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Emptywheel posted her opinion, that the Obama leaks are organized and have a purpose.
If this is true, and I can only believe that it is, then it is alarming to me the president elect has tipped his hand on reversing over 200 executive orders…this gives the president an opportunity to revisit some of his decisions and give them more legal cement
Not wise at all for team Obama but the next leak is REALLY counter productive;
Obama’s plans for probing Bush torture
With growing talk in Washington that President Bush may be considering an unprecedented "blanket pardon" for people involved in his administration’s brutal interrogation policies, advisor’s to Barack Obama are pressing ahead with plans for a nonpartisan commission to investigate alleged abuses under Bush.
The Obama plan, first revealed by Salon in August, would emphasize fact-finding investigation over prosecution. It is gaining currency in Washington as Obama advisor’s begin to coordinate with Democrats in Congress on the proposal. The plan would not rule out future prosecutions, but would delay a decision on that matter until all essential facts can be unearthed. Between the time necessary for the investigative process and the daunting array of policy problems Obama will face upon taking office, any decision on prosecutions probably would not come until a second Obama presidential term, should there be one.
The proposed commission — similar in thrust to a Democratic investigation proposal first uncovered by Salon in July — would examine a broad scope of activities, including detention, torture and extraordinary rendition, the practice of snatching suspected terrorists off the street and whisking them off to a third country for abusive interrogations. The commission might also pry into the claims by the White House — widely rejected by experienced interrogators — that abusive interrogations are an effective and necessary intelligence tool.
This is REALLY irresponsible, I cannot believe team Obama is broadcasting this activity, it is as if they want the administration to cover their tracks.
16 Comments
ps
please do not digg this post, I don’t want this thread getting any play except among ourselves
Perris, I believe what we are seeing right now is just the surface of the maelstrom that is taking place underneath. Not everything is what it seems and based on the campaign that just took place, I think we are seeing a jockeying for position that is unprecedented in our history.
We can comment, and observe, and push for the changes we would like to see, but bottom line – none of us, as individuals, is going to have any serious impact on how this will play out.
Commenters on this blog are anonymous for the most part, but I do believe FDL is read and the salient points are noted.
I am content for the moment, to let this simmer and mature. What happens between now and Jan 20th is just pre-game follies. Nobody’s money is on the table yet.
I appreciate your post but I do take issue with your statement that as individuals we can’t make a differance
we do make a differance, we have and we will
this I guarantee
I think you are wrong for one reason only, Perris.
Why would you not assume that the current administration would not already be doing all, everything, the lot, the maximum in its power, to cover its tracks?
These leaks, if leaks they are, may well be to make clear now that there are limits, set by such boring things as your Constitution, the Geneva Conventions and even, perhaps, basic decency, to letting bygones be bygones, bipartisanship and all the other arguments that are going to be dragged up by assorted pond life to justify hiding what they did. The world is watching, the US’s real best friends are watching, and I think Obama’s team knows that.
I play tennis, I run a business;
tennis;
If I know my oponent is at the net I hit a completely differant shot then if I know they are off the court.
business;
If I know my competitor is trying to corner the market on a particular product I decide where is best to concentrate my buying strategy
the more I know about what my oponent is doing the less likely they are going to be able to compete with me
that’s the reason
I’ve tried to think of a clever reply but can’t. I do understand, but simply think that sometimes you actually can’t make things worse than they already are.As a long-term negotiator I understand your point but we’ll just have to disagree on the tactics being employed. I think we both seek the same result.
It seems to me, these leaks very well could be a little bit of market testing to see what kind of response the incoming admin will get if it does these things. I understand that Obama rejected Bayh as a vp candidate because of the hostility to the idea as expressed on the internet. Just a wag.
FWIW – It doesn’t/didn’t matter if Obama tips/tipped his hand or not. It’s not like ChimpCo isn’t/wasn’t aware that the Dems, if they won the White House, would seek to undo much, if not all, of what ChimpCo has done through Executive fiat.
As much fun as it might be to analyze or armchair quarterback the gamesmanship of it all, telegraphing the known and/or obvious, whether planned or not, is meaningless when the other side knows what the known and/or obvious is.
YMMV
Unless…
With FISA still in place, it might be easier to catch CYA correspondence.
The big bomb is post-incumbency impeachment. Recall that Gerald Ford lost a full 20% of his approval ratings within a month after he pardoned Nixon. If Dubya tries anything akin to this his currently lowest ever approval ratings will find an absolutely new bottom.
After the pardon and the election of Carter folks were talking about the death of the Republican party, just as they are now. But the coffin wasn’t nailed shut. I suspect if Bush forecloses the mechanisms that are going to allow the country to repair his actions we’ll see those nails being driven well into the heart of the monster, as well as hermetically sealing the sarcophagus.
There won’t be a single safe Republican seat if Bush starts destroying records, or pardoning his cronies. The Democrats can bring up impeachment charges in January or February (banning the individuals from any further gov’t job, grant, contract, lobbying post, or license) and any Republican that attempts to block this would be placing a huge Target logo on their own head. It might also make them suspect of involvement in the illegal acts of the WH.
you know what I would love the democrats start doing with pardons?
suppose skooter is pardon, then the progressive says;
“scooter libby admits he is guilty of treason, I don’t know how anyone can stand in the same room as a traitor”
man, their heads will explode
Perris. Thank you for this post. I appreciate your abundance of caution. I imagine a lot more of the Lake community do also.
The wait until these crooks are out of the people’s White House is excruciating. Hang in there and the rest of us will try to do likewise.
Signed, paid-up member of Worried People Anonymous /NO SNARK
What is the precedent for impeachment post-incumbency?
The constitution limits the consequences of impeachment to removal from office, and disbarment from eligibility for future office.
I suppose that one might justify the action by making Dubya permanently ineligible for future office. But in modern practice, former Presidents do not hold office in the future. And I’m hard-pressed to think of an office that the Dim Son might both want and be elected to.
I’m not into creating martyrs, and I’m afraid that’s all a post-incumbent impeachment would do. Let him go rot on the festering manure pile he’s created.
It’s not just W. Bush. He and Dick Cheney could not have destroyed the Constitution to the extent they have without the cooperation of untold hundreds. Thousands, perhaps. One thing that stuns me about the modern Republican party is the legions of willing federal felony perpetrators on which it seems able to call. IOKIAR, I guess. Even after 20 January 2009, if Congress impeaches (and, of course, convicts) the more prominent W. Bush administration officials who were complicit in high crimes, it will disqualify them from public office when next the Republicans come to power. This is no small thing. Their party will be able neither to reverse nor to undo it. And it would be a powerful disincentive for future federal government officials of any party to help damage the Constitution.
As I understand it, impeachment would also deny Bush, since that’s who you focused on in your comment, the pension from his terms. I can absolutely see how Americans would not want to pay for his retirement.
Just a thought,
Heather
must weigh in on the disincentive point…. have heard that mentioned before, and my first instinct is to agree. punish the guilty and discourage future constitutional trashers. But is that a valid argument? Was there evidence post nixon that people behaved more responsibly in govt? Ten years later, the raygun is secretly dealing guns and helping contras.
I’d like to see the bastards punished, and the argument that they would be barred from future admin positions is a key one, but does anyone have info on whether prosecution discourages people in govt from breaking the law? didn’t seem to affect this white house when scooter got nabbed.
just askin