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AMERICANS AND TORTURE. Shrill Charlie Pierce and the unshrill New York Times editorialists are correct -- it was substantively a fool's game and a disgrace for Democrats to consciously refuse to engage the torture debate, and, as The Times puts it, "it�s time for them to either try to fix this bill or delay it until after the election." I totally agree with this. I will only note -- not by way of defending the Democrats, but merely of lamenting the state of the nation on this issue -- something Sandy Levinson said yesterday. He asked why, if the Democrats can openly be called the party of death, the Republicans shouldn't be known as "the party of torture":
Presumably, Democrats are hesitant to use such a term as "the party of torture" either because it would be viewed as over the top (unlike "the party of death?") or, more ominously, because they fear that too many "median-vote" Americans actually like the idea of tortuous modes of investigation against those the administration declares, by fiat or otherwise, to be "deserving" of such treatment.I too find the second possibility ominous. But not implausible. It's true that, when talking to pollsters, it's usually the case that less than a majority of Americans are willing to say affirmatively that torture is justified as an anti-terror policy (though at least a third of those polled usually are willing to say that). But I think the polling, combined with the way political fights like Abu Ghraib and the 2004 election actually played out, provide evidence that at least a small majority of Americans aren't exercised or politically motivated by anti-torture arguments, and are open to being influenced by (implicitly pro-torture) right-wing appeals on the issue. I hasten to repeat that this does not justify Democratic silence and acquiescence on the issue, given not only its bedrock importance but also the clear existence of a very substantial anti-torture constituency of Americans. But I think the grounds for gloom regarding this issue and this moment in American history go beyond merely the cowardice of the Democrats.
--Sam Rosenfeld