Out of the Race

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Saturday, June 28, 2008

Congressman Delahunt and David Addington

By now anybody who's interested has seen or read about Congressman Bill Delahunt's (D-MA) exchange with David Addington, VP Cheney's Chief of Staff, that was broadcast on C-SPAN last Thursday. I have seen the video, and the following excerpt from CNN is accurate:

Delahunt asked repeatedly whether the topic of waterboarding, a controversial interrogation technique that simulates drowning, ever came up.
Addington replied that he could not discuss that because "al Qaeda may watch C-SPAN."
"Right," Delahunt responded. "Well, I'm sure they are watching, and I'm glad they finally have the chance to see you, Mr. Addington."
"Yeah, I'm sure you're pleased," Addington shot back.
"Given your penchant for being unobtrusive," Delahunt said of Addington's ability to stay behind the scenes.

I rerely write members of Congress about anything, especially when the Member doesn't represent me, because I really don't think it accomplishes anything except to prompt a canned reply. However, I think this is a special case. I sent the following to Mr. Delahunt this morning:

Sir:

I watched your comments to David Addington on the subject of Al Qaeda watching C-SPAN, specifically this remark: "Well, I'm sure they are watching, and I'm glad they finally have the chance to see you, Mr. Addington."

I have also read that you have stated through your spokesperson that it was never your intent to identify Mr. Addington as a target for Al Qaeda, and that you recall saying "I" not "they" in the sentence quoted above.

Assuming the reports of your "explanation" or "clarification" or whatever you characterize it are accurate, I am forced to conclude that you, sir, are a liar, a fool or both, and in any case you are a disgrace to your office, your constituents, and the Congress of the United States. And since it appears you will neither stand by your remark nor apologize for it, you are a coward to boot.

May your term in Congress be short.

Now, I don't think my email will have the slightest effect on Mr. Delahunt. (Leopards don't change their spots, etc., etc.) but it definitely made me feel better.

# posted by ExRat @ 9:29 AM

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Thoughts

"The problem with a narcissistic president is not just that he sees the world as all about himself, but that the world soon sees that it is not about him at all.--Victor Davis Hanson, "Presidential Narcissism", National Review Online, 9 May 2012

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground. As yet our spirits are free."--Thomas Jefferson, letter to Colonel Carrington (27 May 1788)

‎"Excellence is not a singular act, but a habit. You are what you repeatedly do."--Shaquille O'Neal

"In a world where every one thinks of himself as white, black, gay, straight — we have forgotten that the real distinction is between who holds power and who does not. Nothing else matters."--Richard Fernandez, 1 July 2010

"Everything the government touches turns to crap."--Ringo Starr

"There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him."-- Professor Bernardo de la Paz, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

"While North Korea itself may not be a proximate threat, the failure of the international community to stop even this impoverished and bizarre regime suggests that it is fundamentally toothless or has forgotten how to bite. What chance is there of blocking the stronger aspiring powers? None. It’s over. Ignoring North Korea isn’t a sign of confidence. It’s just whistling past the graveyard." Richard Fernandez, May 27, 2009.

"The nation that will insist upon drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking by cowards.” General Sir William F. Butler in Charles George Gordon, 1889.

"The fact is that Iran will never voluntarily give up its nuclear program, and a policy based on the contrary assumption is not just delusional, but dangerous." -- John Bolton, Surrender Is Not An Option, p. 340, 2007.

"Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace, and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war." -- Sir Winston S. Churchill, My Early Life, 1930

"Environmentalism should be about good planetary hygiene and honest science, not romantic Luddism." Glenn H. Reynolds ("Instapundit") 27 Feb 2007

"The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get rich quick theory of life." -- Teddy Roosevelt

"[W]e have reached a point at which the rules apply only to us, while our enemies are permitted unrestricted freedom." -- Ralph Peters, 10 July 2006

"Diplomacy does not work with people who do not wish to bargain." Ed Morrissey, 29 Jun 2006

"We now have the first truly global terrorist insurgency because the Islamists view the whole world the way the IRA view the bogs of Fermanagh: They want it, and they've calculated that our entire civilization lacks the will to see them off." -- Mark Steyn, in Opinionjournal.com, 4 Jan 2006

"People who try to be sensitive in a war have a tendency to die, and to take their nations with them." -- Steven Den Beste, 21 Sept 2002

"I trust local people. It's a fundamental part of my political philosophy: The closer decision-making is to the people, the better the decision-making will be." -- George W. Bush, 2 March 2005

"Sometimes the caliber of a nation is found not in why it is liked, but rather in why it is not." -- Victor Davis Hanson, 29 April 2005

"We have manuals on how to properly handle the Koran and humanely treat prisoners, paying respect to their cultural sensitivities, they have manuals on how to properly torture and decapitate hostages." -- Opinipundit (Trader Bob) 23 June 2005

"[O]nce the shooting starts, a plan is just a guess in a party dress." -- Michael Yon, 25 Aug 2005

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