Obama Injecting Poison

President Obama has opened up a Pandora's Box when he indicated Tuesday that he is open to prosecuting Bush Administration officials for legal opinions on enhanced interrogation techniques. Instead of bringing people together (as he had promised in the campaign), Obama is injecting poison into our body politic.

The Wall Street Journal has an excellent editorial today on this:

Mark down the date. Tuesday, April 21, 2009, is the moment that any chance of a new era of bipartisan respect in Washington ended. By inviting the prosecution of Bush officials for their antiterror legal advice, President Obama has injected a poison into our politics that he and the country will live to regret.

Policy disputes, often bitter, are the stuff of democratic politics. Elections settle those battles, at least for a time, and Mr. Obama's victory in November has given him the right to change policies on interrogations, Guantanamo, or anything on which he can muster enough support. But at least until now, the U.S. political system has avoided the spectacle of a new Administration prosecuting its predecessor for policy disagreements. This is what happens in Argentina, Malaysia or Peru, countries where the law is treated merely as an extension of political power.

This really doesn't come as a surprise to conservatives. This behavior from the left (radical liberals, Marxists, socialists, statists, etc.) is classic. They aren't interested in electoral victory, they seek to destroy opposition.

If Obama or the Democrats in congress press ahead on prosecutions or "investigations" (i.e., a witch hunt), you can expect all hell breaking loose in this country.

To read the full article, go here.

Mark Levin Offers Defense For Bush Legal Advisors On Enhanced Interrogation

The Associated Press reported today:

President Barack Obama left the door open Tuesday to prosecuting Bush administration officials who devised the legal authority for gruesome terror-suspect interrogations, saying the United States lost "our moral bearings" with use of the tactics.

The question of whether to bring charges against those who devised justification for the methods "is going to be more of a decision for the attorney general within the parameters of various laws and I don't want to prejudge that," Obama said. The president discussed the continuing issue of terrorism-era interrogation tactics with reporters as he finished an Oval Office meeting with visiting King Abdullah II of Jordan.

Obama also said he could support a congressional investigation into the Bush-era terrorist detainee program, but only under certain conditions, such as if it were done on a bipartisan basis. He said he worries about the impact that high-intensity, politicized hearings in Congress could have on the government's efforts to cope with terrorism.

Talk-show host Hugh Hewitt wrote:

Instant and genuine outrage from callers and e-mailers greeted President Obama's about-face on the possibility of prosecuting former Bush Adminstration officials. Not only do such wild swings give everyone dealing with the president or the U.S. pause over his reliability, the idea of such an unprecedented attempt to criminalize prior policy positions immediately summons up the memory of Tailgunner Joe*, though this time the hunted are conservatives and the pitchforks are in the hands of Democrats.

Mark Levin, talk show host and author of the number one best-selling non-fiction book, Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto, offered to provide any Bush Administration official who provided legal opinions on the "enhanced interrogaton techniques" on terrorist prisoners legal defense "should the need arise." Mark Levin is president of the Landmark Legal Foundation in Washington, D.C. and is a practicing attorney.

Levin even went further in stating that if he does provide a defense, he would subpoena and depose Attorney General Eric Holder, President Obama or any other Obama official who presses for prosecution of Bush Administration officials. He also indicated that he would seek all correspondence, including emails, from the Obama Administration on this matter. This is politically-motivated, Levin said, and he would pull all stops to prove it.

He even indicated that he would go after Obama Administration officials in civil court, if necessary.

Levin likened this to "war" and will go after President Obama and his advisors in this case. Levin shouts: "Bring it on!"

*Senator Joseph McCarthy.

UPDATE (4/22/09): Levin said on his show today that he received a note from a daughter of John Wayne offering her services. She's an attorney. Sean Hannity says if necessary, he will raise defense funds.