He should have been the story but, of course, Barack Obama went bowling.

[kpete]

This should have been John Yoo's week for being roasted on the public spit. His memos came out. There's an interview in Esquire where he attempts (badly) to get out from under his role as the waterboarding consigliere. He stands -- behind a podium at a respected law school -- revealed as the almost perfect apparatchik, a guy who would have found a way to make the trains to the internment camps run on time. The Frontline series on Bush's war demonstrates pretty clearly that moral courage was in short supply in and around the Avignon Presidency. (Secretary Powell? Isn't this your soul in the sink? Hello? Bueller?) But the people who really are astonishing are people like Yoo, who sprang with such alacrity to the task of dismantling America. A guy picks up the phone at the DOJ over a weekend and he's blue-penciling the Bill of Rights, and the respective role of the Congress and the president, and the integrity of international treaties, and virtually everything that differentiates the United States from East freaking Germany? Too bad the janitor didn't pick up the phone. Is there any doubt that, if C-Plus Augustus had wanted a legal opinion that allowed him to pick off pedestrians at random from the Truman Balcony, Yoo would have written a memo to that very effect? He should be pumping gas in the Imperial Valley for a living. He should be kept away from the law for the same reason we keep Charlie Manson out of the cutlery drawer. He should have been the story but, of course, Barack Obama went bowling.

more at:
http://mediamatters.org/altercation/200804040001#3

[babylonsister]

1. Another 'critical' reason why this primary needs to end ASAP. We're

taking our collective eye off the ball, and this is a big one.

[TahitiNut]

5. The media would merely find another missing blonde.

Shark attacks off Hilton Head. Hilton attacked by papparazi. Etc.

The problem with a media that values vacuous Barbies and Kens to substantive Bill Moyers is that those Barbies and Kens regard the audience as even more vacuous than them. And the audience proceeds to live down to the expectations.

[Buzz Clik]

2. The press has been ducking the John Yoo story for years.

It isn't going to change soon.

EDIT: I just ran a quick Google search for DU with only "John Yoo" and the search parameter. Hits go back at least 4 years with the same knowledge we have now.

[merh]

6. John Yoo and the admin that adopted his torture policy

should faces federal criminal charges.

TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 113C > § 2340A

§ 2340A. Torture

(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.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00002340---A000-.html

[Buzz Clik]

7. I couldn't agree more. Do you see that happening?

[merh]

9. In all honesty

no.

And especially "no" if Hillary wins. Bill cleaned up after Bush I and no investigations or indictments were had of the illegal acts and war crimes of Poppy's administration. Hillary keeps telling us she learned from Bill, his experiences are her own. Why should we doubt her when it comes to that?

[lordsummerisle]

3. It amazes me there's not more coverage of this

let alone outrage. Charlie Savage in his book Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency details this story quite well.

[TahitiNut]

4. Oh, boy. Just wait. Someone will show up and pile on the "blame Obama" bandwagon.

Reading is fundamental ... and too many here eschew such fundamentalism. :silly:


:popcorn: :popcorn:

[SwampG8r]

8. maybe ill beat em too it tahiti

if we have a president, not beholden to previous office holders, we might just for once get the real story.
bill clinton covered for bush 1 and hillary will cover for bush 2
this is the single best reason to elect obama
his lack of long term contact with the politics as usual crowd
washington insiders of long standing do not have any deep changes in mind

so vote obama and elect someone who is clean
and if he wasn't clean we would have had it smeared everywhere after iowa
I'm not going to say who would have done the smearing
but the smearing would have happened
so i take the LACK of the smear as evidence of the LACK of smearable materials at hand

just look inside and ask
"who is more likely to enact a new way?"
isn't that what we all want? a new way
makes me feel good just thinking about it



obama 08

[blogslut]

10. The Press Owes John Yoo's own Father-in-Law a Huge Apology

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/30/sprj.irq.arnett.transcript/index.html

On Sunday, March 30, veteran reporter Peter Arnett said this to IraqiTV:

ARNETT: Clearly, the American war planners misjudged the determination of the Iraqi forces.

HOST: (In Arabic)

ARNETT: And I personally do not understand how that happened, because I've been here many times and in my commentaries on television I would tell the Americans about the determination of the Iraqi forces, the determination of the government, and the willingness to fight for their country. But me, and others who felt the same way were not listened to by the Bush administration.

HOST: (In Arabic)

ARNETT: That is why now America is re-appraising the battlefield, delaying the war, maybe a week, and re-writing the war plan. The first war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance now they are trying to write another war plan.

Mr. Arnett was fired the next day.

So, just watch out, all you reporters. If you get in the way of the narrative, you'll end up like Arnett. Even your son-in-law won't defend you. In fact, he'll run around defending torture.

Yes, the Senator went bowling but the media's deliberate blindness to the real news is not Obama's fault.

[InsultComicDog]

11. There's always something

If it wasn't Obama bowling, it would be something else.

The problem isn't with the distractions, it's with the people who get distracted, and their enablers.

[azmouse]

12. K&R