Griper Blade: A Logical Tilt-a-Whirl

There are few things in politics so constant as the principle that Republicans are never, ever wrong. Even when they're proven wrong, they aren't wrong. The proof is just the result of a big conspiracy to make them look wrong, because Republican perfection is beyond question. If reality doesn't agree with a Republican argument, then reality is wrong. This is the case with Nancy Pelosi, the CIA, and what I've come to think of as the "secret scandal."

A few months ago, Speaker Pelosi said that the CIA hadn't been extremely honest in briefing congress on the Bush White House's program of "harsh interrogation techniques."

"The CIA briefed me only once on enhanced interrogation techniques in September 2002 in my capacity as ranking member of the Intelligence Committee," she said in May. "I was informed then that the Department of Justice opinions had concluded that the use of enhanced interrogation techniques were legal. The only mention of waterboarding at that briefing was that it was not being employed."

Of course, this was the worst thing anyone ever said in the long history of people saying stuff. "It's outrageous that a member of Congress should call a terror-fighter a liar," said Sen. Kit Bond, the Republican vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "It seems the playbook is, blame terror-fighters. We ought to be supporting them." Imagine, someone accusing the CIA of dishonesty. That's really going out on a limb. What would Nancy Pelosi do next, accuse the Pentagon of being loose with money?... [CLICK TO READ FULL POST]