Thursday, April 30, 2009

Torture? "No No, Dear," Says Condi



Condi thought she'd just hang at the dorms at Stanford for a while, you know, to chat and "chill" with the students. And then the students got all mean and asked her about torture 'n' stuff and OMG, it's all just so unnecessary. Tsk. This just sounds so awkward:

Even in World War II, as we faced Nazi Germany -- probably the greatest threat that America has ever faced -- even then...

With all due respect, Nazi Germany never attacked the homeland of the United States.

No, but they bombed our allies...

No. Just a second. Three thousand Americans died in the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

500,000 died in World War II, and yet we did not torture the prisoners of war.*

And we didn't torture anybody here either. Alright?

We tortured them in Guantanamo Bay.

No, no dear, you're wrong. Alright. You're wrong. We did not torture anyone. And Guantanamo Bay, by the way, was considered a model "medium security prison" by representatives of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe who went there to see it. Did you know that?

Were they present for the interrogations?

No.


Condi's defense in a nutshell is 1. We didn't torture, so whatever it is we did, it therefore could not have been torture, and 2. Anything the President of the United States wants to do is automatically legal. Well, that pretty much covers it. Catchy!

*PSP glittering hooves award to the student who stated this point so bluntly.

13 comments:

blogenfreude said...

Sean Hannity agreed to be waterboarded - I'm still waiting.

Anonymous said...

She called al Qaeda 'tyrants'. Now that's new. Considering they don't have a populous to tyrant over.

Anonymous said...

"the worst / Are full of passionate intensity"

kora in hell said...

I am so glad that she was confronted on film so we could see the brilliance of her intellect at work.

"No, no dear, you're wrong. Alright. You're wrong. We did not torture anyone."

Calling a student "dear" as a way of infantalizing them doesn't strengthen her case. It just makes her sound out-of-touch. Only doddering and/or sleazy professors call their students "dear."

Here are two examples of Condi's of "dodge and deflect" reasoning:

1. No one can imagine what it was like to be in a position of responsibility after 911 and so no one is allowed to judge those who were in positions of responsibility.

Never mind that she didn't seem able to imagine what it was like to have responsibility before 911. Did you read that memo about "Bin Laden determined to attack" dear? Perhaps she needed to do her homework first.

2. Did you know this particular fact that I'm spouting as a way of avoiding your question? No? Well then that means you are not informed enough to talk to me.

The whole "Supreme Court" thing was such a crock of shit. The Supreme Court didn't prevent them from having trials. They said that they can't have kangaroo trials where the defendant has no rights and can call no witnesses.

When are people going to stop referring to her as being so notably intelligent? She isn't.

The Stanford community needs to confront her like this to her every day.

And also that cretin Rummy who is ensconced in his distinguished fellowship position at Hoover. Hoover is part of and under the governance of Stanford. They should be ashamed of themselves for allowing Hoover to appoint him.

HRH King Friday XIII, Ret. said...

She needs to be in prison.

Marvin Lesbian said...

I'm surprised a columnist for the esteemed Daily Beast would be so off the mark!

Karen Zipdrive said...

I saw that clip and her strained voice, thinly veiled seething anger and stiff body language reminded me of Mary Tyler Moore in "Ordinary People."
Sister Girl needs a bottle of Jack, a Panasonic Magic Wand and a couple of Xanax.

Matthew Hubbard said...

If she condescendingly called me "dear" in public, I'd probably go off on her. At the very least, I'd throw a shoe.

Anonymous said...

fyi, the kid who confronted Condi is named Jeremy Cohn. Go, JC!!!

Anonymous said...

Poor Condi.

I think what's she saying is that she was told x, it was confirmed by y, and she didn't actually go down to the torture prison to see what was really happening... and so she acted based on information she had, and dammit, she did a good job with all of that.

It's like if nobody went out to Auschwitz to see what was actually going down out there and, instead, read all the reports that said it was a model camp and just did their job.

Condi, you sold your soul to George Bush. I hope he paid you well.

liberti said...

OMG, why don't you just leave the poor lady alone? Can't you concentrate now on Mme. Hillary's hairdo?

Anonymous said...

Did you see that surreal CNN piece with the "body language expert" who kept gushing about how wonderful Condi is, and that no matter how defensive and arrogant Condi appears to be, she really isn't, because her body language actually means the opposite.

Fabulana said...

Reyna Garcia deserves a glittery hooves award as well for catching this on tape.

After seeing this squirming condescension, I want to say that Condi is not sleeping well at night. However I'm sure she is.

How did you like the part where she denies authorizing waterboarding, but says she merely conveyed the administration's authorization...? Can you see how that's different? Brilliant wordsmithing.