Reply #35: In case anyone missed the News Hour last night, I think this is a good debate

[beachmom]

to watch or read. It is between Lindsay Graham and Sheldon Whitehouse. Frankly, if Graham was representative of Republicans the debates going on would be less absurd. At least he criticizes the legal reasoning in the Torture Memos.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/jan-june09/memosanalysis_04-22.html

I really like what Whitehouse said, and if you guys are wondering what I think is the proper response his is as close to ideal as a politician is going to get for me:

GWEN IFILL: Senator Whitehouse, we've heard the president say this repeatedly on different subjects, but I wonder what you think: Should the administration be looking forward on this matter or backward?

SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, D-R.I.: I think it's a little bit more complex than that. I think clearly the president wants to send a signal to the country that the focus of his administration is forward-looking.

We have an economy that is still in the ditch. We have two wars going on. We have a health care system that is falling apart. There are serious issues that grieve Americans every day. And I think for the president to insist that his focus will be forward-looking is important, and valuable, and correct.

That said, there are many folks, including those of us who sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee or, in my case, the Senate Intelligence Committee, who have different responsibilities and who need to make sure that misconduct that was done under the Bush administration is investigated, is revealed, and is not repeated.

And to the extent that that investigation or other investigation ends up leading to criminal prosecutions, I think it's far too early to be trying to prejudge those one way or the other.

Later on Whitehouse is asked about Obama's comments and how it relates to the Justice Department. Again, really good answer:

SEN. SHELDON WHITEHOUSE: I think the important point here is that, you know, we've just been through a very challenging episode with the Department of Justice in which it was very heavily politicized.

And there's been a great deal of talk about who should and who should not be prosecuted criminally by people who, frankly, are not in a position to make that decision.

The attorney general of the United States is the person who's in the position to make that decision, and he should make it based on the facts, he should make it based on the law, he should make it based on the evidence that is available to him.

And if there are criminal cases to be made, even potentially unlikely ones, such as ones against lawyers or people who followed orders, the law protects those people and creates defenses for them that are real and that are there.

Video and full transcript at the link.