Political Exile is punishment enough for Bush/Cheney? Chuck Todd votes aye.
This absolutely must be heard to be believed. Chuck Todd is more than mere Villager in this interview with the, ahem, Constitutional scholar Glenn Greenwald, he is defender of the Bush Administration, and any administration's ability to make up their own rules. In Todd's Politics Uber Alles worldview, losing an election is the best/worst punishment for any Presidential wrong-doing. This is the line Cheney has used, as well: that because Bush "won" two elections, their power was absolute and inviolable for at least the term of office, and now it appears, beyond.
Audio from Salon Radio, where the full transcript is also available.
Glenn Greenwald: So what do you think happens - I think what has destroyed our reputation is announcing to the world that we tolerate torture, and telling the world we don't --
Chuck Todd: We have elections, we also had an election where this was an issue. A new president, who came in there, and has said, we're not going to torture, we're going to do this, and we're going to do this--
GG: What do you think should happen when presidents--
CT: Is that not enough? Isn't that enough?
GG: When, generally, if I go out and rob a bank tomorrow, what happens to me is not that I lose an election. What happens is to me is that I go to prison. So, what do you think should happen when presidents get caught committing crimes in office? What do you think ought to happen?
CT: You see, this is where, this is not - you cannot sit here and say this is as legally black and white as a bank robbery because this was an ideological, legal --
GG: A hundred people died in detention. A hundred people. The United States Government admits that there are homicides that took place during interrogations. Waterboarding and these other techniques are things that the United States has always prosecuted as torture.
Until John Yoo wrote that memo, where was the lack of clarity about whether or not these things were illegal? Where did that lack of clarity or debate exist? They found some right-wing ideologues in the Justice Department to say that this was okay, that's what you're endorsing. As long the president can do that, he's above the law. And I don't see how you can say that you're doing anything other than endorsing a system of lawlessness where the president is free to break the law?
CT: Well, look, I don't believe I'm endorsing a system of lawlessness; I'm trying to put in the reality that as much that there is a legal black and white here, there is a political reality that clouds this, and you know it does too.
Glenn Greenwald is too much of a class act to point out that the "political reality" Todd is defending is about a group of Washington insiders who KNOW that they attended cocktail parties with those who knew about and permitted torture and murder of prisoners of war under the aegis of the United States Government. That unpleasant political reality is something the Georgetown Power Set, a group for whom Todd curries favor, does not want to acknowledge for fear it will sour their bipartisan seven-layer dip.
Memo to Chuck: Glenn soured the dip and drank your milkshake. Go find that copy of the Constitution you didn't read before you dropped out of college. Really.
If the conventional wisdom were to shift on torture, say if a different administration and their allies in the village decided that it was important for America's image that these investigations take place, Todd would be right on board with it. (This was, in fact, why I thought the Obama administration would legitimately want to pursue these investigations and Todd's bizarre repetition of the talking point that torture investigations will harm America's image abroad is quite telling. You can be sure he didn't come up with that all by himself.) He has no independent judgment and zero insight into his role in the political process.
I would just write him off as another fluffy spokesmodel except he's got a real job as political director at NBC news. As shocking as it seems, he's really quite powerful. His shallow understanding of the issues at stake --- the reduction of absolutely everything, (even torture and murder) to the insider political parlor game are the most important requirement for advancement in the beltway press and he has that function totally mastered.
Heather: Below is Chuck Todd's appearance on Morning Joe, where he decries torture investigations as political "catnip". This appearance precipitated the interview above.
He says the job of a "lawyer" is to interpret the law and tell their clients how far down the slippery slope of lawbreaking they can go before someone will notice and they're held liable.
Now THAT's a MORON for you.
Earth to Chuck Todd: Lawyers are OFFICERS OF THE COURT. As such they are SWORN to UPHOLD THE LAW. If they do what YOU SAY they do, they would be disbarred. It is NOT their job to figure out how to avoid prosecution when their client wants to break the law. THAT is the job of a consigliere. A MAFIA LAWYER.
Your ties are showing, Todd.
Consigliere is the usual term for such a 'lawyer'.
There is an entire range of malfeasance and criminality. Torture and murder are acts committed in the pursuit of Imperialism and its new conduit, Globalization.
The State is acting in the interest and at the behest of those that control it, the Corporations.
Todd is a mouthpiece and apologist on their behalf.
We have the appearance of democracy but no real choice. The candidates are chosen by the Oligarchs.
They go outside of the given framework at their own peril.
It would only be as a complete surprise to the Oligarchs who are quite confident, I suspect, in the complete loyalty of the designated political class. There are a few who run outside but not many.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
The Mafia has too much self-respect to hire a suckup moron like upchuck.
It is not in our interest to glamorize the Mafia, they are a violent bunch.
So is the CIA who has enormous advantage over the non State sanctioned 'outlaws'..
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
That Chuck Todd would make a statement in defense of Bush/Cheney and the republican administration.
Todd , Joe Scarbrough , Greg on meet the press are all republican supporters and if you every watch their phony shows you can tell this immediately..
MSNBC is not a democrat news station! If your remember Tim Russert would have Cheney or some republicans on his show the instent something would go bad for Bush's administration..
Remember after Bush stole and election Ted Russert flipped open his lapell and show his pin for Bush with a great big smile on his face.
Make no misstake about it MSNBC was a leap board for Bush's administration and how Kieth Olbermann received a spot is because they needed his rations...
None
despicable traits--calling the Democratic party the Democrat party. The only way the Rethugs have had any success with their feudal mentality and policies is through Orwellian language misuse. They simply couldn't abide by the inherently democratic nature of the Democratic party and therefore the inherently undemocratic nature of Rethuglicanism.
Every time I saw that POS "W" say "Democrat party" I tried to will the earth to open up and swallow him, though I guess wanted to see that anyway.
that one of the reasons why these asshats continue to make the arguments the do on such sham programs as Meet the Press is that the network CEO's are afraid that if the war criminals are brought to justice, the network executives will eventually be held partly responsible for the commission of the crimes, because they consistantly used their resources to promote the war criminals and to sway/manipulate the public into supporting them and their crimes. The MSM is thus complicit and now they are in CYA excuse making mode.
When you can have a lightweight corporate stenographer like Chuck Todd? This inoffensive phony wouldn't cause any of his corporate masters any concern by asking tough questions or refusing to parrot the Politboro line. Why not indirectly support illegal acts of cowardice that never were before historically? The pay is good!
Pay the boy his nine pieces of silver and he'll trot out any line or political position that you tell him to.
He's just another political hooker shilling for his corporate pimps.
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
Chuck Todd no doubt believes that Hitler and his Nazi minions should just have been consigned to political exile and not prosecuted for their crimes.
... and already Cronkite is rolling over in his grave.
I do not care for these corporate journalists very much.
All the real journalism, is being done by bloggers and guys like Matt Taibbi.
Have I mentioned lately that in terms of "freedom of the press" the US ranks an abysmal 47th.
Bloggers did not kill newspapers, irrelevance and corpratization did.
Bloggers did not kill newspapers, irrelevance and corpratization did.
Amen, brother!
Most of the talking poodles on TV news are whores as you say, but lets not condemn all of them. We still have people like Michael Ware, Lara Logan and others who actually do real reporting.
Also, I recommend trying PBS. Newshour, Frontline, Now, Bill Moyers, Wide Angle, and Worldfocus are all great programs to get your TV news from. For print, McClatchy is great: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
I can no longer BEAR watching the news channels that once carried real news, before they became propaganda outlets, before all the airtime was owned by huge media corporations.
I get absolutely no news on the mainstream news media. I get most of it from several internet sites and newspapers, and from public radio and television.
While I think we should all be aware of the garbage being broadcast, sometimes I just don't want to be bothered knowing what the MSM is saying. With an occasional exception, they're all saying the same thing, lying crap I'm not interested in.
I would say Amy Goodman's "War and Peace Report" at Democracy Now deserves to be included in that group. Ofcourse, she is part of Independent Media not Corporate Media.
has no business working at NBC news, let alone being a political director.
NBC should fire this obviously pro torture moron for the disgusting words he dared to utter as the truth.
Every one of the criminals involved with torture, from the so-called president on down, needs to be indicted, prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law. That is without a doubt absolutely necessary if this "great experiment" is going to succeed. To allow our "leaders" to run amok, trample the Constitution, break Geneva convention rules that the U.S. not only signed onto but authored, kill the Bill of Rights and start a war that greatly contributed to the wealth of themselves and their corporate sponsors is morally bankrupt and as criminal as one can get.
If the present administration and Congress does nothing to show the world that our Constitution, which millions have died to protect, means something our only hope is that somebody else will.
At this point I am ashamed of our government for doing what they did and ashamed of the present administration for allowing the murderers and criminals to go scott free. Absolutely ashamed.
isn't his name correctly spelled "Toad"
Hasa Diga Eebowai
I thought it was "Fraud."
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
I thought it was *sshole...Bwaahaahaa
the Repug Governors, pundits and far-right crazies are talking about civil war, armed insurrection, succession and so on? Are Murdoch and other Power People are getting ready for the day Cheney is arrested for Murder?
If we send Bush, Yoo and all the others over to The Hague, will we experience Domestic Terrorism on a huge scale, with everyone being gleefully egged on by Glen Beck, O'Riley & LImbaugh? Scary. I'd still go for it, though.
I think you are right about Getting the nuts all fired up. But they are already doing that. Bush Chaney should be prosecuted, but I think it would tie up everything and Obama wouldn't be able to accomplish anything, They should wait until we get some health care and the economy straightened out a bit, Then drag them bastards out [Deleted-Sitemonitor]. Then charge Beck, Limbo, Hannity and Oliely for being domestic terrorists.
GG: "Until John Yoo wrote that memo, where was the lack of clarity about whether or not these things were illegal? (There wasn't any.) Where did that lack of clarity or debate exist?" (It didn't). I am getting from Todd's reasoning that as Yoo wrote a memo about a point of law, his opinion became the law. What are appellate courts for, I ask you? This is the one of the biggest piles I have ever come across. I will bet anything that Rove was here. Combine his perfidy with Cheney's evil and Bush's stupidity, and you get Torturegate. I really want public trials for these criminals so I can hear their attempts at justification.
AfghanistnaM?
Wow, bet they're real sorry, eh.
No, it's not enough. When people break the law they have to pay the price. No exceptions.
I think you're confused. You seem to be implying that Bush and Cheney are second class citizens like us.
See, if you're a first class citizen you can start illegal wars, torture people, dump toxic waste into our drinking water, defraud millions of second-class citizens out of their investments and assets (Bernie Madoff's problem was he stole from first class citizens - oops!)
It's us second class citizens that get punished from crimes like not being able to pay our ballooning morgages, following orders (Lyndie England), protesting illegal wars or reporting on the protesting (Amy Goodman).
Did that clear it up for you?
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
No, political exile is not enough.
How about doing to Bush/Cheney what the French did to Napoleon the second time they exiled him? He was taken to a desolate island with no contact with the outside world.
Got Books? www.membranachristianbooks.com
Need Cables? www.yourcablestore.com
and sent into the wild.
Thank you ckerst. It's that simple. That the crimes occurred is what cost us our reputation, not that we look back and persecute a past administration.
How long before Maddow, Olbermann and Schultz completley toe the corporate line
Dont hold your breath waiting for Maddow, Olbermann or Schultz to sell out. Id bet the farm that none of them would do that.
Sadly I've seen evidence of that with the infotainment parade on Mike Jackson.
Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity. Albert Einstein
They will hold forth as long as they make a profit for the Oligarchs.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
I think you under estimate the importance of the political ties.
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
I don't know what you mean by the importance of political ties in this instance.
Political ties never supersede a call to action.
Thinking too far left of center, and expressing such thought in the Corporate Media is allowed in spite of political ties, not because of them.
The corporations have no vested interest in promoting speech that is fundamentally contrary to their agenda.
I could add that they, Olbermann, Maddow etc will hold forth as long as they make profits, and do not make LARGE WAVES.
In other words, call for action contrary to the Oligarchs' interest.
In that case, the Oligarchs will weigh the profits they make from the antagonists shows, versus the potential for loss of profits from the content.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
I meant to say, the CEOs have their ties to political staus quo. Just like in late 2001 when Bill Maher and Phil Donahue were canned because they didn't follow the status quo and expressed doubts in the political motives behind the wars.
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
Precisely.
They were and are wars of Imperialism.
One is allowed in and on the Corporate Media as long as one stays within the box.
The audience is being brainwashed after all.
The purpose is mind control, and profits for the corporations. Not social progress for the disenfranchised.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
How much bigger waves could Olbermann and even Maddow make.
the soft currency of the world.
And now with the advent of the Communication Age, those lies can be spread at the speed of light to every corner of the globe-- relentlessly & without any regard to the consequences to average folks (obviously the general idea).
I see no greater threat to this country than that which spews out of the television 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The MSM is our real enemy.
i would trust Obama and his administration a lot more if they went after these lawless assholes with the entire might of the justice department.
he can always be a good guy later and pardon them. except for libby and wolfowitz and feith (the fucking stupidest guy on the planet)
libby is at the heart of this one too. hang his ass.
at 12:40. There might be really nasty repercussions all over our Country. Lots of armed Crazies out there.
We shouldn't enforce the law because if we do we'll become a lawless nation? Is that your answer?
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
My last sentence was "I would still go for it, though"
I am only saying the Right is trying to use these Rabid Crazies (like "Birthers) to threaten Obama. You know there will be a real shitstorm if Bush or any of his cronies are arrested & charged.
I would like to say "bring it on" but that would be something that G.W.B. would say. I will say that I am not worried about the crazies. They will be stopped and I would be willing to help stop them. They make me sick to my stomach.
Say it: Bring it on, you pack of facist traitors!
The state of "journalism" in this country is a sick, sad joke. Instead of having reporters representing Truth & American Values, we have a bunch of corporate propagandists spreading one insidious lie after another!
And thanks to the Great Dumbing Down of America that's been in full swing these last 40 years, we have a voting age population of gullible, apathetic morons that will believe any piece of garbage the MSM spews out...as long as it's not the Truth, that is.
I don't know how to fix this mess...but it's a huge mess that must be fixed or it's curtains for this country. If that means taking it to the streets, then lets do it--the principles this country were founded on are absolutely worth fighting and dying for...and I'm ready, if needs be.
for Chuckie T. to show up on KO's 'Worst Person in the World' anytime soon, tho.
If Olbermann was allowed to do such things I'd bet Scarborough would be on at least every other week. And Pat Buchanan at least every time he opens his mouth about race.
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
No, thats Numb Chuck
Chuck Todd - one more reason why I miss Walter Cronkite
If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're gonna get selfish, ignorant leaders.
George Carlin
That this cretin for the status quo would take this position. This guy started out okay and has gone downhill since being promoted on the damn corporate media.
Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity. Albert Einstein
for the evil one and chimpy. A war crimes trial is the only appropriate punishment for those vile murderers!
At one point Chuck Todd says "I don't know what I am talking about." He is right. Can he tell what reporting the news is as opposed to given your opinion has news? I think not.
The whole segment was about saving Dick Cheney's hide.
Since all you have to do is write the law as an opinion when you need authorization, I am going to make, or in John's Yu's case, make myself a law maker. All I need is a box of pins and a president to ask me what I think. Where would you start if you were in Yu's shoes? What law would you make?
Just for the hypocrisy of it maybe this president should do what Bush and Cheney did to make torture okay -- call it the write a law with opinion. If he did, he would quickly gather support to put the President and VP in jail. Every Republican in Congress and the Senate would keep that kind of power away from our "black" president.
Joseph
just to play devil's advocate here, I suppose the blogosphere is in favour of prosecuting the ObombA administration as well then? Is it not against international laws to invade sovereign airspace and bomb villages at random with Predator drones? Has this administration, also not killed innocent people? If Bush and Cheney are guilty, and they are, so is ObombA, Clinton, and a host of other US leadership. Now you know why the Dems are not interested in prosecuting anyone from the Bush Admin.
This new admin is in power long enough now to own, the torture debate, Gitmo, and the torture base in Afghanistan that remains open and functioning.
If he will not uphold the law as his oath states, he is complicit in the crimes. If he carries on with the illegal actions he is just as guilty.
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
You recall I wrote:
You just proved my point.
Who are you trying to kid? You aren't playing Devil's advocate: You believe this.
How do you know that the Pakistani government didn't approve the use of US drones? Have they declared war on the US? If you haven't noticed, they're fighting the Taliban/Al Qaeda themselves right now.
And that isn't what the discussion is about, is it? The prosecution for torture is what's being discussed.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
under Obama Andy, they just use a better term. Is that ok with you? Do they arrest themselves? This administration continues to kill innocent people in THREE nations, and you're A-OK with that? Bullshit to you to. If you support it, and your comment proves you do, then you are nothing better than Bush, Cheney, Rove, or Rumsfeld. And you have the audacity to talk about their war crimes? Sad. Pathetic excuse for progressive, liberal or anything other than a warmongering BSer. Sorry if I offend you here, but I despise...no TRULY DESPISE any and all that support killing innocent people with the same bullshit lies of Bush. And you are.
It does? Who reported that and where? Don't try to change the subject. Don't try to conflate detention with torture. Where is it being reported that the US government is torturing anyone right now?
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Pathetic rah rah supporters of a new regime just because it lies better. Read it Andy, and please do me a big favour and quit trying to call people out like you are the all knowing and everyone else is a lying troll:
While torture under the Bush administration was horrible, at least it has stopped. Right?
Wrong.
Jeremy Scahill (the reporter who broke most of the stories on Blackwater) says that a military police unit at Guantanamo regularly brutalizes unarmed prisoners, including gang-beating them, breaking their bones, gouging their eyes and dousing them with chemicals.
Specifically, whenever there is "disobedience" by the detainees - which can include praying, or having 2 styrofoam cups in their cell instead of 1, or refusing medication or failing to immediately respond when spoken to - the "Immediate Reaction Force" (IRF) is sent in.
Scahill describes what happens next:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?contex...
Again, you're changing the subject. This post addresses the systematic torture of detainees on orders from the top. It doesn't surprise me one bit that detainees are being abused by guards: It happens around the world all of the time in domestic prisons run by civilians. American prisons. Canadian prisons. Brazilian prisons. Chinese prisons. Sometimes the guards get away with it. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes they're accused of it and it never happened.
Show me where Obama signed off on this as the Bush administration did, and I'll say you're right, he should be held just as responsible as I believe his predecessor should. But you can't show me that, at least not now, can you?
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
The concerned one just does not have the brain power to look at the whole deal pragmatically. He is still upset that Obama uses a teleprompter. He is about an inch away from being a birther. If he had a job he would probably be over at the Free Republic.
He's finding a way to concern troll that one, too.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
To ConcernedCanuck
In war, shit happens. It is what the Bush and Chaney folks did to keep illegal war going, and you know it. Barack Obama is not the same careless phony patriotic president Bush was. You can throw logic and rational thought around to make many wrongs right; that is why it is so sad to hear people repeat "talking point." Reality gets lost in them and a deadly third party dialog takes over. It is no wonder we call the killing of innocent people "collateral damage." At some level, you know what happen, what is going on now, and how wrong or write our future action should or should not be. Get real.
Joseph
Obomba is exactly like Shrub, except he has a better speech writer, and more corporate cronies in his administration. Where have all you supposed progressives been in the last 6 months, watching the stars?
if the Taliban took over Pakistan, and had Nukes. The only question would be: who will they bomb first? India? Israel? Saudi Arabia? The USA would be on the list of course.
Dems and Reps say so. Hell there are now literally millions of evile Taliban just a swarming the MidEast, bent on taking over the entire world. Well, just a few years ago, it was the evile Al Qaeda, but they've morphed into the evile Taliban. Uh huh. Who says the American media doesn't brainwash?
in Pakastan too, until Obama became President. Call them evil or holy, they are religious fanatics.
One possible scenario would be the fanatics (with support of citizens) take over the corrupt Pakastani gov't, and then less religious, power hungry types would push them aside as figureheads, while actually being in charge. That would be a good outcome for us.
The Taliban was almost certainly a player behind 9/11, even if they weren't the only ones. Bin Laden gets the credit or blame, but it was a pretty good organization, combined with extraordinary luck, and extraordinary stupidity of our Gov't that enabled the hijackers.
Obama Has 250,000 'Contractors' Deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and is Increasing the Use of Mercenaries
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/world/140378/obama_has_250,000_'contractors'_deployed_in_iraq_and_afghanistan_and_is_increasing_the_use_of_mercenaries/
Bagram prisoners tortured (I'm sorry, in Obama-land it's now called "abuse" and "neglect") & Obama embraces Bush's position that detainees imprisoned by the U.S. in Bagram, Afghanistan have no rights of any kind to challenge their detention:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/radio/...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8116046...
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
by the hardline Wahabis in Saudi Arabia. Two branches of the same movement.
Why don't you go back to suggesting euthanizing the elderly who are stealing all your health care dollars?
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Only the Wahabis? You think. How about a link, some evidence to support your claim that ONLY the Wahabis were behind 9/11
Euthanizing elderly? I don't recall ever suggesting such a thing. I am in favor of Single Payer, and, as it happens it would raise my taxes a bit. I don't mind; unlike many "rich" people I am not drowning in debt, in fact I have NO debt.
Not to you. Note the margin. Gets confusing sometimes, no?
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
That is why it is so ridiculous that it was never on the table. We must keep this straight.
so those evil brown muslims don't getcha Andy. Chickenshit.
That is the stupidist reply you could have come up with.
The 'wars' of Imperialism continue unabated, they will continue.
The middle east has far and away the greatest reserves of the world's remaining oil.
We are at peak oil and here on out the game gets very serious.
We are not leaving the middle east.
If the al Saud regime falls we will be in Arabia.
Then, watch out.
The CIA is the secret government, they have their own agenda and funding mechanisms. but they also have their mission of supporting the Oligarchs.
It will not matter who is in the Oval office. They get their marching orders from above, not below.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
This is an unfair match up. Really Todd may have scored points only in that he spoke in English in complete sentences... well barely.
Yeah, and the suspects weren't running for office.
Undercut your already shitty argument, Chuckles.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
NOT UNTIL THESE CRIMINALS ARE TRIED, CONVICTED AND INCARCERATED WILL THIS COUNTRY BEGIN THE HEALING PROCESS.
You see, as I said above, it would mean taking responsibility. That means Dem leadership, who supported alot of this BS, is also responsible. They aren't about to start arresting themselves. If Cheney and Bush should be arrested for this, and they should, then the blinders cannot be put back on for this administration that is doing the same things, except they give awesome speeches about it.
If they started arresting the front men for all this, the truth would come out about the extent of corporate involvement in everything. They cannot have that. Total chaos and worse would have to follow. Think it through. Divide and conquer. Classic move.
i've gotten to the point that i am thinking the dems are so damned so for making the right liberal decsion that they will try and incarcerate OBama, hillary nancy and harry before ever going after the real culprits the former pretend prez, his vp and the other flunkies. tell me i'm wrong about this. but i don't think so...
would be invited to appear on Bill Maher's show.
As a contestant.
What a pile of horseshit.
As usual its supposedly much more risky for the democrats to investigate than it is for the GOP to be found guilty of actual War crimes.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
Every time Todd opens his mouth is just a reminder of how much we lost when we lost Tim Russert.
Sorry, I have no respect for Todd beyond being that of a hand puppet. Same goes for David Gregory and his "soft ball" questions.
But disagree with one. We didn't lose much with Timmi Russert. Although he wasn't quite as bad as Gregory or Todd, he still was a suck up. He always pandered to Republicans.
And spare me the "don't say bad things about the dead." Russert seemed to be a good husband and father. But on Meet the Press? A suck-up.
"Glenn Greenwald is too much of a class act to ..."
Huh? So, he doesn't mention the truth, because he is a "class act?"
Silly me! I thought a class act would be telling the truth -- the WHOLE truth.
Mr. Greenwald doesn't let anything get by him. Don't believe every quip you read on a Blog's comments. See for yourself.
Great job by Glenn. Few points
1) Pundit class (ie Chuck Todd) is so obvious a supporter of the status quo (villagers) which certainly leans but is not exclusive to the Right, and is wholly devoted to corporate-special interest elite hierarchy who use things like poll numbers and "political reality" as tools to maintain the interest of the ruling class. The "torture" debate and Chuck Todd's behavior is a perfect example of this.
2) Shouldn't the counter argument to the politicization/retribution argument against investigating be the transparency argument. The only reason Nixon resigned is because of the tapes. Bush/Cheney secrecy has reached levels never seen in American history. If you make the argument for pragmatic and judicial governance, transparency is essential. To not investigate greatly reinforces to all in power the ability to be above the law is enabled by covert actions. Glenn was wise to mention the obvious but rarely mentioned fact that the Obama admin, or any current admin will always be for prohibiting investigations.
3) Glenn poignantly dissects the failure of the modern MSM to provide a check against governmental abuse. Thomas Jefferson failed to predict the conflation of government and corporate interests in predicting the role of the media as a check against governmental abuse. Jefferson would be sick if he saw how closely allied they are, and undoubtedly would be invigorated by the blogger's movement. If Chuck Todd thinks he is trying to be a impartial as possible means to always play the devil's advocate to the anti-status quo, he (and the MSM in general) need a refresher course in not only what the founding fathers argued for but also in the role and purpose of journalism.
The role and purpose of journalism is to learn and report those things that the rich and the powerful are not going to reveal on their own.
For instance, how they are exploiting the disenfranchised and the powerless. Or how they are breaking the law.
The journalist that does this job can NEVER be popular with the rich and the powerful.
The journalist that does this job is HATED by the rich and powerful.
The journalist that does this job will NOT be paid five million dollars a year by the rich and powerful.
Small wonder in this selfish age that there are so few journalists.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Great post, Alice. Well said.
.
when reporters/journalists/ and news readers become part of the monied class and become friends with those people that they are covering or investigating. It is so much harder to condemn a friend for wrong doing than it is to seek justice from those who have done wrong and you don't know them.
Only when the last tree has died
and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught
will we realize we cannot eat money.
Just who exactly is Chuck Todd to opine that Bush and Cheney are home free? What is his claim to fame? Former Attorney General? Former member of the Supreme Court? Nope, none of those -- just a TV flack.
We are so lucky to have the internet. With the tubes we can now find out exactly where they are wrong and show examples at the tap of a key stroke. For Chuck Todd to say that Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld are paying with political exile is crazy. It only shows where he stands on this. It does not tell us where these criminals should be.
republicanism is a mental illness!
It's been interesting to watch Chuck Todd morph from a reasonably normal guy when he was running his own blog; then getting picked up by NBC as a political research guy; then getting promoted and clearly exalted at NBC as some sort of all-knowing wizard of politics; then put in this current job as a White House correspondent...I wonder at what point he decided he was rich enough or had enough teevee chutzpa that he could join the 'I don't give a crap what any one thinks I'll do the way my pay master say' crowd and gave up on reality???
Hard to say really but it's been an interesting morph job - all for the worst now because he has rendered himself moot.
Is political exile enough for folks who lied a nation into war resulting in the senseless deaths of 4500 Americans and countless civilians all so Halliburton could get no bid government contracts and big oil could get a foot hold in the middle east? No, that isn't enough. A war crimes tribunal, and if found guilty, the ultimate penalty is enough. Anything less is a travesty of justice.
that Chuck Todd and the republican trash he shills for have no respect for the black and white(ink on paper) of American laws.
whether torture deniers, holocaust deniers or climate deniers, shifts his defense. Once his first line of "it's not black and white" is shown to be false he accepts that with a "but". And on and on ad finium until they come back to their first defense that "it's not black and white".
I have had several email exchanges with Todd over the last 3 years. I can tell you that without a doubt Chuckie thinks anyone leaning left is a militant commie.
He couldn't even admit that he and the other MSM were sold a lemon by BUSH/CHENEY and RUMMY with the Iraq war. I tried several times to convince him but he never would admit it... he's a moderate conservative and apparently proud to be one.
I'm tired of Glenn Greenwald (and others) being "class acts" when dealing with people like Chuck Todd. I want these people to be called on their bullshit face to face on the spot.
I'm kind of with Todd on this one. We have enough problems. I want Congress to pass some health care reform not spend a bunch of time whipping those assholes that got us into this mess - even though they deserve it. But if they get investigated I fear it will be just another distraction that holds our country back.
...is all it will take to make the people, and the families of those people, who have been harmed, maimed and killed by the crimes and atrocities feel really good about the whole process. That will be more than enough to heal them, make them whole again and resurrect them back to life. See? All better!
The argument about these kinds of crimes and atrocities being excusable just because they were born of ideologies is absurd on its face. If Chuck Todd is going to advance a rationalization of that sort, he should call to mind that the Third Reich and Pol Pot's Kmer Rouge were ideologies and the crime and atrocity they unleashed was their ideologies made manifest as action. We hanged and shot Nazis, and Cambodians are still being brought to justice for their atrocities. The difference between what Bushco did and what the above-mentioned historical war criminals did is distinguishable only in the number of people that were harmed.
It is a damning indictment of our Nation that the parties involved have not been brought to justice. It says nothing good about us as a people. Nothing at all.
Chuck Todd is an asshat. Why is he being given a forum?
Same old stupid bullshit you hear from all the msm!Cover the asses of the people that pay your bills. Doesn't matter if you have to lie the pay check will cover the embarassment.
I never give the corporate whores the time of day.
republicanism is a mental illness!
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