David Addington today offered a preposterous reason for refusing to answer a question about whether or not he was party to talks about torture with his superiors — al-Qaeda may be watching CSPAN and he can’t give away any information that may benefit them. Really.
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DELAHUNT: Oh I can understand why [the President] doesn’t talk about it.
ADDINGTON: Because you gotta communicate with al Qaeda. If you do — I can’t talk to you, al Qaeda may watch C-SPAN.
DELAHUNT: Right. Well, I’m sure they are watching, and I’m glad they finally have a chance to see you, Mr. Addington.
ADDINGTON: Yeah, I’m sure you’re pleased.
UPDATE: Digby has much more on Addington:
Addington ought to be held in contempt of Congress for just plain contemptuousness. As Scott Horton noted on Pacifica’s coverage, he clearly believes himself to be smarter than all the Representatives in the room, and he has no problem bullying them around the way he reportedly bullies everyone in the executive branch. He also doesn’t mind lying about his role in designing torture tactics after a personal trip to Guantanamo…read on
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Oh brother!
Just throw him in jail, then we all win.
Yes, its about time everyone saw the *true* architect of Torture USA. I hope Addington has to get a bodyguard, maybe one from Blackwater.
Now that al-Qaeda know what you look like, and Scalia & Co. says they have a Constitutional right to a handgun in D.C., you may have to think about laying low for awhile.
Addington’s contempt for congress is obvious. He knows they are impotent.
Hey Addington! I watch C-span! I’m I in al-Qaeda? No. I’m tired of criminals like you and your MSM buddies who play under the radar to destroy the Country I live in. Why isn’t MSM covering this? Because they, themselves sre to blame for pushing this Administrations crimes.
Mr. Addington - you, sir, are a cock.
Al’s listening right now, to yet another schmuck no less.
Contempt for congress??? Well, I know that I have had a lot of contempt for them too. Until they start to play hardball, this will continue.
They need to kick some Refucklican ass!!!!
I wonder if he has ever personally tortured someone? Cranked the screws, poured the water, threw the odd punch, ground the odd family huevo with his heel? Ever got his hands dirty?
Nah.
Addington also said he wasn’t “for or against” torturing suspects’ children to gain info. Add child torture to their list of crimes. They might as well remove impeachment from the books if they don’t use it on these vermin.
“he has no problem bullying them around the way he reportedly bullies everyone in the executive branch.”
The Democrats in Congress LOVE being bullied!
They thrive on it! They let a President with a 23% approval rating pass new FISA laws that give MORE than he asked for!
The Republicans kick the Dems in the butt, and the Dems say thank you, and call it a compromise.
Knowing that, why shouldn’t Addington treat them with contempt? He knows they won’t do anything - they are all talk and no action.
Addington and Yoo probably both have assurances from Bush that they will receive pardons come December/January 2009. Mark my words.
Delahunt’s comment smacks of limitless disgust for this clown Addington:
Right. Well, I’m sure they are watching, and I’m glad they finally have a chance to see you, Mr. Addington.
Addington and Yoo won’t need pardons. The cowardly Democrat-led congress won’t do anything to them.
Bush, Cheney & Co. are above the law.
roobeer @ 11:
I think they have already removed it permanently from the books. What could they ever impeach another President for after setting this precedent?
Our system is completely broken.
Epinnoia @ 13:
I can’t wait to see that pardon list.
Just keep counting the days until we have a real majority of law and order democrats and then we can do some Nuremberg trials. And he is on the list.
If nothing else, the Bush Administration is consistent. Virtually everyone in the administration is corrupt, incompetent and contemptuous of the Constitution.
cheney’s other c*** wife.
What could they ever impeach another President for after setting this precedent?
A blowjob?
Admitting to being a member of the ACLU?
Getting an expensive haircut?
He’ll skate like Scooter and the rest of them!
He’s showing contempt because he knows he can get away with it. When they grow a pair and use the powers of inherent contempt, this bullshit will stop. Until then, you’re going to see more of the same.
Nicht Schuldig! I am reminded of the nazis crying “Not Guilty” at Nuremburg. I do not think that I can begin to convey the volume of disgust and loathing that I feel for the present, illegitimate government of this country.
Also, he just washed his hair.
Addington is one arrogant bastard.
rtsp://video1.c-span.org/project/ter/ter062608_gitmo.rm
There must be a whole lot of Al Qaeda watching right now, because I can’t get it to play… My player sees that it’s 2:50:49 in length, but won’t play any of it.
Does anyone know of any alternative online source for this?
Another sycophantic courtier whose power revolves solely on his relationship to the real power, the Executive. That is, he serves only at the pleasure of his master, the simian warmonger. This is, of course, reminiscent of the power structure during the Middle Ages and that was supposed to have disappeared following the events of 1789 in France and the Enlightment. Ain’t it grand to go back to the “good old days” with the blessing of the Congress as they don’t have the kajones to shoulder their responsibilities as laid out in the constitution. Pathetic wimps. They, too, should hang in the Washington equivalent of the Place de la Concorde. This insignificant footnote in history, Addington, will make his contribution to gutting the constitution and then hit the links in Arizona. An anti-democratic thug. Mr. Guillotine, you’re on . . . .
YAWN! I only WISH I could get “grilled” like this by my bosses. CAKE…especially when knowing that, in the end, not a god-damned thing will happen to you no matter HOW contemptuous your behavior.
Throw the lot of ‘em — Conyers, Pelosi, Reid — in jail with the rest of these criminal clowns and be done with it. They’re all full of sh*t!
ChrisM70 @ 15:
Very perceptively stated. The reason that Addington and Cheney [”So”?] and the rest of the Bush crowd act with such impunity is that they know, as ChrisM correctly notes, that the Democrats will not lift a finger to make sure that they are held accountable for their actions. It should never be forgotten that Barack Obama, that alleged agent of hope and change, has not backed Kucinich’s 35 [!] Articles of Impeachment against Bush nor stood behind Kucinich’s impeachment proposal against Cheney. Yet liberals continue to believe that Obama will somehow lead them to the Promised Land.
Opprobrious Asshole, but I guess that would describe everyone in this administration.
Didn’t Addington sort of throw John Yoo under the bus? Interesting, since both of them would be thrown under the bus if need be to protect Cheney and Bush. So how smart exactly are they really?
Erroll @ 30:
Obama is not in the House, he is a member of the Senate. WTF are you saying?
Glad to hear al-Qaeda can afford cable and get CSPAN, in addition to whatever that Arabic-language propaganda station we’ve pissed away half a billion on.
How about this–Why not require that CSPAN be offered, Hell, required to be broadcast FOR FREE on public airwaves?? Why must I pay a private cable or internet company to watch the proceedings of MY government, yet on “free TV” (still public-licensed) I am sold HOURS of infomercials for exercise machines, colonoscopies-in-a-bottle, and personal-jesus preachers.
If we really want an informed electorate, it should not cost to see it in action. Oh, that’s right; never mind…
Watching this scurrilous cad makes me wish the chairman could bark out, “Take that man below decks and clap him in irons!’
Well now we know what the devil looks like.
this just in: Bin Laden forgot to pay the cable bill last month!!
These evil people know that they will not be held responsible for anything they’ve done. The people who are questioning them know that they’re not going to charge them with anything. This spectalcle is going on to appease all of us who think they should go to jail. Addington and Yoo are pretty much telling Congress to kiss their ass.
ya know @ 38:
Sure looks that way.
So what if al-Queda is watching. The surge! The surge! We surged, and it worked. So if al-Queda is still a threat, then how exactly did the surge work? Jesus, they can’t have it both ways.
Every now and then I get these spikes of ANGER which cut through the background fog of general annoyance with the system. If I was in that room, in the right spot with the right gauge of baseball bat in hand, it would take all my willpower to remember that I am in fact human and to not club him to death. The snide arrogance reeking off that bastard makes me sick. The system better start working soon, or I am going to start wishing for blood. The world could stand to lose a few psychotics. I just hope that when the dam cracks down the middle that the right individuals get caught and that the real humans remember who their brothers and sisters are.
this guy really believes he is above the law, and that congress is a joke
i mean hes right, congress is a joke, but this guy is a dick
#33-Ron
To answer your less than elegant inquiry, this is what I am talking about. One wonders, as this link indicates, why lying to Congress, lying to the UN, breaking the Geneva Conventions, authorizing torture, and especially causing the deaths of over a million Iraqis does not, to quote Obama, merit “grave and international breaches of the president’s authority.” Or perhaps Obama fears that he might perhaps be held to the same standards as Bush if and when he were to become president.
http://fromtheleft.wordpress.c.....cceptable/
Actually, Al Qaeda watches MTV
They want the bling, the beatches and the ho’s.
With all the talk about child rape executions today, why no talk of executing this fool. He’s raped an entire nation.
Ron @ 33:
Obama, in his position could, stand up and “rally the troops” even though he is not in the House of representatives, and congress is far from being “troops”
Basically, Erroll is saying that Obama sucks.(forgive me for answering for you Erroll) and I agree…I knew he was bad 2 years ago when he voted to re-authorise the patriot act.
Change we gotta wait for aint gonna cut it in my book….and its good to see a lotta people are beginning to feel the same way…I’m starting to feel like I’m among friends again after ragging on Obama for a couple of years.
Hooray! Obama sucks!
I’ll bet al-Qaeda watched the Senate capitulate on FISA too.
“Party like it’s
19992001!!”There are approximately 10,000 people in the U.S. today who could greatly improve the world by leaving it. David Addington is very near the top of the list.
Contempt of Congress?
How about contempt of human decency.
What an obnoxious prick. No wonder they try to keep him out of the cameras.
I never heard him speak before, yet his voice and demeanor are as I imagined they would be. Douchiness quotient …off the scale. Smug, aloof and typical of this administration…..And to top it off, HE’S A HACK!!!!!!
milquetoast @ 46:
Milquetoast
I simply find it stunning that so many liberals have been taken in by Obama’s smooth talk and charisma. They do not seem bothered in the least that his withdrawal plan of troops from Iraq is a phased, as opposed to an immediate, withdrawal, or that even after his phased withdrawal has been finally completed, that he is advocating that 60,000 to 80,000 U.S. forces remain in Iraq or the region. That does not strike one as the best way of supporting the troops. He also wishes to shift more troops from Iraq to Afghanistan which would undoubtedly mean that more Afghan villages and homes would be destroyed by American bombs. This does not seem the best way of winning the hearts and minds of the Afghani people. Yet Obama will claim with a straight face that he is an antiwar candidate
Furthermore, Obama’s health care plan will keep the insurance companies in the equation, thus ensuring that profit is placed over the needs of the people. Obama, with his recent speech at AIPAC, has sworn his fealty to Israel, which demonstrates a total disregard for the wretched plight of the Palestinian people.
Perhaps this simply proves that one should never underestimate the gullibility of the American people.