McCain 2005: Give Gitmo Detainees A Trial Or Release Them!

Despite John McCain's outrage last week that the Supreme Court ordered Gitmo detainees know why they were being held, or released -- Political Base has stumbled upon a McCain appearance on Meet the Press in 2005 where he argued they deserved trials, going so far as to say "if it means releasing some of them, you'll have to release them." Shameless.

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Bush Unhesitatingly Defends Administration Policy of Torture

President Bush said that those who question what his administration is doing at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib are "slandering America" when asked about this by Adam Bolton, political editor of Britain's Sky News. The president was responding to Bolton's statement that many who say some of the Bush administration's torture and detention policies represent "the opposite of freedom."

This comes at a time when the Supreme Court recently ruled that the "terrorism suspects" at Guantánamo Bay have a right to seek their release in federal court. In its ruling the Supreme Court stated that Bush's policy compromise "the Constitution's guarantee of liberty."

The Bush administration had defended the use of "water boarding," which is a form of simulated drowning, as an interrogation technique despite the widespread opposition to the use of this technique. Earlier this year, the administration had finally admitted that the use of water boarding could be used in so-called "extreme circumstances." This came after years of denying that the detainees at Guantánamo were being tortured.

President Bush and his administration continue to act as they see fit in defiance of public opinion and an even when the Supreme Court rules against them. This has been the policy of this administration in its response to defending this country against terrorism. The fight against terrorism is of the utmost national importance, but it should not be used as a means for violating the law and illegally reducing the freedom of the citizens of this country, as well as international laws to which this nation ascribes.

Will the Democrats Lemming-like Behavior Hurt Obama's Bid to Become President?

Lemmings are small rodents that live in or near the Arctic. Under certain circumstances large migrating groups will reach a cliff overlooking the ocean. They will stop until the urge to press on causes them to jump off the cliff and start swimming, sometimes to exhaustion and death. Political lemmings, the humankind, emulate their rodent cousins when it comes to key elections. Rather than support their party's candidate, they find reasons why it would be better for them not to vote at all, and thereby let the opposition candidate win. While not totally comparable, there is a politically suicidal behavioral element in what my mother used to call, "Biting off your nose to spite your face."

A number of groups that strongly supported Senator Clinton are threatening not to vote for Senator Obama. If you were a Senator Clinton supporter would you really want Senator McCain to be the next president of the United States? You've got to be kidding! Some Democratic women who are threatening not to vote for Obama are making it a feminist issue. I participated in a discussion regarding this on another blog. Is it possible for a woman to call herself a feminist and vote for Senator McCain, a man who allegedly called his wife a four letter word that I won't put in my post. Of even greater importance (one would think), is whether a feminist would would want one or more new conservative Supreme Court justices added so there will be an absolute majority on the Supreme Court who will tell the women of America that they don't have control over their bodies.

This type of lemminglike behavior has been seen before, but never more odiously then in the 1968 presidential election. Many of my liberal friends said there was no difference between Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. When I challenged their sanity, they accused me of political naiveté and questioned whether I was really a Democrat. As we all know, Nixon won the election and American democracy was severely threatened. The Nixon Cabinet was the first one since the Ulysses S. Grant administration to be able to hold cabinet meetings in prisons. I had moved by the time of the Watergate travesty and was not able to look my old friends in the eye. I may appear to be digressing, but I'm trying to emphasize the point that rational thinking can often be completely discarded in a heated emotions of political posturing. Stay tuned, this will only get more interesting.

Coming next: the Presidential candidacy of Senator McCain and Republican Lemming-like Behavior.