Nancy Pelosi and the GOP-fueled media narrative on torture

By Michael J.W. Stickings

(Following up on my earlier post on Specter and Pelosi.)

If top Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Bob Graham had any idea what was going on -- that is, that the Bush Administration had signed off on torture and that detainees in U.S. custody were being tortured -- they should have spoken out forcefully at the time.

But the story here isn't Pelosi, or what may now be her hypocrisy. This is what the Republicans want the story to be, for obvious reasons (anything to distract attention and make the Dems look bad, if only because of right-wing spin and a media establishment that plays right along), but the real story remains this: It was the Republicans who went along enthusiastically with Bush and Cheney et al. on torture.

It was the Republicans who defended torture then and who do so now. There were exceptions, like McCain, but, for the most part, Republicans went along with Bush and Cheney on anything and everything having to do with their so-called war on terror. If Democrats can be criticized for anything, it is for not being vigilant enough, not being aggressive enough, not subjecting the Bush Administration to more effective scrutiny. But, on torture, what could they have done if they were being lied to by the CIA?

The Beltway media, doing the Republicans' bidding and taking unadulterated GOP spin as their narrative, are all over Pelosi at the moment, smearing her and her party at every turn. It is essential that Democrats retake control of this story and, as much as possible, redirect the focus at the real culprits.