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The Holder delay
Political Animal — ... of hearings: "waterboarding is torture." That's both an accurate assessment and a reflection of existing law. But if Holder believes waterboarding is torture, and torture is illegal, he might be willing to prosecute officials who acted at the behest of the Bush administration, which leads some Republicans to block the confirmation process from proceeding. We certainly can't have an A.G. who's too committed to prosecuting those who break the law. Even Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) believes it's a mistake to expect Holder to unilaterally rule out all prosecutions related to ...

Cornyn Holds Up Holder, Demands Immunity From Prosecution For Torturers
Matthew Yglesias — ... Eric Holder thinks waterboarding is torture. And so apparently Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) doesn’t want to see him confirmed unless he promises in advance to exempt everyone from torture-related prosecutions: ...

Banana Republicanism
Whiskey Fire — ... Senator Lindsey Graham: "The idea for prosecutions is coming from the hard left." Well, let's hear it for the "hard left." Because accountability for torture is not in fact all that outrageous a concept. Indeed civilized nations ought not to use torture at all. That this opinion seems to have become "controversial" is mostly the result of banana Republicanism. And in this respect, even while Graham's assertion is absurd, he's not nearly as bananas a Republican as, say, Senator John Cornyn (R-Arkham Asylum), who is upset that Obama Attorney General nominee Eric ...

Let's Face It, Conservatives--AS A GROUP--Are Incompetent
Open Left - Front Page — ... who sent out a CD to committee members containing a song called "Barack the Magic Negro." But some more attention is also being paid to Dawson, who has faced scrutiny for his membership in an all-white country club -- which he only resigned shortly before starting his current campaign. And now there's this, too. And no, that's not the SNL version, though it's certainly not ready for primetime. They're also still rallying in defense of torture and against the rule of law: To Prosecute Torture or Not to ...

Scottish Haggis Lives Up to the Name, Backs Holder
Firedoglake — ... Speaking of judgment, Holder also has resolved -- to Specter's satisfaction, at least -- the GOP demand that he promise not to prosecute Bush administration intelligence officials who engaged in brutal interrogations at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere. ...