Worse Than Hypocrisy

The only thing really worth pointing out about former Vice President Cheney's defense of torture, and the effort of his allies to drag down the Democrats with a you-let-us-do-this defense (though some, like Joe Lieberman, really deserve that line of attack), is the fact that Cheney and his allies spent the last eight years rhetorically indicting all criticism of the executive branch (or whatever branch Cheney thought at the time he belonged to) as coming from traitors. That Ari Fleisher, who led that particular charge (remember "we should watch what we say"?) is now leading the conservative counter-charge along these lines merely proves, to paraphrase Larry Gelbart's Broadway comedy, "Sly Fox," that sincerity is written on both his faces.

This line of "argument," however, is worse than hypocrisy. Put simply, it is Fascism in its rhetorical form. Agree with us, so we can drag you into the mud with us; disagree with us, and we'll brand you as traitors. Those who brandish these verbal clubs should be forced by the rest of us to admit who and what they really are: cowardly predators whose stated commitment to principles barely masks their appetite for power, and their mortal fear of losing it.

Unfortunately, for the most part, we the people let them get away with it for eight years. So where does that leave us?

Torture is criminal under international law, which our Constitution recognizes as binding, and immoral in any event, dragging nations who practice it into the same reputational gutter that has stigmatized every nation that has rationalized its use. No, we cannot indict an entire nation. But we can indict those who made the decisions in the decision-making branch, whether they thought themselves a member of that branch or not. And if the Republicans really want to extend that liability to members of the executive branch, that's fine. There were more of them marching in lockstep with Cheney on this issue than there were Democrats.

Oh, well. Given the dynamics of the Bush Administration, at least Cheney can't say he was following orders.