parrotting from him <\/a>the utterly absurd claim that waterboarding somebody 183 times *proves* it wasn\u2019t torture.<\/p>\nSo the Administration\u2019s position was \u201cWe only waterboarded three guys\u201d while leaving out the fact that this mean \u201cTwo guys were waterboarded a total of 266 times\u201d. Limbaugh\u2019s cultists are fighting the rear guard action of trying to lie that waterboarding somebody 183 times is not torture, but even guys like Jonah Goldberg are starting to crack a bit on that outrageous bit of bullshit. They might even one day start to wonder about the roughly 100 other prisoners who died violently while in our custody\u2013and the many many more who did not, but whom the International Red Cross describes as having been tortured.<\/p>\n
Still, never underestimate the power of rationalization. So those who are (finally) admitting that Bush\/Cheney lied through their teeth when they said \u201cwe do not torture\u201d seem to have no problem granting total and complete credulity to everything else they say. \u201cIt yielded great intelligence!\u201d \u201cThey had i8t coming!\u201d \u201cWar means moral carte blanche for whatever we feel we have to do.\u201d All these and many other dubious assertions and outright lies continue to circulate on the Rubber Hose Right and will do so\u2013because Obama has no intention of doing anything about it.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not because Obama is a great big huggy bear who just wants to forgive and forget. It\u2019s because George Dubya Bush handed all future executives some really nifty power and government is like a roach motel: right go in but they do not come back out again.<\/p>\n