"And While You're Shaking My Right Hand, I'll Stab You With the Left"

Last night as I listened to Obama's press conference, I found myself rejoicing in the idea of having a president who might actually meet the demands of the office in both temperament and intellect.

It had been so long since the man standing behind that podium inspired confidence in me that I'd forgotten what it felt like. Obama's words were direct and his answers contained only a minimal amount of evasiveness. I was so relieved, overjoyed almost. Then I read this and the euphoria dissipated. In light of Mr. Obama's FISA vote as a senator, I guess this shouldn't be too much of a surprise.

The most egregious behavior the Bush Administration sanctioned and encouraged will continue to be a stain on this country and no amount of "looking forward" will change that. Whether or not abuses happen at the highest levels of government should not be dependent upon how honorable the people in office are. Our laws mean nothing if they don't apply to everybody and I don't think there is any hyperbole in saying that. The President failed a huge test yesterday. I doubt the MSM will cover it either. They'll be too busy dissecting last night's press conference. Meanwhile, the real news will be relegated to a blurb on page three. And so it goes...

Jack Bauer says, "Stop whining"

Bill Moyers interviews Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side: THE INSIDE STORY OF HOW THE WAR ON TERROR TURNED INTO A WAR ON AMERICAN IDEALS

A couple of excerpts below. Emphasis added, mine.

BILL MOYERS: Who were some of the other conservative heroes, as you call them, in your book?

JANE MAYER: A lot of them are lawyers. And they were people inside the Justice Department who, one of whom, and I can't name this one in particular, said when he looked around at some of the White House meetings - he was in where they were authorizing the President, literally, to torture people - if he thought that was necessary, he said, "I can't, I could not believe these lunatics had taken over the country." And I am not talking about someone who is a liberal Democrat. I'm talking about a very conservative member of this Administration. And there was a-

BILL MOYERS: Your source?

JANE MAYER: My source.

BILL MOYERS: And, yet, when these conservatives - as you write in your book - when these conservatives spoke up, Cheney and company retaliated against their own men.

JANE MAYER: People told me, "You can't imagine what it was like inside the White House during this period." There was such an atmosphere of intimidation. And when the lawyers, some of these lawyers tried to stand up to this later, they felt so endangered in some ways that, at one point, two of the top lawyers from the Justice Department developed this system of talking in codes to each other because they thought they might be being wiretapped. And they even felt-

BILL MOYERS: By their own government.

JANE MAYER: By their own government. They felt like they might be kind of weirdly in physical danger. They were actually scared to stand up to Vice President Cheney.


***

BILL MOYERS: What do you think the country would gain or lose from pursuing war crimes?

JANE MAYER: Well, you know, I think that it could be very toxic in some ways to hold people as criminals who were doing what they thought was right for the country. But, at the same time, I have to say I think that we need accountability in this country in order to make sure that people abide by the laws. And I can tell you when I interview people at the CIA, a number of people said that they didn't want to get involved in this because they thought there'd be criminal repercussions. So, if there never are any criminal repercussions, I'm not sure where that leaves us.


***

"Do as I say, not as I do", said Uncle Sam to the rest of the world.