Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Fred Hiatt, the often wrong and proud of it lead editorial writer from the Washington Post, insults democrats in specific and his readers in general today in an op-ed which is nominally about habeas corpus but in actuality is an excuse to insult the vast majority of the publi who unlike him have realized the emperor is jaybird naked.
CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS have been promising since last November's election to reform President Bush's treatment of foreign prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay prison. There are practical limits to what can be done while this president remains in office; eye-catching bills to shut down Guantanamo, for example, are unlikely to be enacted. But today Democrats in the House have an opportunity to take an important first step toward the reform that may be most achievable -- the restoration of the ancient right of habeas corpus to the Guantanamo detainees. Unfortunately, their leaders seem to have decided to pass up the opportunity.
Sure the President will veto any meaningful legislation, but it is all your fault that he tortures people down there. Will the president restore habeus corpus? Well no. He would veto that too. Because you made him or something.
But Mr. Skelton didn't include the amendment in the draft bill he circulated to his committee. His staff says he concluded that the measure should be contained in a stand-alone piece of legislation, which he is said to be preparing. That strategy is at odds both with recent legislative history and with the judgment of most congressional observers: Mr. Bush, they point out, won't hesitate to veto a bill on habeas corpus but might be induced to accept the reform if it were attached to one of the annual defense bills. That is how Congress managed to force the reform of prisoner treatment known as the McCain amendment two years ago.
Ok, the same Fred Hiatt who accuses the democrats of giving the president a bill with a poison pill that he would veto, wants them to restore human rights into a defense authorization bill. This is premised on the condition that Bush has magically become reasonable. When Bush hits the veto pen, anybody want to bet that Hiatt demands they send him a bill he can sign?
Other congressional sources cite another reason Mr. Skelton is holding back: He and other Democratic leaders do not want to risk complicating the passage of the defense bill on the House floor. Worries about such political scrapes didn't stop those leaders from passing a defense spending bill last month containing a polarizing attempt to micromanage troops in Iraq. Nor have House Democrats hesitated to pick fights with the administration over such issues as whether the hiring and firing of U.S. attorneys was properly managed, or whether Karl Rove and Condoleezza Rice can be compelled to testify about their actions as presidential advisers. Why not fight for the right of habeas corpus? Maybe because it's not really a priority for the Democrats, after all.
My gut response to that last paragraph is quite uncivil and involves Fred Hiatt performing a sexual act upon himself that is likely physically impossible without years of yoga training.
I have a tortured analogy on the whole micromanaging the war crap Hiatt and his handlers in the administration keep using. Follow along with me.
Picture you have a horrible parent. He neglects, abuses and warps his child. The child gets to school age, and the kid is starting fires, wetting his bed, and torturing animals. He is brought into therapy to fix the problem. Several therapists state he needs institutionalization. The parent ignores them. He hires Hannibal Lecter who approves of the parenting style and says the boy just needs a few rough edges worked out.
The school, neighbors, the local law enforcement community scream that this isn't manageable, the kid is a basket case. A neighbor, let's call him Ned Fiatt, yells at the community that they are trying to micromanage the child's care and are questioning the expert Dr. Lecter as if they know any better.
Ned Fiatt is a big asshole.
Update: For new visitors, there are other posts on the blog you might like to read. Honestly!
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