You aren’t seeking to shut anyone up…you simply wish there were some way to keep them from actually having an effect on the debate. Like back in the Good Old Days, when 10 letters to the editor per issue, in a format difficult to archive or retrieve, was about the maximum of public feedback ever found in the realm of the information media.
As far as the apparent withdrawl of Brennan for consideration of the job at CIA: there’s no need to place the responsibility- or blame, as you would have it- on “the netroots”, and pointing to that one decision as a way to smear the entire phenomenon of grassroots public feedback as advise-and-consent by lynch mob.
The decision was Barack Obama’s- as was his final FISA vote, to point out a similar example where a groundswell of vocal “netroots” opposition to FISA was not successful in swaying him.
As to whether any “laws were broken”- within the context of Brennan’s simply offering a sympathetic view toward the torture tactics inaugurated by the Bush administration: I suppose not. But in my view as a citizen, those tactics are not on legally assured ground, and they deserve to be challenged, not given passive assent. And I don’t want someone at CIA who supports their use.
It isn’t a matter of whether John Brennan might someday disobey the President or Congress, either. It’s a matter of whether he might influence them to retain a status quo that many Americans, including myself, consider unacceptable. So I’m not regretting my decision. And it remains to be seen whether John Brennan’s “career aspirations are ended”, as you would have it. You make it sound as if- due to the Netroots Lynch Mob- he’s been cashiered, or something similar. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that’s the case.
There are many worse tragedies than reaching the top step on a career ladder, with nowhere further to go. Not many make the cut from Lieutenant Colonel to Colonel to General in the officer ranks of the US military, but they manage to cope.
My Dad got a Purple Heart and a Silver Star in Korea fighting a regime that used the very same tactics endorsed by the Bush administration’s “war on terror”, and I was always led to believe that he did so in order that those inhumanities wouldn’t become part of the American legacy.
Here- read all about it: http://www.amazon.com/Brainwashing-Edward-Hunter/dp/B000J1HOGS
If Brennan didn’t have the fortitude to speak up in opposition to the official imprimatur for torture as American policy given by the Bush administration, then I’d rather the job be given to someone who did.
I’m not acting in any capacity, as a part of any “Netroots PAC.” That’s just my personal opinion. And I will continue to air it, and other political opinions, on the wonderfully empowering technology of the Internet. As long as I’m able.
