Harper’s Scott Horton reports that the Senate Republicans are determined to protect the Bush torture legacy, “promising to ‘go nuclear’ and filibuster [President Obama's] legal appointments” if he releases legal memos regarding the previous administration’s torture policies:
A reliable Justice Department source advises me that Senate Republicans are planning to “go nuclear” over the nominations of Dawn Johnsen as chief of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice and Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh as State Department legal counsel if the torture documents are made public. The source says these threats are the principal reason for the Obama administration’s abrupt pullback last week from a commitment to release some of the documents. A Republican Senate source confirms the strategy. It now appears that Republicans are seeking an Obama commitment to safeguard the Bush administration’s darkest secrets in exchange for letting these nominations go forward.
A Republican Senate staffer told Horton that the nomination of Dawn Johnsen to head the Office of Legal Counsel has particularly raised the hackles of Senate Republicans. “Not a single Republican indicated an intention to vote for Dawn Johnsen, while Senator John Cornyn of Texas was described as ‘gunning for her,’ specifically noting publication of the torture memos.” (HT: Joshua Blog)
Update Hilzoy at the Washington Monthly writes: "[W]hat the Republicans are trying to do is to dictate to the President a matter that is purely his prerogative: deciding whether or not to unclassify documents.
This is insane: it's as though Obama threatened to withhold funding for the Senate unless Mitch McConnell fired some staffer he didn't like."
Update Glenn Greenwald has
more.
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Q. Why does the Rethuglic party HATE AMERICA?
A. They hate us for our freedoms.
snark is OFF
April 6th, 2009 at 11:52 am….
goodbye, mr. yoo.
:|
April 6th, 2009 at 11:55 amSounds like the Republicans have something to hide. Release the memos, call their bluff.
April 6th, 2009 at 11:55 amSay you will agree and then do it anyway.
Fcuk the Republicans.
April 6th, 2009 at 11:55 amThreatened with what…….torture?
April 6th, 2009 at 11:56 amHolding America hostage is all the republicans have left….
Republicans are like the angry, embittered, abusive husband whose wife [America] leaves him for a better, more compassionate man.
O’Reilly even epitomizes the crazy stalker aspect after bush wanted to bug all of her communications…
April 6th, 2009 at 11:57 amI say, lock and load, little lizards. Give it your best shot.
And when the documents are published and the public sees what you are ‘going nuclear’ over, well….
“Dig faster, folks, I think I can see China from here. Oh wait, crap its the bottom of the Timor Sea!”
April 6th, 2009 at 11:59 amIt’s one thing for the Republicans to whine and cry and threaten to hold their breath if the memo’s are released, it is a far different thing if the Obama Administration gives in to the childish petulance and keeps these memos in limbo.
THIS is where the Obama Administration has to prove that it really is about change where it counts, not just about change that looks good.
There’s no doubt that the United States is going to look bad in the eyes of the world once these memos are released. But, by not releasing them, we continue to look like the neighborhood bully who, once caught, piously says ‘it never happened’….
April 6th, 2009 at 12:00 pmObama should call their bluff and release the memos. He cannot let the Repubs dictate his policy or refuse his nominations. He should send out his spokesmen everyday to highlight the Repubs refusal to allow him to do the job the people elected him to do. If he lets them get away with this he will show weakness and that will spill over into his court nominations.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:01 pmI say release the docs, then publicly call the Repubs out on a prime time Presidential address to the American people and just lay it ALL OUT there.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:02 pmThey are just being nasty, and holding these nominees hostage, so that the can protect GWB and company. I guess they cannot handle the truth, now can they?
April 6th, 2009 at 12:02 pmIf Republicans, or Democrats for that matter, wanted to ensure that America’s dignity was restored and that the acts performed that destroyed our reputation and continue to incite terrorist acts against us, were never to be performed again, then we would see total transparency, we would prosecute our OWN criminals, and we would ensure that ALL Americans were treated the same under our “superior” system.
Of course, our government has not been known to practice what it preaches.
I hope and pray that Mr Obama will call them on this charade, do what’s right for ALL of us, release the memos, and allow voters to continue to pick off these hypocrites that claim to want what’s best for our country.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:02 pm“promising to ‘go nuclear’ and filibuster [President Obama’s] legal appointments” if he releases legal memos regarding the previous administration’s torture policies:
They were going to do that anyway…
April 6th, 2009 at 12:02 pmSounds like extortion to me…
April 6th, 2009 at 12:03 pmThis is an outrage! How do they get away with this? Is there nothing we can do?What happened to “we the people”?
April 6th, 2009 at 12:04 pm60 minutes show interviewed a man who says he was tortured in Iran. It sound like the torture done by the United States except we tortured woman and children too. Republicans are right to fight to stop the release of what Bush did. What American would want to know the truth? It would make the US look like exactly what we were for 8 years the Axis of Evil. America holds itself up to be better then other Nations and with our Democracy others should follow us. With those memos the World would see countries like Iran/North Korea/Russia/Syria are no different and maybe better then we are. Yes it’s easy to put that fake front up like Bush/Cheney did for 8 years but the memos show who we really are behind the mask. The truth always comes out and we do have to pay for our mistakes.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:05 pmTo me this is a no brianer. Release the memo’s Immediately and call their bluff. Let them squirm their way out of it then.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:06 pmThe devil is in the details. Let’s see the details.
http://www.pufferfishblog.com/
April 6th, 2009 at 12:07 pmNuclear or not…
It is simply an attempt by GOP to ‘cover up’ from public.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:08 pmI agree with Glenn Greenwald. Fear of GOP wrath does not make a credible excuse for refusing to release the memos.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:12 pmDespite the rule of law, foundations of democracy, or any moral decency left in America, all Bush Administration participants involved in kidnapping, torture, treason (outing Valerie Plame), etc, will get off scott-free! One way or another. Guaranteed.
Information regarding any Bush Administration criminal acts will never come to light until all guilty parties invovled have lived out the rest of their natural lives, free and above the law. Only then will “history” take a serious look at what transpired and will righteously proclaim “never again!” That is until the next criminal regime takes over the white House and does it again.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:12 pmBlackmail is illegal, and that is what the GOP is engaging in.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:12 pmI say they should release the memos, the GOP won’t win a PR war on this one because they are clearly playing politics here.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:12 pmGood chance the pukes win this one too. The nuclear option is always in the hands of the republicans, never the Democrats, who are supposed to be in, control? With helpful Harry Reid leading the way surely the democrats will give this away as well. Don’t forget Harry likes deals that spread protection to his flock.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:14 pmDon’t get too excited. The Democrats don’t want anyone coming around to look, either.
I’ve started an action campaign calling for AG Holder to release the memos anyway, and to hell with the GOP’s threats:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=82222382936&ref=nf
Please log on and take action!
April 6th, 2009 at 12:15 pmnellre Says:
Blackmail is illegal, and that is what the GOP is engaging in.
_____________
It’s more like extortion.
Black mail is form of extortion, but so is any threat made to coerce behavior.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:16 pmToo bad the Dems do not have the GUTS or the B&LLS to call each Repub leader out on this manuever. Instead, they’ll play nice by Senate rules which is something the GOP would never do.
Remember the HUGE public deal that the Repubs made over the Dems fillibuster of judicial nominees when Frist-R was the majority leader???
April 6th, 2009 at 12:16 pmThese obstructionist POS’s can’t filibuster everything. Make them do it!!! These self-serving little rich boys won’t be able to pull it off.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:16 pmI disagree with you on this. The information has been in the public record, I was writing articles about it on my blog 4 years ago. There were also enough pictures out there as well including released documents.
The problem is that the information was released piecemeal due to the fact that there were several reporters working on it. There was no one big document dump with constant reporting on every news outlet.
When you assemble all the info over a number of years, the info in the public domain is overwhelming and damning.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:18 pmRelease the memos, and then when the Republicans try to filibuster judicial nominees, we can all chant their familiar refrain “up or down vote”, and parade their complaints about filibustering from four years ago as evidence of their hypocrisy.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:18 pmShucks, we don’t have to go overseas to find fanatics who want to topple our government.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:20 pmwe need to be looking forward to what happens in spain. especially regarding the bounty that will be issued on the ‘buhsh 6′
private bounties are legal in the USA. i am currently supporting one that will reward whomever lets us know who our local spray paint artist is.
how can it be illegal to support a private bounty in another country? when will the international bounty on this bunch of crooks be issued? how do i support it? if they open a paypal account, i will happily give them $50 a week and build the pot until somebody snatches them off the street and ships them to spain for the reward money.
i wonder how long Gonzo and feith will be walking the streets with a million dolar bounty hanging on them?
April 6th, 2009 at 12:20 pmWaltinTexas Says:
These self-serving little rich boys won’t be able to pull it off.
____________
Yeah, but they sure are busy pulling SOMETHING, huh…
April 6th, 2009 at 12:20 pmIf they’re threatening to go “nuclear” then it MUST be good for the country.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:23 pmOn another note for all of the Ed Schultz fans:The Ed Show, debuts today TV at 4PM Eastern on MSNBC.
This is the kind of thing Ed loves to talk and kick-butt about.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:24 pmAs the Obama administration has already said many times. Sunshine is a great antiseptic. Lay it all out in the open. Tell the American people exactly what the GOP is doing!
April 6th, 2009 at 12:26 pmPowell is the key…Get him to talk and all would be exposed.
(Link from a prior thread)
http://www.counterpunch.org/mcgovern04062009.html
April 6th, 2009 at 12:26 pmWhy do the Republicans just love the word “nuclear”? They threatened to use the “nuclear option” when minority Democrats indicated they would filibuster four years ago — now they are threatening to “go nuclear” as they promise to do much the same thing.
Is this just because they really, really get off on bombs and explosions? Or do they just like scorched earth?
April 6th, 2009 at 12:27 pmCatch and release.
Catch all the Republicans making these threats – make the names public.
Release the memos.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:28 pmWaltinTexas Says:
These obstructionist POS’s can’t filibuster everything. Make them do it!!!
April 6th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
_____________
Exactly. I’ve had enough of this procedural bullshit. Make them filibuster for real.
I want to see the Republicans reading phone books on the Senate floor 24 hours a day in order to prevent two critical government agencies from having legal oversight. The American people need to see the REAL enemies of our country.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:30 pmMy god I hope The Obama Admin do what’s right and not give in to these Far-Right.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:31 pmshould be “may be”, too early I guess.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:32 pmMycelium #37,
Powell very well be the key, but he’s too busy covering his own as*. If he actually is an American Patriot, which he seems to think he is, then he’d do something good for his country, come forward and tell the truth.
He simply is not capable.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:32 pmThis is an easy one…Obama should agree to withhold the memos until all his nominees are confirmed and in office. THEN release the memos. And if the Repubs complain, agree to release more memos.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:35 pmThe Republican party is a disgrace.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:36 pmCatch and Release. I like that.
Republicans do remind me of puffer fish. They inflate themselves in the belief it makes them more intimidating and harder to swallow. What they miss is that puffers are only dangerous if taken internally.
Word to the wise…never eat in a restaurant with Republicans on the menu. /snark
April 6th, 2009 at 12:37 pmTwo points: one, as others have said, the best course of action is for the Obama administration to refuse to give the Republicans the power they’re trying to exert; they should release the memos just because the Republicans are threatening some sort of reprisal.
Also, with only 41 votes in their caucus, they’re not exactly dealing from a position of strength. Sure, they have awesome party discipline, but they’d need every last ounce of it to make this threat good, especially once Senator Al Franken is seated. And they risk further cementing in the public’s mind the image of the Grand Obstructionist Party.
I say go for it.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:38 pmThe thugs are obstructing everything already. Not a week goes by without my having to write John Cornyn to remind him what a worthless piece of crap he is.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:38 pmGo ahead, Repukes — go “nuclear.”
THEN WHAT?
Ha! I laugh in your faces.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:38 pmRegarding the two American journalist currently being held in North Korea:
North Koreans scoffed at any suggestion that the Americans were receiving harsh treatment.
“They laughed. ‘We are not Guantanamo.’
Thanks to Bush and Cheney and gang, now anyone in the world can laugh at us when we bring up any human rights issue. They’ve done serious damage to our credibility.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:38 pmmisscoleopteramolly Says:
Why do the Republicans just love the word “nuclear”?
Extremist language for extremist people?
Either that or they’re just a bunch of drama queens.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:42 pmmary lacewing Says: Thanks to Bush and Cheney and gang, now anyone in the world can laugh at us when we bring up any human rights issue. They’ve done serious damage to our credibility.
And that is the reason we HAVE to release the documents and take our lumps.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:42 pmAll right, let’s go nuclear (or nukleer as Dubya was wont to say). Let’s call their bluff, let’s see their cards, let’s poke ‘em in the eye. We have absolutely nothing to lose.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:47 pmRelease the memos today. Then we can see which Rethugs show up to defend the torture.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:47 pmYes!
April 6th, 2009 at 12:47 pmObama should release the memos and if the GOP wants to filibuster … well, let me just check the GOP play to see how they’d handle a situation like this… oh, yeah… RECESS APPOINTMENTS.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:52 pmThe fear mantra is strong in this bunch, master Yoda.
Maybe we should be more worried about Republican MOC’s developing nuclear weapons?
April 6th, 2009 at 12:52 pmRich H
April 6th, 2009 at 12:54 pmI totally agree. But if you read the link there seems to be enough for him to answer to criminal charges if not only as a witness. I think if he is seriously threatened with criminal charges he’ll roll if offered immunity.
good idea Shayne
April 6th, 2009 at 12:57 pmsomeone needs to fall on their sword and leak these memos….
April 6th, 2009 at 1:02 pmFrom Greenwald:
President Obama, you know what to do. The sooner, the better.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:06 pmHaven’t read the posts yet, so I apologize if I repeat… but:
How in the hell is this not blackmail of the US President?!?!?!
WTF?
April 6th, 2009 at 1:06 pmAaannnnnd….
correct me if I am wrong, but the republicans were involved in the budget, put some provisions in it and had some removed, THEN voted in lockstep “NO”.
What precident is there to even remotely believe that they will not “go nuclear” on these appointments, regardless of what is done with the memos?
F#uck every politician with an (R) (and for that matter many (I) and (L), as well). They are not operating for the country — they are operating for their party and their lobby interests.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:08 pmI supported President Obama for election and feel that he has the potential of being a great President.
That being said, so far the Obama administration’s record on the issue of the Bush administration’s use of torture, and potential crimes, hasn’t been especially stellar.
The Greenwald article referenced above talks little about the Republicans and MORE about the Obama administration itself being the issue.
So what is the problem here?
We had Reid and Pelosi, infamously, pull impeachment of Bush off the table which, in my mind, caused the Bush administration to act more reprehensibly.
While the right fringe is already calling for President Obama’s impeachment, we get this Bush hands off policy.
Even country’s such as Spain apparently are realizing we’re not going to do anything.
What happened to Leahy’s “Truth Commission”?
April 6th, 2009 at 1:10 pmI love my President, but if there is no public accounting of this torture issue, doesn’t that make Obama somewhat complicint in the cover up?
We did not work our butts off, getting Democrats elected, to be black-mailed by the minority party.
Are we afraid of losing the warm-fuzzy non-partisanship so apparent in DC since the election? :-)
Hmmmm, I wonder how quickly these would have been released if it was the Clinton administration with GOP majorities in both houses. Speed of sound, I’m thinking.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:10 pmI’ve never seen R’s do anything besides play games.
I wonder whether any of them have ever experienced a sincere moment, of any kind, in their entire lives.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:11 pmMy prediction:
Obama will cave and maintain Bush Era secrecy defend criminal Bush behavior and officials. Ooops. No prediction needed. Obama has already done allthese things.
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/9/headlines#19
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/38662prs20090204.html
Now add Obama’s appointment of Gary Gensler to head the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and his prsecution of American Hero Tim deChristopher and you get a picture of a presidency little different from the one preceding. Classier packaging, better marketing, but substantially little different.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:12 pmWe have been duped.
Das Amerikanische Reich = 20 January 2001 – 20 January 2009
April 6th, 2009 at 1:15 pmGeorge W. Bush, Diktatur
Dick Cheney, Diktatur
U.S. Republican Party = Nationalsozialistische Partei Amerikas
Yawn, go away tr0ll. Your the one one that was duped for the past 8 years of terror inflicted on America!
April 6th, 2009 at 1:16 pmYawn, whatever tr0ll
April 6th, 2009 at 1:17 pmRepublicans are sounding more and more like the petulant child, who, having lost at checkers, want to destroy the game board.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:22 pmI’m very proud of my President. I don’t always agree with him, get real frustrated with some of his decisions. But, he has displayed more class and intelligence in his 70 odd days in office (and they are very odd because he is dealing with things no other President has had to deal with) and I can see a trend starting.
I think he studied under Henry Gondorf.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:22 pmEvidently, Eyeswideopen is not fully caffinated. Rascalcat bleeds blue and only trolls the other side.
Go back to bed, eyeswideshut!
April 6th, 2009 at 1:22 pmeyeswideopen1,
kassandrasduplex is not a troll. He/she is a skeptic, and rightly so.
I think the torture memo issue will be a defining moment for President Obama. If he stumbles on this, he will likely lose his base.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:24 pmIt’s waaaaaay past time for a preemptive legislative nuclear attack. Get rid of the filibuster, for good and all. the filibuster is supposed to guarantee minority participation by not allowing debate to be limited, but there is no debate at all. There is only obstruction and the defeat of democratic government.
Make this minority party get their way by putting up the votes. If they can’t convince a majority to vote their way, then they are rightfully marginalized and ignored. Make them get their way by putting forward what the People want, not what their few influence purchasers want.
Failing that, make them get a cot and a pee bucket to hold the floor for as long as it takes to get three fifths to vote cloture.
These purveyors of imbecility have no concept of governance. They know only that they want more, and they don’t even know what it is that they want more of.
It’s time to take our government out of their hands.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:26 pmInteresting, the repug’s use of “nuclear”, as it’s the democrats who can actually invoke the nuclear option, preventing the repugs from filibustering.
Please please please, democrats, hit the button on these cretinous yahoos.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:27 pmThe GNOP does nothing that doesn’t involve money. Just like in Watergate, follow the money. Who is paying them to keep these memos from seeing the light of day?
President Obama, you have a moral obligation to expose, investigate and, if warranted, prosecute the crimes committed in the name of America. A moral obligation. And you know it.
PEACE
April 6th, 2009 at 1:28 pmLet them go nuclear. This is a core principle that cannot be sacrificed. Obama should recess appoint these people over the Easter break. Republicans would attempt to hold back one Senator and claim the Senate never goes out of session but this kind political blackmail cannot be allowed to stand.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:32 pmIt is because of people like you that that GOP always get their greasy little fingers back in power! Obama has stepped into hell! He has the weight of the world on his shoulders! The GOP has left him with a mess the likes of which no other president has EVER seen. At this time more than any he needs your support and trust even if you are not 100% sure of all the details you see. You know he is steering in the right direction!
The LAST thing he needs are people like you whining over details you don’t fully understand which is EXACTLY what the GOP want’s you to do. Something they help with their daily dis-information campaigns.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:35 pm“I call on all governments to join with the United States and the community of law-abiding nations in prohibiting, investigating, and prosecuting all acts of torture … and we are leading this fight by example.”
George W. Bush
Quoted in “The Dark Art of Interrogation,” The Atlantic Monthly, October 2003
“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises. The great point is to bring them the real facts.”
Abraham Lincoln
“We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
John F. Kennedy
“If the truth doesn’t save us, what does that say about us?”
April 6th, 2009 at 1:38 pmLois McMaster Bujold,
A Patriotic Anopheles Acting Says:
Can I go Valley and say Totally Awesome?
Or maybe 60’s and Right on?
Or maybe just, very well said.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:42 pmyou sound like a troll.
Keep in mind many of us do not support anyone with a blind faith, knee jerk reaction.
Get used to it.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:43 pmI’m taking up a collection for eyeswideopen1. At minimum, an inflatable cushion. At maximum, a nice floral arrangement.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:43 pmI can’t take credit for their words Hoodathunktick, they say it better than I could. Thank you just the same, though.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:46 pmRascalcat bleeds blue
April 6th, 2009 at 1:48 pm—
You aren’t a horeshoe crab are you?
Ah, but my buzzy compatriot, you brought them here where they dearly need to be heard. Good choices.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:51 pmClose. I’ve said this before. Republicans have… compensation issues. To them, the missile, particularly the nuke, represents the phallus they wish they had. This is mainly due to the fact it makes a big BOOM! when it reaches it’s target.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:53 pm“We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
John F. Kennedy
To borrow from A Patriotic Anopheles Acting, it is not a nation that is afraid, it is a party that wants to control a nation.
April 6th, 2009 at 2:01 pmthis may sound confusing, but i mean well…
A Republican Senate staffer told Horton that the nomination of Dawn Johnsen to head the Office of Legal Counsel has particularly raised the hackles of Senate Republicans.
i wonder, would those repugs have even known much about johnson if TP had not run that revealing story about her, including her quote about the outrage americans SHOULD be feeling about the bush crimes…
know what i mean…?
April 6th, 2009 at 2:05 pmmaybe the enthusiasm should be tempered until the deed is done…
there’ve been a few times i’ve thought that… these are not normal people we are dealing with… they are vindictive petulant WATBs…
eyeswideopen1 Says:
The LAST thing he needs are people like you whining over details you don’t fully understand which is EXACTLY what the GOP want’s you to do. Something they help with their daily dis-information campaigns.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
The last thing I will ever do is follow anyone blindly. THAT’S how we got a “president” like George W. Bush.
You can kiss my ass, and then kindly f uck off.
April 6th, 2009 at 2:10 pmRelease the memos. IF the GOP makes good on their threat tell America loud and clear so EVERYONE KNOWS exactly what they are doing and why they are doing it. Say the GOP doesnt think you have a RIGHT to know what they have been doing. Let justice be done though the heavens fall.
April 6th, 2009 at 2:30 pmIsn’t blackmail illegal? That’s exactly what this is….blackmail! The thing I just cannot wrap my brain around is how these people have gotten away for 30 years now is using unethical tactics and downright criminal acts to get what they want and they claim THEY are the good guys…isn’t that what Billo the Clown and Limbaugh keep saying on their radio shows…as I see it they have ALWAYS been the bad guys..not all repubs, but that faction that learned from the Lee Atwater school of politics and since the first GBush’s administration they basically took over the whole of the RNC…the religous right scares me, but the blame for the fall of the republicans starts with Lee Atwater and his top protege….Karl Rove. They have twisted the truth to suit them SO much they are starting to believe it.
April 6th, 2009 at 2:33 pmOf course, there is the neocon way.
The nominee says they would never, ever under no circumstances release the memos.
Once nominated, they release the memos.
April 6th, 2009 at 2:33 pmRepublicans. Still screwing America every way they can.
April 6th, 2009 at 2:33 pmZooey Lepidoptera, you beautiful butterfly, succinct and to the point. I would have probably fluttered around and made a silly statement or two.
Sometimes dragonflies flit too much, but that’s just the way we are:}
April 6th, 2009 at 2:34 pmIt’s time to see the true damage that Bush, Cheney, and the Republicans have done.
It’s time to face the painful truth, but Cheney has become a hostile witness to the facts.
April 6th, 2009 at 2:43 pmGee, didn’t we all hear the Republicans lecturing everyone on the wiretap issue, “If you didn’t do anything wrong, what are you worried about?”
So if NOTHING was inappropriate, why aren’t the Bush administration AND the Republicans CLAMORING for an investigation to clear their names?
They don’t have anything to hide, right?
April 6th, 2009 at 2:47 pm“YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH”
Try us….I’m sure we’ll deal with it!!
NOW ….WHAT IS THE TRUTH OBAMA???? LET US SEE IT FOR OUR SELVES AND MAKE UP OUR OWN MIND.
IF YOU (OBAMA)WONT DO THE JOB, THEN WE’LL FIND SOMEONE ELSE TO UPHOLD OUR LAWS!!!
April 6th, 2009 at 3:48 pmLet’s get this straight:
republican majority in Congress: “If you don’t go along with our program we’ll exercise the “nuclear option.”
republican minority in Congress: “If you don’t go along with our program, we’ll exercise the “nuclear option.”
Anyone else besides me confused????
April 6th, 2009 at 3:52 pmI am going to use a question that the Republicans always use when they talk about wiretapping Americans:
If they (the Republicans) have nothing to hide, then why do they care about the release of the (torture) memos?
April 6th, 2009 at 4:17 pmNOTE to the White House:
If all the rumors of blackmail are undocumented, I can wait!
If there is documentation of this “threat” by the GOP, then release the memos and let them know that you did it in the name of “transparency”. Everyone knows that they are going to come out, whether it is by a special prosecutor or now…as the talk of any “commission to investigate” is dead in the water.
The Dems have more firepower and more patience that the GOP ever imagined.
We are not really as vengeful as we sound, but we refuse to be held hostage to some one like McConnell!
We understand why they are the party of NO, they never planned to lose the election and now they are scared…real scared! Just listen to the rhetoric and name calling – all I can think is that “they protest too much”.
In this case, the more they protest, the more guilty they sound.
April 6th, 2009 at 4:49 pmPresident Obama/Gates/Pertaeus, Congress and DOJ are dragging their feet to open a real investigation regarding War Crimes. The World is watching, timing and taking notes!
Obama seems to be protecting Bush’s officials.
Appoint a Special Prosecutor now! They will become Obama’s war crimes if this administration refuses to act! Afhganistan is already Obama’s WAR.
Where is thr rule of Law? Where is the ‘CHANGE’? Where is the transparency? Or were they just empty promisses to get people’s vote?
April 6th, 2009 at 5:07 pmObama is dragging his feet in this issue because he hope we will forget! WE WILL NEVER FORGET THE IMAGES FROM ABU GRHAIB, THE TESTIMONIES OF EX-GUANTANAMO PRISIONERS, TV INTERVIEWS OF YOO, ADINGTON, PERLE, CHENNEY, BUSH AND OTHERS!
I’ll never forget how that animal, Rice, LIED to Congress, re-asserting the the USA does not Torture, while she was presiding secret meetings in the WH about the USA’S TORTURE PROGRAM.
WAR CRIMINALS, NO MATTER WHERE THEY COME FROM, MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE! There is no debate is crimes were commited, there is a debate in which side this administration realy is!
April 6th, 2009 at 5:10 pmGood God! The global economy is melting down. We’re bleeding jobs. Give it some time. It’s not Obama’s job to unilaterally pursue criminal charges anyway. He just needs not to obstruct, there are plenty of people ready and willing to prosecute. Right now, we need to ward of the abyss of a great depression.
April 6th, 2009 at 5:28 pm# 56, JRoyale Says:
Obama should release the memos and if the GOP wants to filibuster … well, let me just check the GOP play to see how they’d handle a situation like this… oh, yeah… RECESS APPOINTMENTS.
Interesting point. Since the Dems control the Senate with a majority, the Repubs cannot keep the Senate in session during a recess…
Once a nominee gets out of committee, bingo, recess appointment. Go ahead, release the memos.
April 6th, 2009 at 5:51 pmOnce a nominee gets out of committee, bingo, recess appointment. Go ahead, release the memos.
If Obama wants to use recess appointments, it doesn’t matter what stage the nomination is in.
April 6th, 2009 at 6:03 pmLead or get out of the way! Release the frakkin’ memos!
April 6th, 2009 at 6:13 pm#106, Thanks Wayne Ant Schneider. I wasn’t sure.
April 6th, 2009 at 7:54 pmThe good Christians of the GOP are ready to go to the wall to defend their values, which include torture (in a number of cases, to death), forced disappearance, wholesale slaughter of innocent civilians by the US and Israel, renunciation of the Geneva Conventions, summary execution, war profiteering, massive fraud by military contractors and other fundamental aspects of their Christian morality.
They’ve no shame about their role in bringing about a global economic collapse by pandering to the greed of Wall Street swindlers willing to buy their legislative favors for campaign contributions, causing misery to the majority of people in the developed world and death to many in the developing world.
What would Jesus do?
April 6th, 2009 at 10:24 pmRelease the memos and put the RepubliCons in prison, where they belong.
April 6th, 2009 at 10:32 pmDoes the Obama White House understand the phrase,
” RECESS APPOINTMENT “
April 7th, 2009 at 3:25 amThe Rep cannot filibuster because Reid has the votes &
April 7th, 2009 at 12:05 pmcan promise to much shit. Probably just some Justice Dept
idiot trying to get in the paper.
Omertà. Is the Republican Party now a branch of the Mafia, or vice versa?
April 14th, 2009 at 4:55 pmOK Pat obviously senile dementia has set in. Time to see the nice young men that will need to take care of you soon.burun estetigi rent a car arac kiralama
April 18th, 2009 at 5:56 amsac ekimi
Well, as expected the repiglicans are going to behave like five year old’s. There are a few things (countless actually) that need to be changed or abandoned as useless to governance by the US “government.” The filibuster is one, the FED is another, the CIA is yet another, and finally, FEMA. The republican party has no interest in the common people, only the rich. They’ve demonstrated this throughout their ENTIRE history. Yes, that’s over 150 years. They are clearly criminals, liars, thieves, murderers, totally destitute of any courage, honor, sophistication, or reason for breathing. The Americans with only one cerebral hemisphere love these pasty white rodents. Tragically, it seems that over the years any and every way to sidestep, circumvent, crawl under (repiglicans)lie concerning, or reinvent a way to stop reasonable legislation from passing has been discovered and used. Largely by repiglicans. The Dumocrats aren’t much better. This body should be dissolved and replaced by ONLY 2 REPS FOR EACH STATE IN THE HOUSE, AND ONLY 2 SENATORS, IN BOTH CASES ONE rEPIGLICAN, AND ONE dUMOCRAT. NO MORE!! The rules should be abolished and replaced with only a few crystalline, inviolable, rules to force these roaches to work instead of stealing, kissing each other’s ass, taking innumerable recesses, and make their salaries commensurate with the amount of work they do. As far as the current congressional miscreants are concerned. Jail them. Personally i’d like to see a more PERMANENT disposal!!
tedbohne
April 24th, 2009 at 10:34 amN321MM@msn.com