brainrow

The Washington Post reports that John McCain’s fight to respect the Geneva Conventions and oppose legalized torture is gonna cost him:

Sen. John McCain’s bid to position himself as the natural heir to President Bush as a wartime commander in chief and to court conservative leaders in advance of his likely 2008 presidential campaign has threatened to run aground in recent days, as the two men clash over how to detain and try terrorism suspects.

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In a reprise of criticism showered on McCain during his 2000 campaign, some prominent conservatives are branding him a disloyal Republican and an unreliable conservative because of his assertiveness on the detainee issue.

Let me understand this. Torture is now one of the core values of the Republican Party, and you’re not a good Republican if you’re against it?

Bill Frist (he of the Fristian Bargain) says Republicans will filibuster an interrogation bill if it contains McCain’s anti-torture language:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist signaled yesterday that he and other White House allies will filibuster a bill dealing with the interrogation and prosecution of detainees if they cannot persuade a rival group of Republicans to rewrite key provisions opposed by President Bush.

Frist’s chief of staff, Eric M. Ueland, called the dissidents’ bill “dead.”

You know what’s dead? The Party of Lincoln.

Bob Geiger:

How did Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) commemorate Constitution and Citizenship Day, when he returned to the Senate floor on Monday? In an odd twist of logic, he blamed the minority party for how little work has been done in the 109th Congress.

September 17, which fell on Sunday, celebrated the ratification of the United States Constitution and Frist used that occasion to announce that Senate Democrats are actually the reason that the last 20 legislative months have been proclaimed the “Do-Nothing Congress.”

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Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who has endured this Congress with control of no committees, an inability to pass any meaningful legislation and no say over the Senate’s legislative agenda, was on Frist faster than Halliburton snaps up a no-bid contract.

“For more than 3 years, this Congress, which has been given the name of the ‘do-nothing Congress,’ has turned a blind eye to the intractable war in Iraq, ignoring the administration’s many mistakes and allowing it to stay on a failed course,” said Reid. “Here we are, with 6 days left in the 109th Congress, and the Republicans, who control the House and Senate and the White House, have not held one hearing — not one — into the President’s wartime failures.”

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Reid went on to give the Senate leadership a quick history lesson on how Congress is suppose to work and how it indeed operated before the current crop of Bush rubber-stampers took over:

During the Civil War, President Lincoln was faced continually with oversight hearings by his Congress. Of course, we know during World War II, there were a number of commissions. The most famous was that conducted by Senator Harry Truman of Missouri, which led to his becoming Vice President. Some say, but for that he would not have been chosen as Vice President.

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“This Republican Congress has wasted 20 months on horse slaughtering; the Schiavo case, dealing with someone’s personal relationship, which should not even have been before this body; gay marriage; the nuclear option; flag burning; repealing the estate tax,” said Reid. “But they could not find a day for some time to look at the President’s mistakes, missteps, and misconduct, which have hurt American security and plunged Iraq into a civil war — not a day.”

There’s more. Go read the whole thing. There’s video at Alternet — click the picture of Liza Minelli and Joel Grey. (No, I don’t know why it’s a picture of Liza Minelli and Joel Grey.)

Some physicists have speculated that there might exist countless parallel universes, each different in some small or large way.

Intrigued by this idea, I’ve done some exploring, and discovered a parallel earth almost identical to our own, except that Americans were greeted as liberators after invading Iraq. With a crude telephone constructed with two tin cans and a piece of string theory, I’ve been able to communicate with this alternate world’s version of myself.

He wasn’t surprised to hear from me because he had been working on an identical telephone himself. In several long conversations we established just how similar our two worlds were: I described a dust bunny under his coffee table, and he told me where I’d left my VCR remote.

“Okay — who’s your vice president?” I asked.

“Dick Cheney,” he replied. “Former congressman from Wyoming. He was Secretary of Defense for Bush’s father, Chief of Staff for Jerry Ford. Real jerk.”

“Same guy. Did — did he shoot a guy with a shotgun earlier this year?” I asked.

“Yeah, in a hunting accident. Fortunately the guy survived. Cheney apologized for being so careless.”

“Cheney apologized?” I said. “In this world, the guy he shot apologized to Cheney.”

There was a long silence. Then my alternate self said, “Ha ha. Very funny. Who is this, really?”

“Really, really, it’s true,” I said. “See, there’s a difference right there. But what I really want to know is why Americans were greeted as liberators in your world and not here. Let’s run through it again.”

“Okay,” my other self said. “War starts. Dubya was president, Cheney vice-president. Colin Powell was Secretary of State, now it’s Condi Rice. Rumsfeld at Defense.”

“Yeah, just like here,” I said, frustrated. “And before the invasion, Rummy said he would fire the next man who said we needed a post-war plan.”

“All right, funny guy, I’m hanging up right now,” my other self said angrily.

“I wish I was joking, but I’m not,” I said.

“Good Lord!” he said. “I mean — the military’s very tough on mistakes, you know? Admiral Kimmel and General Short lost their commands after Pearl Harbor. Colonels Geraghty and Gerlach were raked over the coals after the Beirut truck bombing even though they hadn’t been given adequate intelligence. The navy can throw a sailor in the brig just for smoking on deck at night, because the glow might give away the ship’s position. It’s a tough culture, because one mistake can get a lot of people killed. But deliberate obstruction of essential planning — that’s a whole other level. That’s criminal. So, what happened to your Rumsfeld when it came out that he actively interfered with post-war planning? Hanging? Firing squad? I’ll bet, since he’s a civilian, that he got off with just life in prison.”

“He got off, alright,” I said. “He’s still Secretary of Defense, still calling the shots in Iraq, and calling those who criticize him ‘appeasers’. Some retired generals have called for him to resign, but Bush is sticking with him.”

“Okay, Charlie, joke’s over,” said my counterpart. “You didn’t fool me for a minute. Parallel worlds I can believe, but next time, if you want to string somebody along, you’ve got to make the story at least half-way believable. I’ve never heard anything so stupid in my life.”

I felt a sharp tug on my tin-can telephone, and it vanished.

From Crooks and Liars, Bill Maher on MSNBC’s Scarborough Country:

Let me suggest that in a world turned hostile to America, the smartest message we can send to those beyond our shores is, “We’re not with Stupid.” Therefore, I maintain that ridiculing this president is now the most patriotic thing you can possibly do.

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And by the way, when people like me ask questions about “does it still make sense to have these troops under fire?” That is supporting the troops. Asking for a plan is supporting the troops. Sitting around and parsing the meaning of “civil war”, that’s not supporting the troops, that’s supporting the President, and he’s not a troop, he just plays one on TV.