Comments on: Glenn Reynolds finally gets it!

By: Barry

Barry — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 09:21:08 +0000

“”Always”? I beg to differ, I think they were serious for a couple of weeks after 9-11, minimum.”
Posted by Brett Bellmore
On Sep 12, 2001 they were already shifting to Iraq as their desired ‘retaliatory’ target. IIRC, this would be before the last survivor was pulled out of the rubble.
Unless you meant ‘serious’ as in ‘serious about exploiting this for maximum domestic politcal advantage.

By: calling all toasters

calling all toasters — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 19:26:11 +0000

Anytime you consider an opinion of Reynolds’s as being anything other than vile you clearly haven’t thought it through.

By: jim

jim — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 22:56:40 +0000

No. This was not an election ploy. That’s the cover story. Just as outing valerie Plame was actually to punish her for not coming up with the intelligence the WH wanted, but was “explained ” to the press as an attack on her husband and the press being stupid-cynical accepted that explanation. So the torture bill is actually to excuse the administration’s previous torture and permit it to continue, but is being “explained” as a way to embarrass the Democrats and charge them with being weak on terror. The public, having become accustomed to viewing politics as a spectator sport and lulled into stupid-cynicism, accepts that explanation.
The torture bill was necessary. Torture is a war crime. The people who carried it out, therefore, wanted cover. Nuremberg precedent says that “I was merely following orders” isn’t an adequate defense, but it’s better than no defense at all. There must be (highly classified) pieces of paper floating around with George Bush’s name on them authorizing or ordering (perhaps in highly euphemistic terms) torture. If the Republicans lose Congress, those pieces of paper could have been used against the administration. Now they can’t. The Republicans aren’t so concerned with passing the surveillance bill, since it isn’t actually necessary in the same way.
Reynolds is propagating the “election ploy” explanation because he doesn’t want to admit the administration has been torturing and will continue torturing. Don’t praise him for it.

By: Scorpio

Scorpio — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 22:23:20 +0000

Glenn is a stunning mixture of naivete and snark. He’ll forget by tomorrow, likely.

By: "Q" the Enchanter

"Q" the Enchanter — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 19:56:00 +0000

I’m afraid you’ve given short shrift to that “almost.” As in, “It’s *almost* as if Glenn Reynolds has been afflicted with a case of honesty.” Almost–but not quite.

By: Brett Bellmore

Brett Bellmore — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 14:09:44 +0000

“Always”? I beg to differ, I think they were serious for a couple of weeks after 9-11, minimum.

By: Altoid

Altoid — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 05:46:48 +0000

I dunno about Reynolds actually *getting* this, as in thinking it isn’t right.
But he’s always been on board with the Prime Directive of the bush crowd: government is a machine that takes money from people who are too ovine to get out of paying taxes and shovels it to the people who have the connections.
For this crowd, that’s *all* government is. That’s reality for them. And by those lights, they’ve governed damn well.