There are two points we must face as the Bush administration slinks toward Bethlehem in an effort to be born again through their legacy. The first is that our senior Senator, Charles Shumer, was not equal to the question, “Do you support torture?” That is because he affirmed the nomination of Mr. Mukasey as Attorney General. Mr. Mukasey is unable to decide what is torture unless the President tells him it is or not. It is a curiously painful choice on his part given the behavior of the last AG under Bush. In other words, the senior Senator from NYS lacks the moral substance to go to war over basic human rights. If NYS is not up to that challenge in this republic, who is?
The second is that the President seems very comfortable with suspending constitutions. Pakistan is the latest example. The problem is not so much that he is untroubled by this behavior as that he has no lucid explanation for his own decisions. Why does that matter? If one constitution can be suspended, why not another? That is particularly worth considering when you realize that he rarely, if ever, has any logical explanation for his choices. You should ask yourself which constitution he might be willing to suspend next, and you should not ask yourself, “Why would he do that?” He does not require a justification. He only needs the impulse.
As for torture, what constitutes torture? Who knows? Who cares?
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