The Corner was even more fun and informative than usual today. We learned some neat stuff:
- Castro is not God.
- Abu Gharaib was all about Hi-Jinks - not torture.
- The U.S. Supreme Court just doesn't understand how much hard, hard work Bush and the Congress do for us all.
The first point was made by the Son of Lucianne, Goldberg, who wrote today of news he had received that Castro had died. It was left to the ever effervescent K Lo to inform us that Jonah had it wrong once again. But she did point out that someday Castro will die. Can you get more informative than that?
Andy McCarthy gave us the other two bullets. He wants the House and the White House to come up with a new system to try prisoners at Guantanamo, and for the Supreme Court to respect that "Congress and the Administration took the time and care in the middle of a war to enact" the legislation.
"Took the time... in the middle of a war?" No President in modern American history has spent more time on vacation than George Bush. As of ten months ago, Bush had spent 20% of his term on vacation. And the Congress? As of today, it has been in session for 66 days this year. As USA Today reported: "roll call votes are seldom scheduled for Mondays or Fridays. In the House, they are often postponed until late Tuesday." And those Tuesdays, which often start at five in the afternoon, make up about 22 of those 66 days. The suggestion that the U.S. Supreme Court should give extra weight to the efforts of our overworked President and Congress is hilarious.
McCarthy asks that the new quasi-judicial system "reaffirm that prisoners will be treated humanely - neither tortured, not subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment - as has been U.S. policy."
But what is his definition of torture, of cruel or degrading treatment? Those who died after interrogation at Abu Gharaib, were victims of "hi-jinks," not torture, according to McCarthy. They underwent "unpleasant, coercive interrogation," nothing more. This is normal for The Corner: Jonah Goldberg says he has "no problem with a little smacky-face with prisoners." It sounds a lot like the way Protein Wisdom's Jeff Goldstein likes to play "smacky-face" with those who disagree with him.
When I read these bits at The Corner this morning, I laughed. But it isn't funny. McCarthy, Lopez, Goldstein and Goldberg all specialize in depicting the other as less than human. I hate having to make this argument; but the fact is that this specialty is the same one at which bin Laden and Hitler excelled. For Osama to portray us, or for Hitler to portray the Jews, as agents of the devil is not terribly disimilar from what those writers/bloggers are doing now.
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