NP: Torchwood

I thought it was supposed to be all the noise generated between the left and the right that precluded real political debate in this country, but this week, it's been all on the left.

I get that some people think Michael Mukasey's inability to speak to waterboarding and whether or not it constitutes torture is a legitimate reason for him not to be confirmed as the next Attorney General. It's a compelling argument. But what I've seen over and over in the last week is that those who hold that view will not even give the time of day to the notion that Mukasey might still be an asset to the Justice Department on other factors, whether that's the New York Times calling Senator Schumer's point of view "cozy rationalism" or Kos pretty much laying out that he won't even consider the opposing view on Bill Maher's show.

Yes, it's certainly less than ideal that the Congress has to deal with a choice between a nominee who won't call his bosses criminals before he's hired and an interim appointment who would likely be a complete disaster, but that's unfortunately the choice, and it's hard to respect those who oppose Mukasey if they won't at least debate those within their own party who happen to think differently about it.

I worry that this sort of reflexive name-calling of those who don't hold your views is getting too entrenched in the system, and the emergence of this sort of circular firing squad is doing nothing to alleviate that worry.

As it relates to torture, it's pretty obvious that Bush and the White House are going to take any and all steps to make sure they aren't charged with breaking the law. That, sad as it may be for the republic, is a given. All the blog posts in the world won't make Dick Cheney fall on his sword for the good of the country. Confirming or not confirming Mukasey does not make a lick of difference in that regard. This notion of justice being served for war crimes perpetrated by the administration is a liberal fantasy that reaches a certain critical mass in the echo chamber of one-sided "debate," and now that one side has gotten even smaller.

This isn't me begging for cooler heads to prevail -- although both Kevin Drum and Talking Points Memo are at least giving some voice to the other view (and probably have been labeled as traitors by other factions of the hysterical left as a result) -- this is me just venting about how fucked up things are. You may be watching disaffection in action, poxes on both houses and all.