Bush's Blithe Attitude Toward Barbarism
"...Republican strategists hope to make voters forget the incompetence and corruption on display in Washington, Baghdad and New Orleans and let the party escape disaster in the midterm elections. Their strategy, however, has been thwarted so far ... most of the Senate Democrats ... refuse to sanction interrogation techniques that obviously violate Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. Voting for the Bush bill means, in effect, not only legalizing those forms of abuse but, even more significantly, repealing the ratification of the conventions ... Messrs. Bush and Cheney cannot comprehend the damage they are doing to American dignity, credibility and prestige. This is, after all, the same President who has repeatedly told the world that the United States doesn’t use or condone torture ... But this blithe attitude toward barbarism only reflects the broader degradation of the Republican Party and the conservative movement under their present leadership.."