Nothing Worth Fighting For

by digby

On the heels of Greg Craig and Philip Carter resigning, this news that the Dawn Johnson nomination is dead can’t help but make you wonder if there isn’t a reason why all these high profile critics of the Bush administration’s torture and detention policies are being systematically dropped. I don’t understand why that would be unless there is a reason to believe they would object to current practices. After all, none of them had or would have the authority to launch investigations of the past.

On the politics, one hates to jump to conclusions but it is very curious that in virtually every single issue area, the administration goes out of its way to reject the people and items that are at the top of the liberal agenda. It’s hard to believe that it’s an accident.

It would be great for Obama to renominate her and fight publicly for her confirmation. He could even provoke a fight over the filibuster as part of the bargain. It would also be great if I woke up tomorrow morning and was 25 years old again. Somehow I think it’s a long shot.

h/t to KG

Update: I didn’t realize that it sounded like I was saying that Obama had ordered torture. I meant that they may have been worried about the military and the CIA going off the reservation and didn’t want to risk having people on board who were going to make a big stink about it. There is no doubt in my mind that Obama has ordered that the torture be stopped. What I’m not so sure about is his commitment to holding people responsible for doing it against his orders. The administration has, after all, capitulated to the military and CIA’s rationale that we can’t even show pictures of abuse lest it inflame the Muslim world. Combined with their other hedging on civil liberties, I think it’s fair to speculate about why some of the most vociferous critics of the Bush administration’s practices are being excluded.

But no, I don’t think Obama is ordering torture. I apologize for being unclear.