The Other "T" word

More on Torture, lest we forget it amidst the horror of Tsunami.

First, TalkLeft reports that the Alberto Gonzales confirmation hearing is set for January 5th: "Some liberal groups are opposing Gonzales' confirmation. Others are requesting Senators to conduct a thorough questioning of him and reserving judgment. TalkLeft falls in the latter group." I don't really get the "thorough questioning" angle."

What, pray tell, is there to question about, exactly? I'm all for getting him on the record about what exactly his position is, but I don't see how anything he says can possibly make up for the memos. Obviously, I fall in the "oppose" group, along with the Center for Constitutional Rights, whose stated policy is: “The best way for the American people to send a message to the Bush administration and the world that ‘we the people’ of the United States do not condone torture is to mobilize to reject the nomination of Alberto Gonzales.”

Next, from Pandagon:

Jack Balkin wisely says:"The real challenge for the left is making people care about torture, even when torture is not on the front page." The real challenge for the left is making people care about anything once it slips off the front page. Hey America? What happened to those stolen munitions? What about that bureaucrat who got browbeat into concealing the true cost of Medicare? Come to think of it, who did out Valerie Plame? What was all that stuff about Tom DeLay's ethics? Didn't the troops need more armor or something? And wasn't there some controversy over Bush knowingly using bad intelligence to lead us to war? There was a Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns went to the doctor for a check-up, only to be told he owed his life to the hundreds of terminal illnesses intent on finishing him. There were so many trying to do the job that they'd jammed the doorway and none could get in. The doctor, of course, said that it'd take no more than a simple breeze to upset the balance and kill Mr. Burns. Mr. Burns, for his part, thought it meant he was invincible.

The Bush Administration is Mr. Burns. But in this reality show -- "Who Wants To Read The Boring Old Newspaper? " -- they're right. The sheer number of scandals ensure the electorate's ADD will approve a subject change far before any particular outrage reaches critical mass. Pour that in the blender with Congressional control, an insipid media and neutered Democrats, and scandals look unlikely to topple this group. But political landscapes are funny things and, as a wise man once said, even the slightest breeze could change everything....