I smell desperation. From Newsweek:
President Bush today distanced himself from his administration’s quiet effort to push through a law that would make it easier to send captured terror suspects to countries where torture is used. The proposed law, recently tacked onto a much larger bill despite the fallout from last spring’s interrogation scandal, is seen as an attempt to counter a recent Supreme Court decision that would free some terror detainees being held without trial.Now, wait a minute. Bush thinks this legislation is necessary to defend the homeland against the next "big one" (caused by Kerry's election, I guess), but he doesn't want to push it now since it might hurt him in the polls. Get that. Bush doesn't want to do what HE THINKS is necessary to defend our country because it might hurt him in a poll. So he'd rather risk 3,000 more people dying than dropping 3 points in the polls. Regardless of what YOU think of this legislation, BUSH thinks it's necessary but is willing to sell out for political gain. That's scary.
In a letter published in The Washington Post, White House legal counsel Alberto Gonzales said the president “did not propose and does not support” a provision to the House bill that removes legal protections from suspects preventing their “rendering” to foreign governments known to torture prisoners. Gonzales said Bush “has made clear that the United States stands against and will not tolerate torture.”
But John Feehery, spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who introduced the bill last Friday, said the provision had actually been requested by the Department of Homeland Security. “For whatever reason,” Feehery said, “the White House has decided they don’t want to take this on because they’re afraid of the political implications.”
How's that for a debate question? Mr. President, how many points in the polls would you be willing to drop before selling out the American people to terrorists?
