i haven't been able to understand the right's game plan on this pelosi kerfuffle. the left pushed for an inquiry into and/or prosecution of bush-era torture. the right responded first by defending the practice. but that didn't seem to work, so they started on piling on pelosi, claiming that she knew about the torture because she was briefed on it by the CIA.
but that doesn't get the right off the hook for authorizing torture, it just would mean that pelosi shares some the blame for it. but even then pelosi's share of the blame for knowing torture had been authorized torture and not doing anything about it would not be as much as the blame due to the people who actually authorized torture.1
the whole pelosi-knew thing just seems like a reincarnation of the blame-clinton defense that was so popular whenever anyone brought up that "bin laden determined to strike the u.s." memo during the bush presidency. as i noted three years ago, the blame-clinton defense isn't a defense at all. it just makes the person raising it look stupid, just as the pelosi mania makes me think the right is hopelessly stupid now.
not only is it stupid, it also seems to be backfiring. if the point was to head off an investigation of torture, all the conflicting stories is doing is pointing out the need to have one. pelosi is basically demanding an investigation and now newt gingrich is demanding one as well. sure, newt is just talking about investigating pelosi, not torture itself. but i don't think there's any way to investigate one without the other.
plus, by making the issue about the truthfulness of a congressional leader, you can't simply have congress itself investigate it because there's an obvious conflict of interest.
the only real solution is an independent commission. let's call it a "truth commission" (everyone wants the commission to find the truth, right?). a week ago i thought a truth commission was unlikely. now it seems more likely.
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1- it's also not clear if pelosi could have done anything if she wanted to. the briefing sessions were classified so she couldn't have gone public.
UPDATE (5/16/09): that answers my question, at least as it pertains to those conservatives. i guess they really are that stupid.
