A Study in Leadership
For a moment, put aside your opinion (if you have one) on waterboarding and whether or not you think it’s torture. Also put aside whether or not you think waterboarding certain terrorists was justified.
Consider the recent controversy and compare the responses of Nancy Pelosi and Dick Cheney.
Nancy Pelosi gave tacit approval by not objecting when originally briefed on interrogation techniques that some consider torture. At the time, the war was popular. When public opinion shifted and the general public tired of the conflict, she came out against waterboarding and said the CIA misled or lied about the policy. The CIA recently released memos that confirmed she was made aware and her reaction to being caught in the lie was to accuse the CIA of being out to get her.
Dick Cheney has been an unapologetic supporter of the necessity of strong interrogation techniques all along. In spite of negative public opinion, he has been consistent and has worked in his speeches to persuade those that disagree with them. In fact, I chose an article that presents Cheney’s most recent speech negatively to highlight the climate in which it was given.
Like him or not, Dick Cheney is someone willing to stand on his principles and lead. Nancy Pelosi, like nearly all the politicians in Congress, are craven political opportunists that will say what they need to say to get one more vote than their opponent.
This is why the Cincinnati Tea Party is about principles instead of party. We need more leaders like Dick Cheney who are willing to say what they believe regardless of the electoral consequences.
May 24th, 2009 at 8:13 am
Absolutely right. The GOP has failed to lead, leaving Dick Cheney to speak up when they are too timid. We’ve got to get beyond parties and ideology, and re-become Americans. Freedom comes with duty and responsibility, and the Dumbed Down Moderate Middle has failed us.
May 25th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Where is your evidence to support the claim that Pelosi was briefed on “interrogation techniques that some consider torture” as well as the memos you are citing? The only memos that have been released were written after the meetings, and have contradicted the records of both Republican and Democratic sources who were present for the Pelosi meeting as well as follow-ups where she was not present. The “backpedaling” referred to in the fact-check article is hardly that: It merely states that she was informed by an aide in 2003 about the techniques again. There was still no evidence to support the claim that they were (or had been) employed, especially not the extent that they were. Even the fact check article goes on to say that the real truth lies in what happened secretly unrecorded behind closed doors.
Why are you not in an uproar about the lack of transparency that keeps us from getting to the truth here? That’s what the rest of us care about. Your argument seems to be that Congress needs more people like Dick Cheney, and that would magically solve the problem.
Yes! Of course never knowing anything about meetings that did or did not go on, unrecorded, behind closed doors would solve the problem. There would be no issue, because nobody would have an avenue to learn about it. It would all be under lock and key because, in Dick Cheney’s America, Dick Cheney knows via “principle” what you, Congress, the Supreme Court, and the media “do” and “do not” need to know. Your “solution” identifies the problem as being that a small portion of the information was able to get out, be requested, or discovered though other avenues.
The sad thing is outlets such as yours that have spun tall tales based upon such a small amount of verifiable evidence in this story. You have made two flawed assumptions: The CIA is infallible (this is flawed purely on the past 50 years of recorded evidence, under all presidents), Nancy Pelosi is lying about not being told about prior or planned use of water-boarding (you have partisan-ly assumed that either she’s lying about this because she’s a Democrat, or because she’s a Politician).
The whole attitude of being about pure principles is:
Oh yeah, the list goes on and on.
1) What resulted in burning “witches” at the stake in the 1600’s.
2) The only remaining argument against allowing homosexual marriage.
3) What got us into Iraq (thank you for your leadership, Dick Cheney)
4) What dumped large amounts of federal money into failing puritanical abstinence-only sexual education programs (see: Bristol Palin)
5) What bungled the mission in Iraq when it was evident that the “believed principles” and the actual on-the-ground situation were two different things.
6) What kept social security reform from being addressed for the past eight years.
7) What allows the NRA to successfully run its fear campaign, despite the FACT that this Congress is expanding gun rights even more than the last ones. No: The Democrats don’t care about you and your guns anymore, just prove that you know how to use them responsibly and it will stay that way.
Blindly adhering to “principles” is a simplistic mindset for simple people. You need to be flexible, adapt, and be willing to accept when your gut instinct is wrong. Cheney’s was dead wrong, but he never backed down (he even still insists to this day that there was an al Quaida-Iraq connection, for instance).
That isn’t leadership, that is dictatorship.
Also, the war was never popular in San Francisco, a fact which has been evident with the list of challenges levied against Nancy Pelosi by primary and general election opponents.
June 20th, 2009 at 2:40 am
Ms Pelosi exhibited the same body language as willful children who have been irrefutably caught lying and think they will get away with it. Obviously frightened at the time for her political future.
Ms Pelosi is not a fool. The briefings on interrogation techniques that “might” be used were delivered to her and not made public at the time. Their possible use was not opposed by her office using back channels either. If they had been she would’ve loudly proclaimed that fact in the recent news conferences. Silence in this case is/was tacit approval. The secret meetings contained briefings on information we likely would not like to share with the enemy and even some of our allies. I would bet that the intelligence committee didn’t want to know how the CIA et al got the information. Judging by Ms Pelosi’s body language the members present were told how. Her protests now are posturing to try and fool the unaware.
1 Corruption and superstition not principals is what drove the Salem trials.
2 Gay couples have the same legal standing as hetero couples in some states. It’s called a civil union and is performed by a judge or licensed individual. Lobby for Civil Unions in your state and recognition of it by the IRS.
Marriage is a Religious covenant between a man and woman usually performed by their clergy that is recognized by state and federal governments. I will not let the progressive movement use this issue to begin government involvement in my religion. Don’t believe this is the endgame? Can an OBGYN refuse to perform an abortion or refuse to refer the patient to a doctor who will without being sued?
3 You seem to like complaining about war. Somalia and the former Yougoslavian republics ring a bell. Wars under Bill Clinton. I don’t hear your complaints about them. Maybe Husein’s use of almost universally banned chemical weapons like mustard gas on his own people, attempting to build a super-gun capable of launching objects far into Iran and Israel, and the attempts to buy centrifuges and Uranium not enough reason to remove that nut job from his seat in the Middle-East? Hitler at least had the good grace to kill himself.
4 I agree we should stop dumping money into programs that circumvent parents job to teach their children about personal responsibility. Unwed mothers should also have to face the consequences of their actions. We need to stop coddling people who make poor life choices. Having sex before your partner is legally responsible for the situation or can support you and your child has consequences. Keeping the child has consequences. How many parents are looking for a baby. OHH yeah that’s just old-fashioned. “Everybody gotta do their own thing man.”
BTW Bristol is her parents problem not yours. They have taken responsibility for working with their less than prudent child. The same can not be said of many parents.
5 War is fluid. The best battle plans never make it past the first engagement. WMD? How far do you let a nut-job like Hussein go toward gaining any kind of nuclear or biological weapons? Don’t believe he had a nuclear program? Read “The Bomb in My Garden” by Mahdi Obeidi.
6 Social Security is a political turd. You can’t polish a turd it just smears around. The Ponzi scheme is about to blow up. Both Republicans and Democrats are to blame for doing nothing about Roosevelt’s legacy for the last 50 years.
7 Please explain this comment. What laws and procedures has this administration put in place to expand gun rights? Specifics please. Re-instating the Brady bill and federal gun registration are not expanding my rights.