Wanda Sykes Punctures Cheney's Argument for Waterboarding
It is a truism to claim that profundities often lurk in good humor. Wanda Sykes performance last night at the White House Correspondents dinner was a prime example of the truth wrapped in a joke.
Midway through her routine. Ms Sykes started railing against the very idea that anyone could defend the use of torture. "Torture" she bellowed a few times shaking her head and laughing ironically. After a pause, she turned her shotgun wit on the quail hunter- Dick Cheney.
Cheney, rehearsed Sykes, wants the reports open that show that we were able to drown useful information out of terrorists by waterboarding them! That, quipped Sykes with a beaming smile and her arms outstretched, would be like getting caught robbing a bank and going before the judge saying "Yeah I robbed the bank but look at all the bills I paid!" Bulls eye Wanda!
On an individual level crisis is no excuse for suspending adherence to the law. People who lose their jobs are not given a pass for acts of thefts because they are looking after the interests of their family.
Suppose the economy got so bad that health clinics were closing in my community. I could not pull a heist at the local gambling casino, use the funds for the clinic, and expect the courts to wink at my burglary because it promoted the general welfare.
We cannot, as individual or nations, unilaterally decide that some special circumstance makes breaking the law acceptable. If anything, the law is there as a guidewire in difficult times. It is easy enough for people to treat one another well when they are passengers on a cruise. When times get tough, people of character do not send their laws up the chimney.
The argument that we should accept the use of torture because it enhances our security, suggests that rather than being the home of the brave, the United States is home to a people who will break international law and cash in their sacred principles whenever they feel seriously threatened. Cheney's utilitarian defense of torture is an insult to the people he once represented.
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These dinners have been held for over a century and the tradition is that the speaker makes fun of the president. Sykes' speech suggests that the powers that be got together and decided that making fun of Obama is off the table.
there is no line to cross in comedy....none.
I was impressed by Ted Koppel's comments on Public Radio recently regarding torture. He talked about where do we draw the line. Do we start torturing drug dealers because they cause many deaths. What is our next justification? Definitely thought provoking and frightening.
Wanda Sykes was very funny, but she almost crossed the line, but those Rush Limbaugh lines were still funny.
Dear Dick Cheney, nobody cares about your agenda. Go back to work on the Death Star.
Wanda Sykes did what she was hired to do, make jokes...push the envelope, make people laugh...and oh by the way...make them think. The proverbial line in the sand, the propriety one, has long ago been crossed by Republicans of every level: McCain, Palin, Cheney, Limbaugh, Lieberman (oops!, I forgot), and Limbaugh! They want to demand some double standard...sorry not today!
Aww my friends. Mr. lib2dbone says "Let me attempt to reel you in, somewhat. We don't torture." Now maybe thats true of Mexican or Cuban history...but not American. Ever heard of the "Imortal 600", a place called Vietnam, Germany; a president called Kennedy, a general named Jackson. Americans are a warlike people (the British said so). And this thing call "We don't torture" is not an American idea, it is from the DNC.
AMERICA DOES NOT TORTURE, IT IS ILLEGAL.
I think Nancy Pelosi actually deserves our praise. She was the guardian of waterboarding. She knew it was happening, and she didn't say anything. Without Pelosi's cooperation and silence, waterboarding would not have been used. She deserves a medal.
America has done a lot of messed up stuff. The difference about this round of messed up stuff is that we already had laws on the books prohibiting it (the Convention against Torture was signed by Ronald Reagan, natch), and a lot of us like to think we've grown in wisdom since the dark old days of genocide and slavery.
P.S. Prosecute Pelosi, too, if she was in on it. You're the only one around here who thinks that Americans who oppose torture care which party was responsible. Anyone who condoned torture and knew about it should be held accountable. But so far, it's obvious who created the policy of breaking the law to torture and elicit false confessions about the link between Al-Qaeda and Iraq: Cheney, Bush, Yoo, Bybee, Rumsfeld, Rice, and the rest of them. And they bear the lion's share of culpability.
Dick Cheney is a liar, fraud and scared of all his dirty deeds being shed to light. Wanda was right on !
The first question one needs to ask one's self is "am I willing to die for my principles?" If the answer is "no" then one should not make themselves available to make an oath to God, as the POTUS does at inauguration, to defend the principles of the constitution. Anyone defending the principles of the constitution would have an easy answer to the question of torture in ANY case.......and the answer is "principles we are willing to die for prohibit torture"......even if maintaining principles may cost lives................it's just that simple.....
Dubya proved to the world that he was not prepared to risk himself for his country or what he believed in (never mind die for it) by ducking service
typical republican maneuver,obvuscate,point fingers elsewhere, lie, say my lawyer told me it was ok and lastly, i did it for you so that makes it right. since they've already confessed multiple times the trial should be short and sweet. or, as the old saying goes, give 'em a fair trial then hang 'em.
Truth....yes truth, thats a good idea....very good. Pelosi said: "We were not -- I repeat -- were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods were used." But it's still unclear what she knew. But she did not explicitly say that waterboarding was not part of the conversation. Perhaps an independent commission, truly independent. One that Democrats could not have selective and politically motivated amnesia when it comes to who knew what, and when, about the Bush-era interrogation programs would be a good idea.
The truth is that the Bush administration ordered this policy. It sounds as if you want to parse every fact or allegation except that. Hold on to your attention span. Please.
uvympka, you've been off subject for awhile. Let me attempt to reel you in, somewhat. We don't torture. Period. We don't practice the ethics of convenience.
Our brave soldiers are going to be the ones who pay for the Bush policies that meet with your approval. If we condone torture, then every American soldier in harm's way can also be tortured for reasons of their captor's choosing. Let's never open that gate.
Conservatives sit in their homes, safe, and thousands of miles away from the middle east and spew all kinds of bully talk. Only talk. None of them seem to have the slightest inclination to be tortured though. Sean Hannity was very brave in saying he would be water boarded, because it wasn't that serious. However, once he found out his torturer would be Keith Olbermann, he backed out very quietly.
My point is that you never do things to people (and they are people) that you would not want done to your brother or mother.
Thanks, you just demonstrated his point about "pointing fingers elsewhere". can anyone answer this question? I am trying to remember exactly what age children are when they attempt lying in the feeble ways that Republicans routinely use. simple denial is about 2 years old right? how bout..."they did it too?" or "but I thought ...(as in the lawyers said it was ok)"? It just strikes me as very interesting that they are not skillful liars...but rather transparently clumsy liars, backed up only by a media that thrives on contraversy and the crowd of thugs behind them echoing the same craziness.
T word. Just came on board. Ignore.
whom ever ordered torture is ulpable, and your whole pelosi angle is sickening, the cheney bush white house was not real big into disclosure, they proactically re invented secrecy for their own purposes.
not even oging to go into the faxct that cheney is admiting to ordering the illegal act of torture multiple times,
see whether effective or not, IT IS AGAINST THE LAW TO TORTURE,
AND OUR FORMER PRES/VICE PRES
ARE OBVIOUSLY ADMITTING TO BLATANTLY BREAKING THE LAW.
A story published in the Washington Post in December 2007, two officials were quoted saying that the California Democrat and three other lawmakers had received an hour-long secret briefing on the interrogation tactics, including waterboarding, and that they raised no objections at the time. Who was those other three? We know that Bush had put Obama in the loop long before this? Hummmm
Feinstein,Rockefeller and Pelosi,never approved memos or tortures.Okay.!!!!!!!!
You are trying to divert attention from two facts.....
1- Torture is illegal.
2-The outcome not justified the intent.
The Bush administration,eh!
is this a Nancy Drew thing, cause personally I think we can find the truth tonight at the old well at midnight? or am I just in over my head and making that up?
wrong, what we know is that the bush cheney white house was real big into NON disclosure, they basically re wrote the states secrets law etc etc.
so much was classified by them it is ridiculous.
so NO I DOD NOT BELIEVE ANY DEMS WERE PRIVY TO THE LOCATION NOR ACTUAL ACTIVITY.
Excellent.
Except that Cheney never represented anyone. Not us, not the country. He did nothing to serve his country and her best interests.
He was and remains a deranged personality. I cannot give him any credibility. He says he chooses Rush Limbaugh over Colin Powell to lead the Republican Party. He is either so demented or he is much more personality defected than we knew. He has no character, no integrity. He fooled a lot of people for a long time but he can no longer fool anyone. He never should have been any where near power. He will probably never be indicted, but, there should be a formal censure of him, to go down in history. Preferably, it would reduce his pension and health benefits as well.
I really dont care if Pelosi knew or not.... Do not let the GOP take our eye off the prize!
The prize being the TRUTH..... I dont care if you are a democrat or republican... If you are involved in torture or authorizing it or justifying it you should be in jail, out of a job and not in politics.....
The GOP's defense seems to be we did it but Pelosi knew about it.... And if she did know and said something to the Washingtonpost in 2002 she would have been called a traitor and tried for treason!
Only now is it ok to wish for your president to fail.... under bush is u even said "NO" to war you were branded un-american.
I agree...I don't care if Pelosi is guilty of serial murders...that's still a different case. Investigate it all you want, independently.
Excellent post! I thought that was the best part of Sykes' routine and have been so disappointed that so many people are freaking out about her comments on Limbaugh that her remarks about Cheney have been completely ignored. She hit the nail on the head and did it beautifully!
IT IS BY DESIGN TO DISTRACT THE CONVERSATION THAT WE ARE TALKING ABT RUSH AND NOT CHENEY
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