Axelrod, "We cannot afford to get bogged down in the Bush Investigation Debate."

[Stuart G]

Monday...Sam Stein..Huffington Post...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/20/axelrod-we-cant-afford-to_n_189241.html


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Remarks made by Obama senior adviser David Axelrod on Monday provide the clearest indication to date that the White House is not only uninterested in pursuing investigations of Bush officials involved in torture but views them as a distraction from a larger governing agenda.

Speaking before the Religious Action Center, a Reform Judaism advocacy organization, Axelrod warned against re-litigating the past, arguing that the current White House didn't need such a distraction when it already had so much on its plate.


"The president believes strongly that we need to be looking forward," said Axelrod. "If he had not banned these there would be a different case to be made here. But these practices are a thing of the past. What this should not become is a forum for re-litigating these issues apropos to the last administration and some of the policy makers there, because we have too much work to do to become bogged down in that debate. That's the feeling."

[Skittles]

1. absolutely fucking disgusting

:thumbsdown:

[NC_Nurse]

2. We cannot afford not to. Appoint a special prosecutor.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

55. My first thought as well.

:thumbsup:

[Xipe Totec]

3. No need to get bogged down, just appoint an independent counsel

Let him take care of it.

[coalition_unwilling]

53. Or her - n\t :)

[Xipe Totec]

57. Right you are!

:thumbsup:

[polichick]

4. Disturbing for sure - to hell with the rule of law; we're busy???

[Adelante]

5. Congress should deal with it

The Obama administration needs to stay on track.

[Stuart G]

19. Can we be sure Congres will act if Obama wont?

Who is going to follow who?

[Adelante]

44. Feinstein's committee is already investigating

And Leahy is still pushing for a commission. The findings can be turned over to the AG, who can use it as a basis for his own investigation - he then determines if there is enough to request an independent counsel from the three-judge panel and the panel appoints one. That's how it works, right? I don't see why Obama has to be involved and he doesn't want to be involved. But Holder is already, according to Newsweek, seriously considering an independent counsel. I don't think Obama will get in his way.

[hootinholler]

51. No. I don't think so...

The AG should appoint an independent prosecutor and let him deal with it. The administration can then claim it's out of their hands.

-Hoot

[WeDidIt]

6. I've never been so disappointed in my entire life. n/t

[Laelth]

7. Re-litigating? These matters have never been litigated.

You may have some defense for this position, Mr. Axelrod, but the one you offered is utter tripe.

:dem:

-Laelth

[glitch]

15. I keep wondering who they think they are talking to, with completely false memes like that.

Do they think none of us know that these crimes have never been prosecuted, or that so few of us do that they can get away with it?

Their base is not comprised of bushbots who blindly accept and parrot any talking point. WTH are they thinking?

[polichick]

18. I've been wondering the same thing - crazy!

[Tangerine LaBamba]

31. It's so hard to

re-litigate the future, don't you think?

What an utterly absurd statement, but consider his audience - Axelrod is playing to Israel, who doesn't want ANYTHING to happen to anyone who tortures "those fucking Muslims."

Pretty simple, isn't it?

[Laelth]

45. I'd like to believe that you're wrong, but the evidence suggests you may be right. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[Tangerine LaBamba]

46. I'd be ever so happy

to be absolutely dead wrong on this. I'd take a bow as the biggest dipshit in the world if I were wrong about this. I'd dance naked with Karl Rove to prove how wrong I was.

Please, please, let me be wrong ........................................

[Fire1]

48. I know you're serious but that is funny! lol!

[Stuart G]

8. Sadly, the sadest thing I have heard from Obama since

he decided to run for President.

No one is above the law..
..He is a Constitutional Law Professor..
He knows it.

[McCamy Taylor]

9. Axelrod is the most likely person in the WH who would misuse executive power.

So, I am not interested in his opinions about how much expanded executive power we should grandfather in from the Bush administration.

[KoKo]

36. Why do you say that?

I've not heard anything about Axelrod that would lead me to suspect him. Damn! I should have Googled him before I asked...but I think I already did way back. :shrug:

[Earth_First]

10. "the current White House didn't need such a distraction when it already had so much on its plate."

I didn't realize that backpedaling was akin to walking and chewing gum to the Obama White House.

[LSparkle]

11. Watch how support for his "agenda" falls if he fails to act ...

Appoint a special prosecutor or let Congress investigate.
Even Dianne Feinstein is telling him not to close the door
just yet (and she's on the Intel Committee) ... Inaction
would set a terrible precedent and will end up losing
Obama more political capital than he knows ...

He's already getting flak from the right for things as
silly as the handshake with Chavez ... he can't afford to
lose the left over wimping out on this important issue.

[librechik]

12. they should have picked a different time to run, then

the situation was obvious long ago.

What they should do is indict them, try them fast and get it over with before 2012.

Are they smart enough to figure that out? i doubt it. They want to invent their own reality like the neocons.

[Pharaoh]

13. I'm for bogging down in this!

K&R for a special prosecutor............

[Mark Twain Girl]

14. Since when is the rule of law getting "bogged down"? Why is the WH against an IC/investigation? nt

[stillcool]

16. And..anyone who thought for one second..

that the new Democratic President would go after the Bush Administration is out of their frigging mind. Now Congress is another matter..but who cares about them?

[glitch]

17. Part of cleaning up the economy is regaining trust in the health of the body politic

since economies and politics are so heavily emeshed. Can't do that if the cancer is left untreated.

[aquart]

20. Disgusted.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. This, while sending more troops into the bottomless sinkhole of Afghanistan?

And, pumping even more money into the swamp of the banks?

Bogged down, huh?

[liberalmuse]

22. My letter to President Obama:

Dear President Obama,

Thank you for releasing the torture memos. I understand you were under a lot of pressure not to do so. Before I get to what I am writing you about, I just want to say that I think you are doing a great job, and in fact, you have exceeded my expectations. Please know that your efforts are greatly appreciated.

I am writing because I cannot accept that there will not be prosecutions for those who implemented and carried out the Bush administration's torture policy. I could not even finish reading the memos because the disgust and horror I felt was so overwhelming. Words cannot express how deeply saddened and angered I am that these crimes were carried out by people we entrusted to uphold The Constitution and the Rule of Law.

I believe you are an honorable man, President Obama, but not prosecuting those who have broken the law in such a reprehensible manner is inexcusable, and worse, it is continuing to violate the Rule of Law most Americans have held so sacred. With your administration giving blanket immunity to these vile crimes against humanity, you are, in a sense, condoning these atrocities and setting the stage for them to occur once again in the future.

This is one of those defining moments in history. It matters not if we get through this economic crisis if it is without our honor. As long as those who tortured are allowed to remain free, the United States has no moral authority in the world. Your wanting Raul Castro to free political prisoners before we lift sanctions is moot as long as we have still detain people without due process, and we cannot expect any country to abstain from torture and human rights abuses as long as we refuse to hold our own human rights abusers responsible for violating International law.

Dear President Obama, please do not turn the page on torture. I already see people trying to justify the atrocities I read in those memos. This is too important. I beg you for the sake of our posterity and for every person in the world that is being subjected torture as I write this. If you turn the page on torture, another darker chapter is bound to be written in our future.

With Deepest Hope and Respect,

[Pharaoh]

33. Not to mention

outing a CIA agent and to lie us into a war about WMD, blah blah blah...........

haliburton, 911..................

[liberalmuse]

41. Oh shit, that'd be a fucking novel.

And it would be about 3 times thicker than 'War and Peace'.

[Beam Me Up]

23. I say, lets get bogged down and dirty. Lets roll in the shit the Bush administration

left this country in. Lets expose ALL of it -- and there is a lot more, and much worse, than torture.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5496668&mesg_id=5496668

[Blackhatjack]

24. You don't have to get bogged down... appoint a special prosecutor and leave it to him/her

to follow the evidence wherever it leads.

[Democrats_win]

25. No debate needed. JUST DO IT!

[rug]

26. Ok, just put it before a Grand Jury. Those proceedings are sealed.

[EFerrari]

27. Who is this "we" he speaks of? n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

28. Their addresses can be found in McClean, VA.

[Stuart G]

29. It is the same sick feeling I had when Ford officially pardoned Nixon.

Sick shit..Obama can change his mind, but this looks like he won't. Finding the truth is not enough.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

37. That's one of the few moments in my life

that stand out as electric, galvanic, explosive, still as vivid in my memory as the moment they happened.

We were in Chicago, at my best law school pal's wedding, and she - the bride - came over to me and said, "Was this your idea of a wedding gift?" Then she told me Ford had just pardoned Nixon.

We still talk about it, but today, she's remarried to one of Obama's biggest and earlier Chicago backers, a very wealthy Chicago guy, and I'm considering calling her and asking her what her husband thinks of this now. He's a big supporter of Israel, though, so he probably holds with it.

I probably won't call...............

[Bluebear]

30. 'The president believes strongly that we need to be looking forward' - lovely. nt

[rateyes]

32. Axelrod, that dog doesn't hunt.

You are making excuses for the administration not doing its job. It's pathetic. It's disgusting. It's beneath the dignity of the office.

The President has a cabinet. One of the members of that cabinet is AG Holder. He can do his job, and the President doesn't have to get "bogged down" in it.

We are a nation of laws. ENFORCE THEM. That's what "faithfully executing the office" means in that part of President Obama's oath.

[Duende azul]

34. Wow. Not only Rahm.

So America really is blowing the last chance to come clean with this?

Sad beyond words.

[rateyes]

35. You can't relitigate that which was never litigated,

Mr. Axelrod. :puke: Quit insulting our intelligence.

[ben_jenne]

38. Anyone who thinks that Axelrod and Emanuel

Haven't internal polled and focus grouped this and every other issue to death doesn't understand politics. They are doing the same things as every previous "political adviser" to a President has done, think Rove.

Torture?...dosen't poll well.
Legalize drugs?...dosen't poll well.
Restore relations with Cuba?...dosen't pool well.
Revisit Nafta/Gatt...no one cares.

Not that it makes any of it right, but I'm sure that's what is going on, and Obama is a politician after all.

[Stuart G]

40. Perhaps, but we thought that he was going to enforce the law, not discard it. nt

[KoKo]

39. Well...I've been for giving Obama some time...but this one from Axelrod is a little hard

to cover over with sweet smelling flowers. Still...maybe it was the group he was talking to that needed reassuring lest they Bomb Iran. :shrug:

[Stuart G]

42. We are all pissed, I guess when we hear from Obama himself, that

is when he will have to answer some more questions.
But if this pans out, then it is the worst thing he has done.
He is setting up another round, and the U.S.A cannot stand another round.

We were very lucky this time.

[Ocracoker16]

43. how dare he dismiss an investigation into criminal activity as being bogged down

I thought that these were matters that would be handled by the Justice Department and outside counsel as needed. President Obama would play a very small role in the investigation and prosecution of these crimes, so don't give me any bs about Obama having too much to do. I hope that other countries will step forward and say that the torturing done by Americans was unacceptable and therefore refusing to do anything about it only makes the wound greater.

[donheld]

47. No they shouldn't get bogged down

push on full steam ahead!

[JoseGaspar]

49. Great, another Turdblossum is born.

Yet another asshole who believes that his priorities trump the Constitution, the rule of law, and the responsibilities of office. Different party, same shit; only this time it is subverting the Constitution for a much higher purpose. What a crock.

We need a parliamentary system and the ability to have no confidence votes which bring down the government. The American system is the most primitive of democracies and has clearly run its course. They do what they like for 2 or 4 years, focus a billion dollars or more on one day, and then they do it again.

[Stuart G]

50. Axelrod is wrong here nt

[MadHound]

52. Change, what change,

Can't afford to pursue justice, don't have the time, and besides, we want to continue to use some of those extralegal powers for our own selves.

And wait for it, some cheerleader will be around here stating that Obama didn't promise investigating Bushco crimes, like somehow that makes it all good.

[salguine]

54. You know, Axelrod, if somebody broke into your house and

slaughtered your whole family, and was later caught, and evidence was prevented that showed him to be guilty beyond all shadow of a doubt, and the law enforcement and judicial communities said "You know, we need to be looking forward. These murders are a thing of the past", your fucking head would explode. Fuck you, Axelrod, you motherfucker. I, for one, do not consider epic Crimes Against Humanity to be "a thing of the past."

[GeorgeGist]

56. I'm looking forward ...

to the end of obfuscation by Obama et al.

[annabanana]

58. "Holder, however, may have some free time". .

It's his job after all, being the cheif law enforcement officer in the Country. .