With the revelation that Umar Abdulmutallab has been talking to investigators despite not being tortured and despite having been mirandized, the bottom has fallen out of the GOP's criticism of the way the Obama administration handled the attempted Christmas Day bombing.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell seems to have grown particularly desperate trying to respond, making an absolutely indefensible statement about the men and women on the front lines of the fight against al-Qaeda (via Adam Blickstein):
MCCONNELL: They've seen on full display, the chaos of treating the Christmas bomber as if he has robbed a convenient store. This was a person who was trying to blow a plane out of the air from Nigeria. It's clearly a case for the military and for our intelligence people, not for the U.S. court system. What happened? He was given a 50 minute interrogation, probably Larry King has interrogated people longer and better than that. After which he was assigned a lawyer who told him to shut up. That is not the way to deal with someone in the war on terror.
And again on Sunday:
“I mean, Larry King would have a more thorough interrogation of one of his [guests] than the Christmas bomber had by the Justice Department,” McConnell said, referring to the AP report that Abdulmutallab was interrogated for just 50 minutes before being read his Miranda rights.
This is an unconscionable statement. The men and women of the FBI put themselves on the line every day to protect the people of the United States from terrorist attacks, while politicians like McConnell puff out their chests and act like tough guys. They don't deserve to be disparaged by some high-ranking politician groping for a talking point on cable news.
McConnell owes the men and women of the FBI an apology.
UPDATE: Thinkprogress has video.
-- A. Serwer
