Friday, January 07, 2005
Fatuous grandstanding
Andrew McCarthy has followed the confirmation hearing of Alberto Gonzales, and he writes that the three witnesses that the opposition brought in to question Gonzales came up very short in convincing committee members that Gonzales should not be confirmed.
Calling the questions put by these witnesses "fatuous", and chronicling the circular reasoning they employed, followed by back-pedaling when exposed to scrutiny, McCarthy concludes:
But the critics should do us all a favor: If you're going to talk the talk of righteous indignation, be ready to walk the walk. Be ready to tell Americans exactly what protections you want to give to the terrorists. Be ready to tell Americans that you would prohibit coercive interrogation even if it were the only way of saving a hundred thousand of them.
If you're not ready to do that — because you full well understand that your position is not one even you can defend when the questions get hard — then don't waste our time. Get out of the way of serious people like Judge Gonzales. People who don't pretend to be perfect, who don't claim to have all the answers, and who are not so smug that they think they can afford to take life-and-death options off the table — even as they pray they will never have to use them.
Calling the questions put by these witnesses "fatuous", and chronicling the circular reasoning they employed, followed by back-pedaling when exposed to scrutiny, McCarthy concludes:
But the critics should do us all a favor: If you're going to talk the talk of righteous indignation, be ready to walk the walk. Be ready to tell Americans exactly what protections you want to give to the terrorists. Be ready to tell Americans that you would prohibit coercive interrogation even if it were the only way of saving a hundred thousand of them.
If you're not ready to do that — because you full well understand that your position is not one even you can defend when the questions get hard — then don't waste our time. Get out of the way of serious people like Judge Gonzales. People who don't pretend to be perfect, who don't claim to have all the answers, and who are not so smug that they think they can afford to take life-and-death options off the table — even as they pray they will never have to use them.
# posted by mds : 3:13 PM
