HOUSE REPUBLICAN QUESTIONS AG’S PATRIOTISM…. Attorney General Eric Holder was confronted with evidence of criminal wrongdoing from CIA interrogators who went beyond the legal guidance provided by the Bush administration. Any hopes that conservatives might be pleased by the limited scope of the probe appear to be dashed.
Take, for example, Rep. Peter King (R) of New York, who appears to be in the midst of a wild-eyed, hair-on-fire temper tantrum.
“It’s bulls***. It’s disgraceful. You wonder which side they’re on,” he said of the Attorney General’s move, which he described as a “declaration of war against the CIA, and against common sense.”
“It’s a total breach of faith, and either the president is intentionally caving to the left wing of his party or he’s lost control of his administration,” said King, the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Homeland Security and a member of the House Select Committee on Intelligence. […]
“You will have thousands of lives that will be lost and the blood will be on Eric Holder’s hands,” he said.
Asked about officials who allegedly broke the law, King said it doesn’t matter because he doesn’t think the Geneva Convention “applies to terrorists,” and that the line between permissible and impermissible interrogation tactics was “a distinction without a difference” in the Bush era.
Obviously, King isn’t especially coherent on the matter. I’ve read through his comments a few times, trying to understand what on earth he’s talking about. It appears that King believes torture isn’t torture, the rule of law was on hiatus from 2001 to 2008, accountability and due process are dangerous concepts, and if you disagree with him, you might be un-American.
This is, by the way, the same Peter King who believes authors of torture memos deserve “a medal,” and that the United States has “too many mosques.”
Remember, House Republicans want this guy to be chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.
