Our muckrakers are compiling a timeline of the CIA torture tapes affair, a handy dandy reference for those following the story. We’ll have that up shortly and welcome input from readers on things we may have missed. Stay tuned.
Late Update: In all its glory, our CIA torture tapes timeline.
The deadline is fast approaching so get your nominations in now for our first annual (or last annual, depending on how things go) Golden Duke Awards.
As one reader points out, debauchery and licentiousness may make a nominee eligible for the award, but it’s that little extra something that pushes them over the edge:
I don’t doubt that Senator Vitter has already been proposed for Dukes in Sex and Generalized Carnality and General Interest. His admission that he was a long-term patron of a DC bordello and response to allegations of patronizing others in Louisiana could even put him in the running for the Testimonial Trainwreck Duke. The segue from denying a multi-year dalliance in New Orleans to the water bill is priceless.
Then there was Vitter’s attempt to pacify his religious base by earmarking $100,000 for a creationist group in Louisiana “to develop a plan to promote better science education.” The group in question sends around an “addendum” to science textbooks which promotes the view that “the fossilization process requires a violent burial. ⦠When the billions of fossils that are everywhere are considered in this light, the earth’s history had some very violent floods in its past.” Or just the one big flood, perhaps. He ultimately withdrew that earmark, denying “that its intention was to mandate and push creationism within the public schools” but withdrawing the earmark “to avoid more hysterics.”
I have taken to thinking of Sen. Vitter as the “Vitteruvian man,” one hand on the Bible, one in the public till, two arms draped over the shoulders of prostitutes, while under the table, his four legs are playing footsies with the girls and the religious right. I think he richly deserves his own Golden Duke.
A strong effort from the pro-Vitter crowd.
Can you do better? We want to hear from you.
Are you an Iran war hawk dismayed by the recent National Intelligence Estimate revealing that Iran shut down its nuclear weapons program in 2003? Don’t be sad. Now you can take a trip down saber-rattling lane with this wistful recap of some of the rhetorical highlights of those heady pre-NIE days …
We found ourselves smitten with the poll trend graphs that Pollster.com compiles, so in conjunction with the good folks there we’ve added Pollster.com widgets at TPM Election Central.
If you scroll down a bit below the fold, in the middle column, you’ll see we’ve added charts tracking the national polls and the state polls in the first three primary states, on the Democratic and Republican sides, for a total of eight widgets.
With a quick glance, you can see the state of play in the various races. With a click, you can go to the larger format charts at Pollster.com.
Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), last night on PBS’ Newshour:
GWEN IFILL: I just would like to — but do you think that waterboarding, as I described it, constitutes torture?
SEN. KIT BOND: There are different ways of doing it. It’s like swimming, freestyle, backstroke. The waterboarding could be used almost to define some of the techniques that our trainees are put through, but that’s beside the point. It’s not being used.
Late Update: Watch the video.
As mentioned below, Kit Bond has quite the benign analogy for waterboarding. Here’s the video:
Late Update: I should mention that Bond is the ranking Republican on the Senate intelligence committee.
Was the destruction of the CIA torture tapes facilitated by winks, nods, and turned heads throughout the Administration?