The latest from Mail Buzz
- Mexico swine flu deaths spur global epidemic fears (AP)
- Not Gaga over bad outfit
- La tactique d'Obama protège des soins de santé Bill d'une obstruction parlementaire
- Quand l'indignation était juste : Les républicains ont par le passé voulu étudier l'administration passée
- Retour de recherche de Rihanna des bijoux coûteux (AP)
- Lavages de Susan Boyle cet Outta gris ses cheveux
- Clift : Des 100 premiers jours, Obama obtient a B-Plus
- Secrétaire Apologizes To Veterans Group de patrie
- Petraeus: Shippers should consider armed guards (AP)
- Avery des gardes forestiers a rayé pour le jeu 5 contre les capitaux (AP)
- GM to pull the plug on Pontiac
- Un président et ses scrutins (Yahoo! Salle de presse)
- Robert Pattinson ne datant pas Kristen Stewart
- NFL mock draft: Lions likely to select Stafford
- Investisseurs de Madoff commandés renvoyer les bénéfices faux (AP)
Mexico swine flu deaths spur global epidemic fears (AP) | Top |
AP - Une contrainte unique de la grippe de porcs est le tueur suspecté des douzaines de personnes au Mexique, où les autorités ont fermé des écoles, des musées, des bibliothèques et des théâtres dans la capitale vendredi pour essayer de contenir une manifestation qui a stimulé des soucis d'une épidémie globale de grippe. | |
Not Gaga over bad outfit | Top |
Si vous pensez le chapeau de Madame Gaga est effrayant, attendent jusqu'à ce que vous voyiez le reste de son regard épouvantable. | |
La tactique d'Obama protège des soins de santé Bill d'une obstruction parlementaire | Top |
The president's new stance suggests he may be much less willing to compromise on health care, his top legislative priority, even if it means a partisan fight. | |
Quand l'indignation était juste : Les républicains ont par le passé voulu étudier l'administration passée | Top |
Washington was abuzz with talk of investigating the past administration but Congress and the White House were at odds. Executive branch officials were worried about the partisan fracas that would ensue. The former wanted a probe, confident that old White House hands, only recently removed from office, had engaged in a rash of criminal activity. "We need to look at to make sure exactly what happened is known to the public and to deter any future president from doing like behavior, if it was wrong," said one well-respected member of Congress. "In that regard, if we can do it in a bipartisan fashion, I think that's what we should do. Every American benefits when you can control X abuse of power. If this was an abuse of power, then we need to know about it." It was February 2001 not April 2009. The topic was Bill Clinton's controversial pardon of Marc Rich not the use of torture techniques on detainees. And the above quote was attributed to then-Rep. Lindsey Graham not, say, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It is hardly rare for a politician to argue two sides of same issue during the course of a career in Washington. But as the current Congress contemplates investigating the use of harsh, even illegal interrogation techniques by Bush administration officials, the readjustment in political sensibilities has been somewhat remarkable. Once hell-bent on looking into the slightest hint of malfeasance during the Clinton years, Republicans inside and out of government are now responding with disgust to suggestions that even an independent commission be set up to look into the authorization and use of torture. "What [Obama has] essentially said is if we have policy disagreements with our predecessor, we are going to do is turn ourselves into the moral equivalent of a Latin American country run by colonels in weird sunglasses," said Karl Rove, during an appearance on Fox News. "Is that what we've come to in this country?" Actually, we've been there. In the early months of 2001, as the Bush administration was publicly urging people to "look forward," Republicans in Congress were consumed by two decidedly backward-looking investigations. The most prominent of these was the controversial pardon of Rich, the fugitive financier whose ex-wife had donated heavily to Democratic causes. This is "outrageous," said then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who called for a congressional investigation. "We should at least take a look at what happened and ask ourselves, should we take some action to try to prevent abuses that do occur?" "Congress has an obligation to find out if this was appropriate," said House Government Reform Committee Chair Dan Burton (R-IN) on January 26. "[My] panel will obtain 'subpoenas if necessary'" "It needs to be investigated," said then New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. "I think it is worthy of investigation. The facts cry out for an answer to be given for why is it that this man was pardoned. Because the pardon process is an important thing. ... Until we get the answers to this question, that whole process is put in some jeopardy of being misunderstood by the public." "While the president alone possesses the power to pardon," said Sen. Mitch McConnell. "it's important to remember that he is not personally exempt from federal laws that prohibit the corrupt actions of all government officials." Even some Democrats were getting involved. "I think the important question is, is there something more Congress can do to try to express through ourselves the will of the American people about a procedure for issuing pardons," said Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT). "Pardon procedures should be examined." Eight years later, these same officials view the possibility of criminal investigations -- in this case for harsh interrogation techniques as opposed to bone-headed, possibly corrupt pardons -- as anathema to basic American values. "It would take our country in a backward-looking direction at a time when our detainee-related challenges demand that we look forward," read a letter to Barack Obama signed by Lieberman, Graham and Sen. John McCain. "Given the great challenges that face our country in dealing with detainees... we have every interest in looking forward to solutions, not backward to recriminations. That is why we do not support the idea of a commission that would focus on the mistakes of the past." (McCain appears to be the most consistent of the three, having said of the Rich pardon back in March 2001, "I think that's a decision for the U.S. attorney to make. I think it's appropriate that the Congress wind down their investigations and move onto the issues of the day.") Certainly, there are differences between the two presidential controversies. Clinton's pardon, as Rove might argue, was an individual choice as opposed to a government policy. As such, when Congress held hearings on the matter and the U.S. attorney's office in New York investigated it, the basis was not any particular policy disagreement. That said, try replacing the word "pardon" with "torture" in the above quotes. At the very least, it is telling to recall just how open Republicans once were to the notion of looking back and righting past wrongs, however seemingly trivial. Indeed, the other, less controversial investigation called for at the time was an effort to determine whether Clinton officials had trashed the Oval Office and Air Force One shortly before leaving the White House. Former Rep. Bob Barr demanded a probe, declaring that ''the Clinton administration [had] treated the White House worse than college freshmen checking out of their dorm rooms." Former Senator Rick Santorum, meanwhile, told the Washington Times that, "there needs to be at least someone to look into it." The GAO, at Barr's request, did just that, interviewing 78 Bush and 72 Clinton aides and tasking one employee to work on the case full-time for nearly nine months. When the results came back mixed -- the vandalism was playful at worst -- the Bush administration did not hide its displeasure. As the New York Times reported: The Bush White House was deeply disappointed with the report. Alberto R. Gonzales, counsel to President Bush, had demanded that the accounting office provide more detail, including the full text of graffiti and other messages that were ''especially offensive or vulgar.'' The accounting office said such details were unnecessary and inappropriate. But Bush administration officials said the details would have revealed the ''mind-set or intentions'' of Clinton administration pranksters. Moreover, in a response much longer than the actual report, the Bush administration said, ''It appears that the G.A.O. has undertaken a concerted effort to downplay the damage found in the White House complex.'' Get HuffPost Politics on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter. | |
Retour de recherche de Rihanna des bijoux coûteux (AP) | Top |
AP - Rihanna cherche le retour de $1.4 millions en bijoux qu'elle portait la nuit elle a été allégué battue par Chris Brown. | |
Lavages de Susan Boyle cet Outta gris ses cheveux | Top |
The "Britain's Got Talent" breakthrough star goes from dowdy to, um, a little less dowdy. | |
Clift : Des 100 premiers jours, Obama obtient a B-Plus | Top |
Obama obtient a B-plus pendant ses 100 premiers jours, alors que le rétro GOP lutte le FDR. | |
Secrétaire Apologizes To Veterans Group de patrie | Top |
Secrétaire Janet Napolitano de sécurité de patrie a rencontré la légion américaine vendredi pour faire des excuses pour un rapport de droite d'extrémisme rédigé par son agence, et le groupe de vétérans a marché à partir de la réunion calmée. | |
Petraeus: Shippers should consider armed guards (AP) | Top |
AP - L'industrie d'expédition globale devrait envisager de placer les gardes armés sur ses bateaux pour écarter les pirates qui sont devenus de plus en plus violents, commandant militaire des États-Unis qui surveille le littoral africain a dit vendredi. | |
Avery des gardes forestiers a rayé pour le jeu 5 contre les capitaux (AP) | Top |
Sean Avery est mis hors jeu pour le jeu 5 de la série de finale du premier round des gardes forestiers de New York contre les capitaux de Washington. L'agitateur remarquable est énuméré comme seul de l'éraflure de New York vendredi soir. Avery a été réclamé deux pénalités dans les 10 minutes finales de la victoire de 2-1 de New York dans le jeu 4 mercredi, forçant les gardes forestiers à tuer au loin des jeux de pouvoir tout en soignant une avance. | |
GM to pull the plug on Pontiac | Top |
General Motors is preparing to announce that the Pontiac car brand, once marketed as GM's "Excitement division," will be killed off, according to a source familiar with the decision. | |
Un président et ses scrutins (Yahoo! Salle de presse) | Top |
The Yahoo! Newsroom - Politicians love to say they don't watch polls when their own numbers are down, but few say the same thing when their numbers are up. As Politico puts it: "Presidents have long pooh-poohed polls while privately conducting them." | |
Robert Pattinson ne datant pas Kristen Stewart | Top |
Ainsi, ce des moyens nous avons un projectile ! Au crépuscule, nous avons observé une histoire d'amour incroyablement intense entre Edouard Cullen et le cygne de Bella, joué par des acteurs Robert Pattinson et Kristen Stewart. Bien que nous sachions ils sont des acteurs, la chimie entre les deux étaient si forts que beaucoup aient spéculé que leur amour DOIT être vrai. Pattinson indique le numéro. | |
NFL mock draft: Lions likely to select Stafford | Top |
Ce n'est pas souvent les gicleurs et Giants entrent dans une ébauche recherchant la même chose, mais c'est le cas avec l'ébauche de NFL de cette année. Au moins pour maintenant. Les deux équipes recherchent un récepteur playmaking - le Giants parce que les démarreurs Plaxico Burress et Amani Toomer ne sont plus avec l'équipe, les gicleurs parce que Laveranues Coles est allé et il y a aucun… | |
Investisseurs de Madoff commandés renvoyer les bénéfices faux (AP) | Top |
L'administrateur essayant de se démêler l'arrangement massif de pyramide de Bernard Madoff menace l'action judiciaire pour récupérer $735 millions des investisseurs qui ont inconsciemment gagné l'argent outre de l'escroquerie. | |
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