Analysis: Interrogation debate testing White House

Yahoo News/AP ^ | April 22, 2009 | Ben Feller

[Scanian]

WASHINGTON – No wasting time digging up the past? So much for that.

President Barack Obama said Tuesday that his attorney general would determine whether anyone from the Bush administration broke the law by crafting a legal rationale for drastic, demeaning interrogations of terror suspects. On the surface, it was a pragmatic call: Let the Justice Department lawyers check it out.

Trouble is, the White House had been sending the opposite signal for days. Obama tried last week to close a dark chapter, not open a messy one, as he made public the memos detailing the brutal interrogation methods. Nothing, he said, is gained by "spending our time and energy laying blame for the past."

In a flash, the story was not Obama's decision, but whether he had changed his position. The White House said no, but struggled to explain why not.

So what happened?

Outside forces, some muddled communication within a tight-ship White House, and a president determined to try to get the debate back on his terms.

[Scanian]

Even if Zer0 veers into doing the right thing by accident, the rest of the libtards will make sure he doesn't.

[sarasota]

Another side show to divert attention away from the financial crisis.

[Nonstatist]

Lets get it all out, You Marxist asshats. Detail the interrogation methods along with what we found out and how many lives we saved.

Lets spend 6 months on this, you shit for brains partisan socialists.

[Jeff Head]

Obama supressed the relevant portions of the DNI memo showing that waterboarding the bastards saved American lives and thwarted our enemies plans.

Why am I not surprised that he is doing this?

This is not a test of Obama's Whitehouse, it is just another blatant example of how unAmerican he and his adminstration are.

THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA

NOW WE KNOW WHAT A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER DOES

OBAMA, THE STOCK MARKET, AND ENERGY

BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA IN HIS OWN WORDS

THE AUDACITY OF TRUTH ABOUT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA'S UPBRINGING

IT'S TIME FOR A RETURN TO THE OLD SCHOOL

[EQAndyBuzz]

Remember when the disbarred, impeached, rapist in chief fired all 90+ attorneys?

Seems like Obama is going to use this as an excuse to fire all of Bush’s holdovers.

[sarasota]

ping

[hoe_cake]

this will be Obama’s and the liberals’ political suicide.

[PLD]

Did your friends here break the law you idiot Obama.. Folks just remember this picture along with thousands that have not been published of these cut throats and wonder why it is so important for these commies in Washington to get even with any other person.. FOX, please show these pictures to your audience ever time these criminals in the white house says they are going to sue someone..or when they say anything about water boarding..

[longtermmemmory]

this is just a distraction.

Obama was in front of the CIA honored dead wall with cia employees being videoed?

SINCE WHEN DO CIA AGENTS WORKES GET PHOTOGRAPHED?

(valerie plame outrage from the media?)

The whole obama hand wringing is a ablsolute fake just as his fake press conference at the cia. a joke photo op from a joke of a president.

[Scanian]

Rush had a big time playing that farce for all it was worth yesterday. Zer0 loves to insult the people’s intelligence but I think he’s finally started to go overboard with it.

[sarasota]

There is no end to 0’s madness.

[kabar]

Personally, I think that Obama was stung by the criticism of his releasing the memos, including by five former CIA chiefs and Cheney who formally requested that the results of the interrogations be released as well. Obama rushed over to the CIA as a PR gesture to say that he had their back and they responded enthusiastically to their new leader. The next day he let the hammer fall, surprising even Rahm Emanuel who looked stupid for his statement on Sunday.

This is payback Chicago style by Obama and Axelrod who are sending a message that it is not nice to criticize the Messiah. You could become subject to legal action. And anyone else contemplating any such criticism should be silent. It is a not too subtle way to stifle the opposition.

I put the blame squarely on a thin-skinned Obama. I don't buy this good cop, bad cop routine at all. Obama is a Marxist who will cut the opposition off at the knees by any means possible. Hillary and McCain found that out the hard way. This guy is dangerous.

i DON

[US Navy Vet]

Getting up in the morning is “testing this White House”.

[kromike]

I put the blame squarely on a thin-skinned Obama.

Agreed. Not only is he lacking a skin at all, but it's glaringly obvious that he's politically tone-deaf. He's breathtakingly naive and THE foulest hypocrite I've ever had the misfortune to suffer from.

'Hope & Change'...*sigh*

Thanks for nothing, ObamaBots...

[waxer1]

Also, remember yesterday he met privately with King Abdullah from Jordan. It was after that meeting that he said there may be prosecutions...Makes you wonder.

[Tublecane]

“Another side show to divert attention away from the financial crisis.”

It certainly is a side show, but I don’t think it’s intentiaonal on Obama’s part. He’s just reacting to the story and trying to have it both ways: pleasing the far left and not seeming petty. Incidentally, the issue is bogus. But so many things the MSM obsesses about are.

The reason why I say it’s not a distraction from the crisis is that the crisis is Obama’s bread and butter. Without it, how will he realize his dream of restructuring society along community-organizing lines? How will he continue to nationalize various industries?

Plus, he can still blame it on Bush. I think the MSM will grant him that excuse for about another 8 years.

[kabar]

King Abdullah could care less.

[Buckeye McFrog]

the fringe lefties have for some time been of the opinion that Obama is not totally one of them, but (quote) “he can be rolled...” He has just proven this to be true.

[Curious George1978]

Hmmm, he can so easily release TOP SECRET documents but he WON’T release his birth certificate, education records, medical records and a boatload of other records that he should HAVE TO RELEASE!

Who is this @sshole???