L.A. Times: Bush Caved . . . Everyone Else: Bush Won
The L.A. Times has a rather unique view of the compromise on torture: Bush caved and the McCain faction won. I laughed out loud when I saw that this morning. Because this view seems to be shared by almost nobody else.
The L.A. Times article is the lead story in today’s paper. It is titled Bush Bows to Senators on Detainees. It opens:
President Bush acceded to dissident Senate Republicans on Thursday, agreeing to new rules for interrogating and prosecuting suspected terrorists that leave intact international treaty protections against torture.
In a major concession to Arizona Sen. John McCain and other Republicans, the administration dropped its efforts to have Congress redefine U.S. obligations under the Geneva Convention. The compromise bill in effect bans the most controversial CIA interrogation tactics, including water boarding, a form of simulated drowning, said those involved in the negotiations.
Message: Bush lost.
Anyone out there agree?
Anyone?
The New York Times has an editorial titled A Bad Bargain:
Less than an hour after an agreement was announced yesterday with three leading Republican senators, the White House was already laying a path to wiggle out of its one real concession.
The Washington Post says The Abuse Can Continue:
In short, it’s hard to credit the statement by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) yesterday that “there’s no doubt that the integrity and letter and spirit of the Geneva Conventions have been preserved.” In effect, the agreement means that U.S. violations of international human rights law can continue as long as Mr. Bush is president, with Congress’s tacit assent.
Marty Lederman, who opposes Bush’s methods, has a post titled Senators Snatch Defeat From Jaws of Victory: U.S. to be First Nation to Authorize Violations of Geneva. He has another post that puts the word “compromise” in sneer quotes: “Three of the Most Significant Problems with the ‘Compromise.'” Glenn Greenwald has a post titled America to legalize torture, and writes:
I have a plea (directed to myself as much as anyone) to declare dead — forever — the Myth of the Independent, Dissident Republican Senator and bury it in a coffin deep in the ground where it belongs. At this point, I think encountering the Lochness Monster is more likely than finding a genuinely independent Republican Senator willing to impose meaningful limits of any kind on the President.
And Kevin Drum says: “at this point it looks like the three Republican ‘moderates’ gave in completely.”
I wonder if the L.A. Times will have occasion in coming days to revisit its view of the compromise as Bush “bow[ing] to,” “acced[ing] to,” and making a “major concession” to the McCain crew.
Because that view seems to be rather . . . unique.
This is the SMELL A TIMES the west coasts version of the New York Times
krazy kagu (31c771) — 9/22/2006 @ 6:47 pmNo offense to our host or to other Californians here, but I can see where the LAT is coming from seeing as this is California. “Sex workers” probably get paid to inflict much rougher S/M stuff on their customer than the new detainee act allows. 😉
nk (47858f) — 9/22/2006 @ 7:15 pmBut, either way they have it as “Bush bad.”
Kevin Murphy (0b2493) — 9/22/2006 @ 7:22 pmHow would the LAT’s know anything since the entire process is classified? The are playing to the stupidest of the stupid. Hey, that’s all democrats, isn’t it?
The latest is that Harry Reid woke this morning and was pasty white from the neck up, he immidiately ran to his doctor who examined him and left the office. The Dr. returned with a quart of brown liquid and told Harry to drink it streight down, which he did. He put the bottle down, made a face and told the Dr. that taste like B.S. The Dr responded that it was, you were a quart low.
Scrapiron (9f37aa) — 9/22/2006 @ 9:32 pmIt’s too early to come to any firm conclusions. The devil is always in the details, and we just don’t have the full story yet. The obvious lack of specificity is troubling. I think it’s wise to wait and and get the full picture before we decide just what it is we think we’re celebrating.
McCain, Warner, and Graham have a long way to go before they can be trusted to put national security above their own political ambitions. They sold out Conservatives and the Republican Senate leadership on the “nuclear option” and that experience indicates a sharp-eyed vigilance is appropriate whenever McCain’s cabal is active.
I’ll hope for the best, but if experience is any guide, these guys simply can’t be taken at face value.
Black Jack (507b6e) — 9/23/2006 @ 11:09 amSeriously this time, much of the media was chanting “Bush wants torture, Bush wants torture” for quite a while. The Gang of Four joined in the chorus. It was a lie. Bush did not want torture. Since the new detainee act does not include torture, time for the follow-up lie: “Bush wanted torture but he caved and is not getting it.”
nk (5a2f98) — 9/23/2006 @ 11:20 am[…] I recently observed that the L.A. Times article on the compromise on detainees between Bush and the Gang of Four seemed quite lonely in its view that Bush had caved. That article was titled “Bush Bows to Senators on Detainees” and opened with the claim that “President Bush acceded to dissident Senate Republicans on Thursday,” saying that Bush had made a “major concession” to McCain et al. I observed that, as readers of blogs knew, practically everyone on Earth thought that McCain and company had caved to Bush, and not the other way around. […]
Patterico’s Pontifications » Patterico is, Once Again, Karnak (421107) — 9/23/2006 @ 12:53 pmThe compromise and pretty much the original objections were simply a republican stragety to get the Dems to cave. seems to have worked 🙂
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