"King of Pain" (Krugman on Bush and Torture, NYT, 09/18/06)

[swag]

Times Select (sub req)

more generously excerpted at

Economist's View

. . .

The central drive of the Bush administration — more fundamental than any particular policy — has been the effort to eliminate all limits on the president’s power. Torture, I believe, appeals to the president and the vice president precisely because it’s a violation of both law and tradition. By making an illegal and immoral practice a key element of U.S. policy, they’re asserting their right to do whatever they claim is necessary.

And many of our politicians are willing to go along. The Republican majority in the House of Representatives is poised to vote in favor of the administration’s plan to, in effect, declare torture legal. Most Republican senators are equally willing to go along, although a few, to their credit, have stood with the Democrats in opposing the administration.

Mr. Bush would have us believe that the difference between him and those opposing him on this issue is that he’s willing to do what’s necessary to protect America, and they aren’t. But the record says otherwise.

The fact is that for all his talk of being a “war president,” Mr. Bush has been conspicuously unwilling to ask Americans to make sacrifices on behalf of the cause — even when, in the days after 9/11, the nation longed to be called to a higher purpose. His admirers looked at him and thought they saw Winston Churchill. But instead of offering us blood, toil, tears and sweat, he told us to go shopping and promised tax cuts.

Only now, five years after 9/11, has Mr. Bush finally found some things he wants us to sacrifice. And those things turn out to be our principles and our self-respect.

[Bozita]

1. WOW! ... simply, ... WOW! ... Bend over, America!

WOW!

"Only now, five years after 9/11, has Mr. Bush finally found some things he wants us to sacrifice. And those things turn out to be our principles and our self-respect. "

[saltpoint]

2. Krugman's good mind is a taste of what Dubya will be getting from

historians on his legacy.

A disastrous presidency, driven by Bush's incompetence and deceit.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Bush's first appearance in national print was to defend torture at Yale

when he defended branding pledges to a fraternity with a hot wire coathanger. It was only as bad as a cigarette burn, he said. Oh, so that's all right then. Maybe he could have that written into American law - "It's OK to torture prisoners with burning cigarettes".

Bush was a mild psychopath then, and there's no reason to think he's changed.

[Dudley_DUright]

4. An excellent point that I will wager we will never see brought up

by the whitehouse press corpse.

[Marrak]

5. The .Bush-War Admin has been

conspicuously unwilling to ask Americans to make sacrifices on behalf of the cause*

*But normal American have had their pockets picked and their future's mortgaged, quitely, under their noses, while the MSM spews forth on Cruise, Katie, etc...
:shrug: :kick:

[Lisa]

6. good point -- I wondered where he'd seen one on human flesh

Most of the smokers I know have accidentally dropped a cig end now and then, leaving traces on furniture, carpets, or clothing -- but I don't know anyone who has managed to burn him or herself, enough to leave a noticeable mark!

And the place where they branded those kids ... well, you'd have to be klutzy enough to sit on an ashtray, and clueless enough to stay there, to have a similar result!

Apparently the hazing had a psychological component. They would show the kid a red-hot cattle-sized branding iron, and behind his back, they'd dunk it in a bucket of water to make a sizzling sound, at the same moment as they applied the heated wire. If they were "lucky", the kid would urinate in fright, or even pass out from shock.

The kind of person who would refuse to inflict that on someone else, and who would be brave enough to be kicked out of that little club, and be called "uncool" or a "squealer" for the rest of his college days? That's presidential material. Not Bush, defending it to the New York Times. He hasn't changed that much since then.