James Fallows writes of Bob Graham’s assertions about (not) being briefed in the manner the CIA suggested:
It’s easy! If the CIA says one thing and former Sen. Graham says another, then the CIA is lying. Or, “in error,” if you prefer.
JMM points out that Pelosi continues to support a Truth Commission, which would indicate that she believes she will be vindicated by a full investigation.
At this point, it’s worth considering what the claims about her being briefed mean and where this is all going. My view is that the story that Pelosi was briefed on waterboarding is subterfuge, like the quilts and blankets in “Pulp Fiction“. It’s not about nailing Pelosi, it’s about having a sufficiently truthy line of bullshit for David Brooks et al. to repeat (Brooks spoke about torture on the Times yesterday, blasting Pelosi and everyone who wants investigations — these are his first comments on torture, to my knowledge). This probably won’t be fully investigated and, even if it is, the findings will probably be equivocal enough that Republicans can continue to scream “Pelosi knew about it” just as the nutosphere likely continues to trash Scott Beauchamp.
To me, though, the big take away here is that the right is losing the torture debate. It started with “Dick Cheney was just keeping us safe from teh terrorists, don’t you libtards watch ’24’?”. Then it became “mistakes were made, but it was a difficult time.” And now it’s “okay, maybe the whole thing was fucked up, but Pelosi knew about it so it’s her fault.” It’s just another variation on “Clinton did it too” and it’s essentially a defensive posture.
Update. Good Lord, Halperin is going after Pelosi hard on this
Lady of the House wondering where it’s gonna stopPost + Comments (178)