I don’t think anyone will argue that it is better than anything regurgitated by Bill Kristol, and he makes some interesting points and a compelling argument that a decisive defeat of Cheney Republicanism would have been better for the country, but this portion made me think he will fit right in with our nation’s elites:
But the argument isn’t going away. It will be with us as long as the threat of terrorism endures. And where the Bush administration’s interrogation programs are concerned, we’ve heard too much to just “look forward,” as the president would have us do. We need to hear more: What was done and who approved it, and what intelligence we really gleaned from it. Not so that we can prosecute – unless the Democratic Party has taken leave of its senses – but so that we can learn, and pass judgment, and struggle toward consensus.
Got it? Prosecuting those who torture is “taking leave” of your senses.
I used to write stuff like that a couple years ago. I used to agree with Chris Matthews that Bush was someone you wanted to have a beer with and that Gore sighed too much in the debates. Also, at the time, I was writing about all the WMD Iraq had and how they were an existential threat, how of course the Bush administration has a plan for Iraq after the war and how shock and awe was just the bee’s knees, that of course we could stabilize Iraq with 150k troops, and I made fun of the anti-war protesters and that really, you shouldn’t blame the federal for their crappy response to Hurricane Katrina- natural disasters just happen!
The difference between me and Ross, though, is that I apparently paid attention the last eight years.
Having said all that, a marked improvement over Bill Kristol. I actually thought a couple times while reading it, instead of retching.