What He Said...

Just back from our road trip, and I've yet to catch up on everything that happened while I was away, but I was aware of the impending release (or not) of more Bush "torture memos." As I said the other day, I am believe the memos should be released with the minimum (if any) redaction.

Obama released them in full—withholding only CIA agent's identities—that is to be commended. But, what the memos reveal—still not having had a chance to read them myself—is so abhorrent that their release accompanied by a statement that nothing will be done about it is almost worse than covering the whole thing up...

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UPDATE: Dahlia has more.

UPDATE 2: A good, but flawed, piece by Andrew Sullivan. He is too soft on the operatives that performed and oversaw these activities while directing his ire at the Bush higher-ups, and of course he stupidly asserts "everyone" got sucked down the 9/11 wormhole, but his point at the end about an Obama long-term strategy here is worth considering. Yes, it might be grasping, but it does seem logical that the release of these documents is designed specifically to generate the heat to force an investigation. Let's hope.

UPDATE 3: Kevin Drum makes his case for supporting Obama's non-prosecution stance. He makes some good points, but they only go so far: 1. This has always been a top-down concern for me—throwing a couple low-level agents under the bus a la Lynndie England is not what I'm after—it's Yoo, Bybee, Addington and Cheney, etc. I want against a wall. 2. "Following orders" is a fucking cop-out. Nobody involved in this sordid affair was in any doubt about it's legality—these memos are pure after-the-fact CYA documents. Agents need to be fired, supervising "doctors" stripped of medical licenses, lawyers disbarred—all of that at a minimum.

She's Done.

There's much more to say about the new low Hillary established today, and I'll be coming back to unload, but for now I'll let KO handle things...



UPDATE: I don't see how anyone in the real world (which excludes Taylor Marsh, Jeralyn and the irrational faction* of Shakesville—no link because this never happened over there...) can possibly stand by her any more. Not after this.

Not because it was malicious. Or that she actually is staying in the race because Obama might get shot. But because this was an unnecessary gaffe of epic proportions.

I actually understand the context she was invoking—that campaigns have extended into June—but why she felt the need to use RFK as her example instead of, say, Hart/Mondale, but then to compound her unforced error by not just alluding to, but actually using the word "assassinated" in reference to the soon-to-be first black nominee for PResident in a country with a bloody legacy is simply incomprehensible to me. Sure, what she said is "historically true", but it was completely gratuitous and unnecessary, not to mention unbelievably insensitive, even cold-blooded. Screw it—sociopathic.

And she has gone to this well before. More than once. This was just the first time there was a video. Like Tuzla, the fact that there is a pattern negates any claim of "off the cuff slip." There is no reason for her use RFK as her example or to tread anywhere near the assassination of a rival.

As I am sure she is well aware Barack Obama was granted Secret Service protection earlier than any candidate since, well, RFK—who was running just after the assassination of that LBJ coattail-rider Martin Luther King.

She just gave the superdelegates all the cover they need to pull the plug on her, and simultaneously torpedoed any shot at VP. A silver lining I suppose.

Her campaign's strategy of hanging around until some scandal or mega-gaffe decided the nomination was a success—but like everything else, just not the way they planned.

[TPM has the original statement and the non-apology apology clips here.]

* Update and clarification: I read regularly at Shakesville, and I'm not really sure why, but I do. It is an enjoyable place for me, I suppose, because there's actually a debate as opposed to agreement. But it can be frustrating and annoying...There are contributors and commenters over there that are as in the tank for Hillary as the die-hard moron Bush-supporters, and that's who I was referring to. Melissa has a thread up on the RFK debacle today, and she has a pretty reasonable reaction, though I think she downplays it a bit.

Special Comment Asskicking

I was going to write a post about Bush's interview, particularly about the "golf sacrifice," but anything I'd come up with would seem penned by Mr Sunny Patch compared with this. I'll just hand it over to the master...