Countdown: Rice's Tortured Excuse
By Heather Friday May 01, 2009 9:00am
From Countdown April 30, 2009. Keith reports on Condoleeza Rice's run in with a group of Stanford students. From that exchange:
Student: Is waterboarding torture?
Rice: The president instructed us that nothing we would do would be outside of our obligations, legal obligations under the Convention Against Torture. So that’s — And by the way, I didn’t authorize anything. I conveyed the authorization of the administration to the agency, that they had policy authorization, subject to the Justice Department’s clearance. That’s what I did.
Student: Okay. Is waterboarding torture in your opinion?
Rice: I just said, the United States was told, we were told, nothing that violates our obligations under the Convention Against Torture. And so by definition, if it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations under the Convention Against Torture.
John Dean feels that Condoleeza Rice just admitted to being part of a conspiracy to commit torture.
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Foist, ya bastages!
Instead, I watched Krod Mundoon.
Sometimes I just need a break from news.
easy. I'll pass.
Chicken?
tirades replete with profance nouns, verbs, adjectives, surnames, and prepositional clauses before I swing at that fat one. The mound is too close and you would be killed.
Ah, but ricky...I'm not fallin for that...
And you're alright in my book, so I won't be cussin ya...not today anyway. };)>
"The Triumph of Ayn Rand" by Ann Coulter while I clip my bond coupons and marvel at the good fortune of the bank bailout? (Hint, hint)
By all means ricky, lol!
Whatever floats yer boat.
Countdown is news? Electrified Trivia is more like it.
Schmartass!
You know me by now always being a smart ass.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_Kf1ATjl9A
Can we count you in for torture? The two professional torturers the CIA hired are getting a lot of support over at ABC where they're running the story. Kinda scary. If you want to do some serious troll whaking you better get over there and send the TP crew too. I'm just saying...
The shopping bag lady from Stanford.
Next Question.
Q.What kinna' shoes you git during Katrina Professor Rice?
Spamalot that night.
Nothing like a good laugh in your new shoes while your fellow Americans are suffering and dying.
Know what I mean?
sure knows how to have a good time during a damn emergency!
She's as "black" as Michael Steele.
The more she lies the more her bucked teeth grow. She's starting to look like a gopher.
Fri, 05/01/2009 - 10:18 — ysbaddaden
Dont'cha mean beaver?
Ace Ventura, beaver watcher?
learned to fight invaders of our homeland.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCdWfVhlYIM
I had the distinct pleasure of being in the position of the Stanford
student almost forty years ago. Only I was talking to Walt Rostow
about Vietnam. The professor hosting the event took me aside and said "You need to understand. If he could even conceive of the POSSIBILITY that he MIGHT be wrong he would have no other honorable course but suicide." Dr. Post, are you out there?
bought control of Stanford?
Lucky you.
some rich folk, so that the kids of other rich folk in the west did not have to travel East for college?
by the members of the Cheese Collective in Berkeley.
that Stanford was founded to process discarded waste material from our goat farms. They don't call Stanford the farm for nothing :-)
Key phrase here being "honorable course" Not something with which Condi and her cronies are familiar.
Q. Did you kiss George Bush's big butt?
A. I just bent over and my lips touched something when he backed into me.
Q. Did you kiss his ass?
A. I just said that I bent over,,,,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wUvglugbdU&fe...
on top of implicating herself in the torture-conspiracy, inflating al qaeda so much that OBL must have gotten a chubby, condi showed again just what a fucking bitch she is.
dr. bitcholeeza rice
a doctor of rat parts like Dr. Laura Slushinger?
but only the non-naughty bits.
Dr. Slushinger has the naughty bits covered.
unless you count fur.
"If the president does it, it's not against the law."
Close. The culture of the last administration was predicated upon the assumption that they were always right. Even if the thought of them possibly being wrong might have fleetingly entered their collective mind, it was discounted because they knew they controlled the media, the mantra, and the message.
What they failed to realize throughout, is that they would not be in control forever. Now their rhetoric and rationalizations are catching up to them; and coming back to haunt every one.
(I still haven’t decided if Rice was a pimp, or a prostitute…)
Rice is a prostitute. And a damn good one.
... as far as asking the right questions.
Apparently she's not authorized to express her own opinion outside until she gets clearance from a study group researching for the sub-committee of the main committee, that give non-binding advice to the president who'd not required to listen.
Condi looked pathetic trying to rationalize torture and murder to those kids. They treated her like a sixth grade subsitute teacher on a Friday afternoon.
...what the fuck are you gonna do about it?
to the U.N?
.
?
I wanted to just kinda sorta like, you know, it's like, to ask how did someone from humble origins like yourself rise to such tremendous heights in the Establishment? You were a Democrat until 1982? I guess
becoming a Republican was your ticket to ascension and enlightment?
when George P. Shultz, Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State recommended me for a spot on the Chevron board. I even got a big boat named after me. Now you can to, if you just work hard and do what your told.
There's Karma for ya.
Your overdue
...woman to come along.
...at the end of the interview, the reason that Obama is not pushing for (I know it's not his decision) investigations is because he is concerned about the political fallout?
If that's true, it makes him no better than the Bush. So much for the oath of office and upholding the constitution.
rice is just sticking with the script. the BUSH administration has been 2-3 steps ahead of everyone on this. the BUSH people knew this day would come but i don't feel they are that worried yet. they interpreted the law to their liking. addington/yoo and others gave cheney/BUSH what they wanted continuation/rational of the war(s). the BUSH administration will do/believe in doing bad things to achieve perceived good things. the war in iraq was based on false/lack of intelligence. it's like a liar that has to keep telling lies.
of these "projects" to keep them so on "message" or something.
Hello baby, how bout I torture ya with some sweet sweet lovin?
You know you want to baby.
if necessary for national security reasons...would the U.S. be justified in making slavery legal again?
looking for ways to harm our country. Condi.
Condi: Of course we don’t enslave anyone. That would be against the Constitution. You are, however, authorized to indenture civilians into extra-ordinary servitude subsequent to the authorization of the Counsel of Free Labor. This authorization will be post-facto in the case you are already indenturing.
In fact the detainees enjoyed all the freedoms and comforts all Americans are entitled to.
If this was Bill OReilly's show, we could go into great detail about what Ms. Rice's body language reveals. Starting off with the arms crossed posture, both defensive and dismissive of her questioner. Then the next segment where she's doing the "oh no you di'n't" headshake while wagging her finger*. She's basically using every non-verbal cue at her disposal to try to get this student to sit down and shut up, because that's easier than addressing the substance of his questions. Good on him for not backing down.
These are all the 'take control of the conversation' techniques that corporations teach middle level managers. Too bad that they only work on people who are in fear of losing their jobs.
* - (Reminding me of Ellen Cleghorne on Saturday Night Live, "What makes you think I won't cut you?")
Amid swine flu outbreak, racism goes viral
Anti-immigrant hatred spreads on talk radio, Web sites - msnbc.com
Malkin has diarrhea of the mouth again.
Waddya mean AGAIN?
Her condition is permanent and constant.
is an acceptable excuse for wars of aggression, war crimes and torture does that mean we have to pay war reparations to Germany and Japan for attacking them in 1941 when they were only following their policy??
How's kindanasty's pillow talk without a team of lawyers advising her?
That's the administrations whole defense. We don't torture therefore anything we do is not torture.
"When the president does it, that means it's not illegal."
No, it goes well beyond the Nixon doctrine. In Bush's regime, the president only had to authorize something to make it legal. Further, he didn't even have to officially authorize it, but could make something legal surreptitiously while simultaneously denying it in public. See the 'nudge nudge, wink wink' clause in your Constitution.
"Any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap - a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO4nPegXIco
Wasn't having to listen to this Bush asslicker for 8 years torture enuf?
What's it like to be able to eat corn through a picket fence?
!
Yup!
...and there is NO REASON to believe anything will ever change with this Nazi-bitch. she will go on defending the monkey and his criminal administration until her dying day, simply because her name and mark on history are at stake.
she needs to be prosecuted WITH the rest of the crime family.
Ya think she spanks her monkey?
George loves it!
Monkey looker!
http://joecartoon.atom.com/cartoons/147-monke...
that you are a joecartoon fan?
I think it's more funnier'n hell!
Stop it, you're killing me!
:)
she says she didn't authorize anything.....but it was legal anyway....??
talk about trying to cover your ass
I understand why she has to say it, but still to say a group of terrorists present a greater threat to the U.S. than the nazis is insane!
... you were told that these activities would not violate the Conventions Against Torture, and you obediently followed orders?
Nobody expressed any misgivings? Second thoughts? Moral objections? Ethical concerns?
NOTHING?
No objections despite the legality being affirmed?
Laughable.
Her circular logic is worse than that. She forwarded the policy authorizing illegal torture, because the policy said that it was not illegal, though she didn’t authorize the torture because that would’ve been illegal.
Say huh?
..would have gotten her removed from her positions of power. They used the memos to justify what they did. What they did was torture. If Pres. Obama doesn't go after them, he's as guilty. It is so very clear what has to happen and we're all hoping it will happen soon. Trials, Punishment and NO PARDONS for War Criminals!
Imagine what would happen if the "I was just following orders crowd" gets away with torture. Questions: Would the families of Nazi soldiers who "followed orders" have the right to sue the U.S. for selective prosecution (or persecution)? Why is it these bastards have more rights than the Nazis?
....but no one was murdered.
I think the following are true:
1. Obama deeply loves this country and would like the Bush crowd to be indicted for violations of international law against torture.
2. He is looking at public opinion (NY TImes poll) and does not see a lot of support for going after them.
3. He has a very ambitious agenda (health care, foreign policy, economic policy, the environment) and needs political support to realize this agenda.
4. Also, I wonder if he might be looking to the international community (as John Dean alluded to) to go after them. He could 'outsource' the torture indictments to the world court and not have to deal with the mess here.
Personally, I think Condi was one of the worst things to happen to this country, and would like to see her in jail, but we have so many other things we need to fix I see why Obama is playing it cautiously.
Just speculation on my part...
... doesn't matter in this instance. There is a clear violation of both federal law and an international treaty, on grounds which we have pursued other foreign nationals/leaders for (Augusto Pinochet, Slobodan Milosevic).
And you have the added grace note of Bush deliberately seeking to indemnify military personnel from being answerable to the World Court.
They knew they were breaking the law, prepared their little excuses, and then went full steam ahead.
And for a guy who worked the crowd so well, I can't see 'pshaw, poll says no' being the end of it.
If Obama were to prosecute the Bush cabal, the GOP would throw out a massive freak out and make it seem as if Obama was being partisan.
It is sad, but that is how it is. Going after Bush directly, would most likely undermine Obama's presidency, while not being so clear that Bush would suffer any consequence.
I don't necessarily like that, but I would not be as naive as to think that is not how things work. Probably the best chance for prosecution would be tied to Obama's performance on the economy. If he fixes things, then he will have the good graces of most people, and let's not deny that most people look at their wallets first, and their principles second. Once people are living with a stable economy, Obama can then afford to rock the boat prosecuting Bush. Before things are stabilized would be a fairly big mistake IMHO. The last think you want is a GOP with an excuse to play the victim of partisan prosecution, as that gives them their moxi to operate.
Check out her body language from the get go, not to mention the angry look in her eye. Boy, if looks could kill.
He seems rather tight-lipped and constipated. Also, who is that boy that has a show after Keith's ?
I heard a while back, that most trolls digestive tracks tend to clog early on their lives and cause chronic constipation issues regardless of diet in their adult lives....
Stay up all night comin up with that one Beck?
Or did your lord and master, fluff limpballs write it down for you?
Moron.
Condi is still willing to obliterate her own reputation to save Bush's.
I thought she was the dominant one in that relationship.
http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...
Every bizarre act she claimed she wouldn't/didn't do, she ended up doing(with enthusiasm).
that are really wild...
Although, some of the punk rawk chics I've dated, were uh...quite uninhibited... }:)>
Oh my yes...
that Condi gave Bush some lip service. We could have impeached that asshole years ago.
Paint and clean up a few jail cells for all the people in the bush/chenny cabal!
PLENTY of room down at Gitmo!
Can I buy you a beer?
A tallboy PBR will do nicely thanks!
Thanks for posting this, Heather. I had only seen some of the footage, and only read some of her other remarks. It's useful to see the lies come straight from her mouth on it all. It seems she's always gotten off easier than the rest of the Bush crew.
Dean's incorrect on one point. There are some polls that indicate the majority of the public wants investigations, and others that don't, but at least some of the anti-investigation polls frame their questions in a heavily slanted way. Public support for investigations is important, but there's a little thing called the law, too.
Have we heard anything about Standford alumni withholding donations as long as Rice remains on the university's faculty? How about U. of California alumni doing the same because of John Yoo at Berkeley?
The way to manage this is to not just stop contributing, but to let the university know why you'll no longer contribute. Include a note with your response to written solicitations for $ & tell why you won't contribute. Do the same with phone solicitors.
not unlike that of John Bolton; a contrarian brow-beater made even worse by being a woman [i.e. not a stretch to tack 'bitch' onto that. Go shopping for shoes, Condi. We'll know where u are 2 arrest u].
Typical. I love how she tried to use the usual "3,000 deaths" argument and was answered with the "50,000 deaths" argument. The previous administration loves any and every excuse to use torture. That is Bush's legacy. Here's a summary of Rice's B.S.: "I was in charge. But I didn't authorize it. Don't blame me, I didn't do it!"
The old Krusty defense. Works every time(?)
--way to get schooled by a freshman you over-hyped pathological liar.
!
"If the President does it, it's not illegal."
Rice is scheduled to open the new School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary on May 13. School Director Jack Mintz said Rice " is a good example of what a school of public policy can achieve". Some disagree obviously. For those there is a petition requesting the University President to rescind the invitation: Please endorse:
http://www.petitionsite.com/1/illegal-war-is-...
Canada's Prime Minister is a neocon himself and a great fan of the Bushies. He recently hired Ari Fleischer to advise him on US media. Bush himself spoke in Calgary in March and is making an appearance in Toronto in a 2 hour 'moderated conversation' with Bill Clinton, on May 29. On May 31, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Canada, are bringing in former UN Ambassador John Bolton, Michael Chertoff and former Australian PM and bushpuppet John Howard. For more info see:
http://mostlywater.org/node/66659
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