Latest Republican "False Outrage" - Nancy Pelosi

Let me see if I understand this correctly. No outrage from the right-wing about torture, outing an undercover CIA agent, politicizing the Justice Department, Hurricane Katrina, record budget deficits, crumbling infrastructure, and destroying the economy in less than 8 years. BUT if there is any possibility that Nancy Pelosi may have been briefed by the CIA about waterboarding then it is the crime of the century. Or is the crime of the century Obama shaking hands with Chavez, or ordering a hamburger with mustard, or using a teleprompter. This transparent "false outrage" tactic in order to deflect attention from real news is getting old fast.

I am actually not a big fan of Nancy Pelosi primarily because she took impeachment off the table at a time when the facts were screaming out for impeachment of President Bush due to his clear violations of federal law and the Constitution (warrantless wiretapping, torture, etc.). And it really doesn't matter to me whether she gets burned by this issue or not. If investigations and criminal prosecutions of torture cause political damage to some democrats in Congress, then so be it. As I have said on many occasions I am for holding anybody accountable for ordering torture whether they be in a Democratic or Republican Administration. It is not a political issue for me. It goes way beyond that.

For at least a short period of time the mounting evidence that Dick Cheney was suggesting that an Iraqi detainee be waterboarded in order to try to establish a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq gets pushed completely to the side as the media focuses exclusively on the relatively insignificant sideshow of Nancy Pelosi. I have got to give the right-wing credit for their effective "divert attention from Bush/Cheney complicity at all costs" campaign.

At this time it is not clear what was really said in those briefings. There were caveats in Panetta's response which were largely overlooked by the media and Bob Graham's statements cast a lot of doubt on the credibility of the CIA's briefing dates, etc. I will withhold judgment until I see clear evidence one way or the other. But this in no way affects the overwhelming case mounting against high-ranking Bush Administration officials. Let the chips fall where they may.