Watching McCain on Meet the Press. Coupla' thoughts...
McCain says torture is wrong, "should never have happened," he was an "outspoken critic" of waterboarding, yada, yada, yada...but that there is nothing to be gained from AG Holder appointing a prosecutor to investigate related crimes by the Bush White House. He "agrees with the President of the United States that we should look forward, not back," that doing so would further harm America's image in the world, that accountability has been achieved because damage has been done to people's reputations.
Okay...that's cool. So, I assume Senator McCain will henceforth accept that precedent with regards to crimes of all sorts. From now on, when someone is accused of murder, rape, theft, genocide, or child molestation, we can all just be happy that their reputation was harmed and move forward without the trouble and further pain that would be caused by a trial. Right? No need to think about deterrence or justice. Let's just close the book and move on. Senator McCain's position should help empty our prisons rapidly. Maybe we could pay for healthcare with the savings?
With regards to Palin's resignation, McCain says he has "never seen a sustained, personal, family attacks that were made on Sarah Palin and her family in, in, in, in my life." He goes on to whine about the "media establishment attacks" on her. Let's set aside, for the moment, the fact that the Clintons might take issue with the assertion that Sarah Palin was the victim of "the most sustained personal attacks...in recent American political history," as McCain complained. (Frank Rich has more to say about that.) Could it be - could it POSSIBLY be - that Palin was a victim of media attacks because she was a supremely unqualified and dangerously ignorant candidate? Would you complain about media attacks if Andy Dick was running for office? No...you'd consider them a justified attempt to inform the public about the dangers of electing him. Stop bitching.
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