The mainstream media can be very judgmental. The like to classify everything into categories, especially things they disagree with. For example there are "good" Republicans. and "bad" Republicans. "Bad" Republicans are people like Newt Gingrich,Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney. "Good" Republicans the more "liberal" ones, people like Colin Powell, John McCain (when he is not running against Obama) and Maine Senator Olympia Snow. The mainstream media takes every opportunity to use the "good" Republicans to bash the bad ones.
The MSM may be moving General Powell to the "bad" category after his performance today on Face the Nation. The former Secretary of State was asked about Enhanced Interrogation Techniques on Face the Nation today and took the side of the Bush administration and Dick Cheney. Take a look at the video above (the relevant part begins at around the 12:15 mark or read the transcript below:
OOP, General Powel you keep talking like that, the mainstream media is going to take away your "Good" Republican Decoder Ring.
BOB SCHIEFFER, HOST: All right. Let me ask you this. The former vice president said he had no regrets about the methods that were used including waterboarding. He actually authorized it. He says they may have saved thousands of lives. I want to ask you two questions. Do you agree with that? That these techniques were effective?
And number two, when did you know about this business, general?
POWELL: When we started to examine these techniques I was in some meetings where they were discussed.
POWELL: I was not privy to the memos that were being written or the legal opinions that were being written.
I think it was unfortunate but we had a system that kept that in a very compartmented manner. And so I was apart that these enhanced interrogation techniques were being considered. And they were judged not to be torture at the time.
And when you were facing the possibility of a 9/11, you had to give some -- some flexibility to the CIA. But it was under the Bush administration that they stopped using these techniques back in 19 -- in 2003.
So obviously the CIA did not feel that we had anybody else in our custody that would need to have these techniques used. And as a result...
SCHIEFFER: Do you think they were effective?
POWELL: ... they haven't been used -- I have no idea. I hear that they were. I hear that they weren't. You see people from the FBI who come out and say, we got all of that information before any of that was done. I cannot answer that question.
And the problem is, I don't know what I don't know.
SCHIEFFER: Let me just ask you this. Jan Crawford Greenburg of ABC News reported last year that the top people in the administration, you, the secretary of state, the secretary of defense, the national security adviser, were actually brought in to meetings in the White House where these things were outlined. But you're saying you don't know -- at those meetings you're saying that nothing was (INAUDIBLE)?
POWELL: They were outlined. We were aware that these techniques were being discussed. And we were aware that legal opinions were being given that said they met the standard of the law.
But over time, now that we look at it, it's easy now in the cold light of day to look back and say, you shouldn't have done any of that. But as Mr. Cheney has said very, very often, as has President Bush and all of us, if we had another attack like 9/11, say on 9/11 a year later, nobody would have forgiven us for not doing everything we could.
H/T Newsbusters
1 comment:
FROM CAROL HERMAN
Politics creates the divide. And, on both sides, the politicians want the votes.
You can look at situations through Livni's eyes; and you can see why she's always beating up on Netanyahu.
And, the same is true in America. Obama knows he won. McCain lost to him by a margin of 10-million votes. And, that's not small potatoes.
Yes, I'm surprised that Obama has followed Dubya's game plan in the Mideast. Why? Because I thought the Mideast, for Dubya, was so bad it snapped his family name in half.
On the other hand, you can't ignore how politicians go about looking for votes!
For Obama? I believe he picked up on Dubya's plans for the very reason he wanted to get some republican voters interested in voting for Obama "next time." So this was a pitch.
He didn't hit a home run!
As a matter of fact politicians don't know when things they choose to do go bad. Or Lyndon Johnson wouldn't have invested in Vietnam. And, he wouldn't have tried to "correct his listing ship" by "beautifying America." He lost on BOTH COUNTS!
And, Obama? Well, it's a "funny thing." In AMerica, with Jewish support, Blacks ended up going higher and higher in the collegiate world. And, then? They back stabbed every Jew they could find!
Now you have a Black man in the White House. Because the GOP ran McCain. And, McCain was a loser. Once Americans began focusing on whom to choose, back in October 2008; McCain shed voters! He never even picked up Hillary's voters. And, this fool thought he'd be a shoo-in with the wommen.
Of Course, McCain believed most Americans, or a majority of same, would never vote for the Black guy.
And, that's how Obama won.
And, that's why Obama thinks he's building a better future by going after Israel. (Just as Dubya did!) And, just as Clinton did. And, Bush's dad, did. And, even Reagan, when Israel bombed Osirak; joined the UN chorus in condeming Israel.
Sure. I thought Jimmy Carter would be an obvious loser. And, Obama would see he could LOSE VOTES! But as I said, par for the course. Blacks win at the Ivory Tower, and they turned the screws on the Jews. Nobody's ever punished them.
And, the GOP is in trouble. Colin Powell is right. the GOP has a very loud base. And, of course, the Evangelicals. They also have a toe-hold in the South. With the rest of the country running cold, when it comes to "social conservative" visions.
It's also a tug of war. Why? Because Obama only won 52% of the vote. And, because you see TEA PARTIES, you know Obama hasn't convinced those people to vote for his agenda. And, Pelosi and Harry Reid are non-too-popular!
You want to talk about Rush Limbaugh being unpopular? Well, the Congress is even less popular!
Politics has been defined as being similar to war. (Which means you're always going to lose some battles.)
But it is also a royal casino. Where when you bet, you can lose.
Jimmy Carter lost. The first Bush LOST! Robert Dole lost just by running. And, up ahead?
Oh, yeah. Lots of Americans are disappointed when they go to vote, and they see the characters that get nominated.
Here. You can't re-do history. But isn't it possible Romney would have run better than McCain?
It's only too late for 2008.
While in Israel, Livni is hoping for Bibi's government to collapse.
What's worth recognizing is that Obama isn't the first president to stiff an Israeli Prime Minister! Yet, guess what? Those presidents have reputations in the dog house.
And, who knows? Kadima is young. But Arik Sharon is still in a coma. (Showing you he didn't need the heart surgery to keep his ticker going. But that "experts" did him in.)
Sometimes it's the experts that fail.
And, sometimes? Bibi may yet win just by staying nice. Arguing with crap is a waste of time, anyway.
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