Deep Thought

7 Comments

1. 

   rootless2 on April 25, 2009 at 6:59 pm

   ‘The first axiom is: When there is no penalty for failure, failures proliferate.”

   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16108-2004May10.html

2. 

   billjpa on April 25, 2009 at 7:49 pm

   Hey Boo- I am having a bit of a problem with your choice of Sen Tester for WoD. I guess what is causing my problem is that your post re Wod immediately followed your broder post. I could list some of the statements in broders appolgy but why bother.
   As D Litwick commented on in newsweek, the times are changing and this country is being successfully taught to accept torture- so long as it serves “our” needs!
   broder gets my vote. Hands down.
    However, I gotta tell you- the growing acceptance as a acceptable tool is the most horrific concept that i have ever heard of. I am old enough to have lived through ww2 and – what can I say.
   Not only does broder get my vote for Wod but as i write this i realise just how far down the well this country has fallen.

3. 

   obsess5 on April 25, 2009 at 8:44 pm

   In a column back in the 1980’s, Broder opined that, after its wrenching Watergate experience, the country wouldn’t survive the, at-the-time, proposed Iran-Contra hearings.  I think it was after that column that I stopped reading him.  Why anyone bothers to read his stuff or listen to him now, I don’t know.  (No offense intended to Booman readers!)

   • 

     rootless2 on April 25, 2009 at 9:06 pm

     Oddly, he never had any qualms about the wrenching experience of prosecuting and then impeaching a President for having sex.

4. 

   rich2506 on April 25, 2009 at 11:18 pm

   In Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior (1983), Miss Manners points out that it is terribly incorrect to try and read into someone’s soul. When Broder says:

   Their argument is that without identifying and punishing the perpetrators, there can be no accountability — and therefore no deterrent lesson for future administrations. It is a plausible-sounding rationale, but it cloaks an unworthy desire for vengeance.

   How in the frakin’ blooody hell does he know this!?!?!? Nowhere in the piece does he describe how he “knows” this.

   The memos on torture represented a deliberate, and internally well-debated, policy decision, made in the proper places — the White House, the intelligence agencies and the Justice Department — by the proper officials.

   Actually, critical officials were bypassed and Democratic officials who were briefed were not permitted to consult anybody, i.e., they were not permitted to truly exercise meaningful oversight.

5. 

   eagleye on April 25, 2009 at 11:43 pm

   (I don’t expect this to influence Broder, but it felt good to write it.)

   ——————

   Mr. Broder,

   I disagree with every single word in your column entitled “Stop Scapegoating.”   The majority of Americans believe that our Constitution, our signature on the Geneva Conventions, and the Rule of Law should be honored.  Not because we are interested in retribution and settling political scores, but rather because the way we deal with these horrific war crimes will define who we are as a people.  How will the history books treat the Obama Presidency if he shrinks from his obligation to uphold the law and the Constitution?  How do we enforce the law going forward if we have chosen to ignore it for reasons of political convenience.? How will we ever be able to hold other nations to account for their crimes of torture if we cannot manage to live up to our own clearly stated standards?  In which instances do you believe the law should be respected?

   You are likely unaware, but there is a specific provision in our Constitution which stipulates that we are bound by the terms of any international treaty that we sign.  Those provisions are literally the law of the land here in the United States.  There are specific, concrete principles of law that our government must adhere to, and they are not fuzzy or ambiguous– nor are they optional.  I’m a passionate supporter of Presdident Obama, and I realize that the torture issue complicates matters as he tries to move forward with his ambitious domestic agenda.  But that reality does not give us license to set a terrible precedent by sweeping serious crimes under the rug.  Nearly everyone would prefer to forget this ugly and divisive matter and move on– but the Founding Fathers will roll over in their graves if we cannot summon the courage and the wisdom to face our demons at this time in history.

6. 

   Knut Wicksell on April 26, 2009 at 5:24 am

   Shorter Broder:  the law is for little people, not for villagers like us.  After all, the illegality was ‘debated internally’ in the proper places by the proper people.  Law? we don’t need no stinkin’ law.  Law’s for little people.