horrific crime of lying about sex, now doesn't care about torture, war crimes, and being lied into war?

What kind of thinking is this? What will people allow the current or future presidents to get away with? I will cop to a strong desire to see Bush Era people get some justice, but it isn't out of the blue. It isn't some sort of pre-existing hatred for Republicans, like the people who hated Barack Obama (and Bill Clinton before him) before he'd even taken office. I, like much of America, cut Bush slack early on. And even while he was becoming a punchline in his first year, we all gave him a ton of rope after 9/11. It wasn't until things started to seem out of whack, and when Republicans began acting all dictatorial that I started acquiring "Bush Derangement Syndrome." I came by it quite honestly.

So, no, this is no vendetta. This is about history, the present and the future. This is about not setting a precedent that lets future presidents get away with absolutely anything they want--which ignoring this issue would surely do. This is about the rule of law. And we as Americans are supposed to be a nation of laws, not men, right?

I've wandered a bit afield of the video, I suppose, but not too far. This DailyKos reporter/blogger, Waldman, is the only one making sense in this video. He's the only one pointing out the sideshow of Nancy Pelosi for what it is. And while we don't get to see if anything more happened after the end of the clip, it would appear that the host was ineffectual too. Waldman was very close to cracking through, but the host pretty much waves him away. Too bad.



Found at: AmericaBlog