The Last Temptation of Commenting

Actually it's not the last - it's a pretty common temptation. Take this paragraph by Conservative Columnist Tony Blankley.

The more seasoned, team-playing Democrats want to use the old Chinese water torture on the president -- dragging out the agony for months and months. Or, as they call it in Washington, the issue "would spark a worthwhile debate."

It is odd that the same senators who believe in water torture for the president of the United States vigorously oppose similar water-related interrogation techniques when used on captured enemy terrorists. But then I suppose the president is not covered by what Michael Savage calls the Democratic Party's "Terrorist Bill of Rights

Yeah the Democrats are against actual torture, but are ok with metaphorical torture. I'm not sure you can see the difference, but let's look at a description of the water related torture techniques being used.

The prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him. Unavoidably, the gag reflex kicks in and a terrifying fear of drowning leads to almost instant pleas to bring the treatment to a halt. According to the sources, CIA officers who subjected themselves to the water boarding technique lasted an average of 14 seconds before caving in.

So you see that's a little different than President Bush having impolite questions asked of him occasionally.

I also like the mention of the Terrorist's Bill of Rights, and therein lies the Temptation. Because that's bullshit and everybody knows it. I suspect even Mr. Blankley and Mr. Savage know it. It's not a matter of protecting the rights of terrorists - it's a matter of protecting the rights of innocents. There's no way to strip out the guilty with surety, so you protect everybody's rights. But that's not nearly as fun as arguing that Democrats are on the Terrorists side.

Here's the comeback - Republicans Racism blinds them to the fact that they may be torturing innocents. They are perfectly fine with seeing poor Iraqis going through hell, because they don't see the Iraqi people as human beings. I mean who cares from a Republican Point of view - they are all brown skinned people.

Here's another comeback - Republican Bigotry against Islam justifies any torment we can inflict on these infidels. Islam has declared war on Christianity, so we must respond in kind.

Here's another comeback - Republicans don't give a shit about anything except supporting the President and slamming into Liberals. The Democrats have declared their opposition to torture, so torture must be ok, at least in their mind. This kind of knee-jerk partisanship explains Republicans.

None of these is exactly true. Rather they contain elements of truth, but carry it a bit farther than the evidence warrants. If I were a Conservative, I suppose that would be good enough - particularly since each of these comebacks hurts my political enemies.