Are we now past due for the "have you left no sense of decency" moment?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

Is it not unreasonable for some reporter in the WH press corps at this point to ask, "what kind of person are you, who would ask this country for the right to torture?"

"How dare you!"

Seriously?

[woodsprite]

1. I think todays presser would have been a good time for that. n/t

[rubberducky]

2. Helen Thomas.......

only one brave enough, but you can bet she could never go back.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

3. IMHO, were way past due for a Joseph Welch moment.

Unfortunately, I don't think there's anyone in the WH Press Corp that has the "balls" to do it.

Helen Thomas might, if Bunnypants would ever acknowledge her, but he'll never give her the chance.

[Lisa]

4. What kind of person? The same one who defended abuse in 1967

It's not as if the press don't have a good idea of what he's like.

"Bush was quoted in the New York Times defending the branding of fraternity pledges with a hot coat hanger, saying the resulting wounds resembled "only a cigarette burn.""

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/bush072799.htm

I have read other accounts which stated that they would heat up a coat hanger (the tip had been filed down into a triangle shape, the symbol of the organization) and brand the terrified youngster with it on the rear or back -- an additional "refinement" was that at the same time, they would dunk a livestock-sized branding iron, which they had shown the freshman earlier, into a bucket of water to make a sizzling noise. The person would assume that he (Yale did not admit women at this time) had been branded with that very iron, and if the onlookers were "lucky" he would pass out from shock.

The Bush quote does raise a question from me -- how often do people burn themselves with cigarettes by accident, badly enough to leave a mark (let alone on the rear or back)? How would Bush know what such a thing looked like? Did he ever burn someone with a cigarette end, on purpose?


You know what kind of person I would like a lot more? Someone who would have stood up and said, "I don't care how 'traditional' this is, or how much you guys say it is 'just a joke' -- there is nothing just about it, and I don't want any part of it. Either you stop doing it from now on, or I'm leaving this fraternity. And if you decide to keep doing it, I'm calling the papers, and the university administration, and my dad's friends who give money to this school, and the parents of all the pledges -- and telling them how sick and mean you all are, and how none of you are fit to be in charge of a company or serve in the government."

[tulsakatz]

5. I watched the video of David Gregory asking his question today...

...I didn't see the press conference, I saw the video at C&L

Anyway, when Bush started throwing his little fit, he tried to rationalize the difference between us and them by saying that they kill innocent women and children.

And I thought..........we kill innocent women and children with our bombs, so what's your point?

And when he told Gregory that he could ask all the theoretical questions he wants but.........etc

Clearly, he can't ask theoretical questions because he barely let him speak after that!! What an ass! (Bush not Gregory)

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

7. The "ask all the hypothetical questions you want" thing is just a talking

point, catchphrase he was coached to let loose if he was asked specific questions about anything. For example, if he was asked, say, about waterboarding, he wouldn't specifically confirm or deny that such a thing was done but would blow a smokescreen with this phrase about "hypothetical questions" without answering anything.

Of course in his actual performance he didn't really seem to be answering or responding to any specific thing with this phrase but rather just throwing it out like the trained monkey that he is. He wound up in a situation, uncomfortable questions on the "orture-tay" topic, so out comes the catchphrase.

It doesn't have to make SENSE, silly!

[tulsakatz]

10. yeah, I know........

I realize he wasn't serious about the hypothetical questions thing........I just hate it when someone says thing and does another! It's just one more reason why I hate Bush!

And he never really answers questions.........he just says a bunch of stuff in the hope that no one will remember that he didn't answer the question. Today was no different.....

[TroglodyteScholar]

6. The "have you no decency" moment already happened...

But almost everyone missed it b/c it was on MSNBC :eyes:

[Berry Cool]

9. You got it, Concerned!

And Olbermann did it again tonight...when he said "Remember, the President said, 'it's unacceptable to think.'"

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

11. Yes, Concerned, you are correct.

Keith hit the nail square on the head Monday night and again tonight with "it's unacceptable to think".

I watched bits and pieces of today's press conference, I was trying to get laundry done, but from what I saw I have no doubt that Bunnypants is totally batshit crazy and scared shitless.

I only hope that McCain, Warner and Graham stick to their guns on this. If they don't, IMHO there really is no hope left for our beloved country.

There can be no compromise on the Geneva Conventions in any way, shape or form. If Congress lets them (Bushco) get away with this, they are pissing on the graves of every American soldier that ever gave their lives for this country and pissing on the service of the millions of Americans that served their country whether in wartime or peacetime.

This so-called "clarification" is pure bullshit...

[jimshoes]

8. I don't want to live in that

kind of America. We don't have to go there.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

12. What, you don't want to live in the kind of America where presidents

who advocate moral outrages like torture are challenged openly, publicly, to their face?

[jimshoes]

14. Well yes i do,

and the more often and louder the better. I guess my post could be construed that way though.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

15. So I guess I'm left with, I'm really not sure what you were trying to say.

[jimshoes]

16. I'm agreeing with you

nt

[Toots]

13. America is too busy watching "girls gone wild"

Does anyone care? Decency, what is that? Some old time attitude that is not relevent in today's world of Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter...

[DemReadingDU]

18. too busy with job, family, hobbies

too busy to pay attention, too busy to read

They get snippets of news from TV, or from others who listen to Limbaugh

Heck in my family, some don't even know who Ann Coulter is!


edit to add: To educate them, I send them Keith Olbermann videos! Hopefully they watch and learn.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

19. I think not knowing who Ann Coulter is would be a GOOD thing. I sure wish

I didn't know who the hell she was.

[H2O Man]

17. Keith O / Countdown

I think that we've had what historians will look back upon as one of the highlights in news commentaries earlier this week. Though it is not the face-to-face confrontation that we would all love, it was an exceptional moment.

[Raster]

20. Well past due.