Monthly Archives: May 2009

Colin Powell vs. Rush Limbaugh

07 Thursday May 2009

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The Republican Party pulled of a remarkable feat yesterday. In a 24-hour time span they managed to alienate 4 different groups of voters–gays, women, moderates, and African-Americans. So much for that re-branding effort.

First, Senator John Thune of South Dakota:

“Conservative leaders have warned the nomination of a gay or lesbian justice could complicate Obama’s effort to confirm a replacement for Souter, and another Republican senator on Wednesday warned a gay nominee would be too polarizing.

“I know the administration is being pushed, but I think it would be a bridge too far right now,” said GOP Chief Deputy Whip John Thune. “It seems to me this first pick is going to be a kind of important one, and my hope is that he’ll play it a little more down the middle. A lot of people would react very negatively.”

Personally Sen. Thune, I don’t think 21% of Americans counts as “a lot of people.”

Then former Bush counselor Ed Gillespie went on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and said that Samuel Alito was chosen to replace Sandra Day O’Connor because “there wasn’t a woman who was of a comparable experience and skill and temperament and intellect.”

Strike two.

Last but not least was the war of words between Colin Powell and de facto GOP leader, Rush Limbaugh.

“The Republican Party is in big trouble and needs to find a way to move back to the middle of the country, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday.

Powell said the GOP is “getting smaller and smaller” and “that’s not good for the nation.” He also said he hopes that emerging GOP leaders, such as House Minority Whip Cantor, will not keep repeating mantras of the far right.

“The Republican Party is in deep trouble,” Powell told corporate security executives at a conference in Washington sponsored by Fortify Software Inc. The party must realize that the country has changed, he said.

He blasted radio commentator Rush Limbaugh, saying he does not believe that Limbaugh or conservative icon Ann Coulter serve the party well. He said the party lacks a “positive” spokesperson. “I think what Rush does as an entertainer diminishes the party and intrudes or inserts into our public life a kind of nastiness that we would be better to do without.”

Rush responded by saying Powell is “just another liberal” and that “what Colin Powell needs to do is close the loop and become a Democrat.” He then topped it off by saying “the only reason” Powell endorsed Obama “was race.”

Strikes three and four. Moderate Republicans are now “liberals” and should leave the Republican Party, and African-Americans vote strictly along racial lines.

The Republicans have gone from a tent to an umbrella to….I don’t know, what’s smaller than an umbrella?

The Rule of Law or the Rule of Political Expediency

06 Wednesday May 2009

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I know there are those who are tired of the subject of torture and the prosecution of those who either committed, authorized, or provided legal justification for these acts, but to my mind there is no more important topic.

It gets to the heart of what the United States of America stands for. Are we a country that abides by our own laws and international treaties which we signed and pledged to uphold, or do   adherence to the law and treaty obligations cease in the aftermath of a terrorist attack and in the name of political expediency?

If we are the former and not the latter, then this should be unacceptable:

“An internal Justice Department inquiry has concluded that Bush administration lawyers committed serious lapses of judgment in writing secret memorandums authorizing brutal interrogations but that they should not be prosecuted, according to government officials briefed on its findings.

The findings, growing out of an inquiry that started in 2004, would represent a stinging rebuke of the lawyers and their legal arguments.

But they would stop short of the criminal referral sought by some human rights advocates, who have suggested that the lawyers could be prosecuted as part of a criminal conspiracy to violate the anti-torture statute.”

U.S. Code, Title 18,2340A says:

(a)  Offense.— Whoever outside the United States commits or attempts to commit torture shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both, and if death results to any person from conduct prohibited by this subsection, shall be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life.

b)  Jurisdiction.— There is jurisdiction over the activity prohibited in subsection (a) if—
(1) the alleged offender is a national of the United States; or
(2) the alleged offender is present in the United States, irrespective of the nationality of the victim or alleged offender.

(c)  Conspiracy.— A person who conspires to commit an offense under this section shall be subject to the same penalties (other than the penalty of death) as the penalties prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the conspiracy.

Article 4 of the U.N, Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment signed by President Reagan in 1988 clearly states:

“Each State Party shall ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law. The same shall apply to an attempt to commit torture and to an act by any person which constitutes complicity or participation in torture.”

Article 2 of the same document:

“No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.”

So I’ll ask again, are we a country where the rule of law prevails or not? Is the United States a country that can be trusted to keep it’s word or not? To me the answer is clear.