Watch the video below of Shep (Smith) talking torture with colleagues Trace (Gallagher) and Judge (Napolitano) yesterday on Fox News’s online show, “The Strategy Room,” a segment which sparked this Twitter exchange between Time’s Michael Scherer (used to work at CJR) and one Harold Johnson (sacoharry on Twitter).
michaelscherer: Shepard Smith, for four years running my favorite cable tv host, is always marvel to behold
sacoharry: Is this Shep’s “Anderson Cooper in New Orleans” breakout moment?
michaelscherer: I was always of the op[inion] that Shep did better th[a]n Coop in N[ew] O[rleans]
sacoharry: But Anderson’s “Where’s the helllllp?” plea kinda skyrocketed him. Shep’s been smart, reliable, and under-the-radar IMHO
To whom does he refer when he says "We?"
I'd have thought he were a little more historically informed.
"We"--the USofA, its military and civilian intelligence operations--have ALWAYS tortured their enemies.
Ever since the Colonial period, at least, European "Americans" tortured their indigenous antagonists. White folks invented 'scalping,' and weren't squeamish if the scalpee were still alive when deprived of their hair.
There are famous photographs of USer Marines waterboarding Filipino insurgents in the early years of the previous Century.
I know for a FACT that USer troops in the Nam often tortured and subsequently executed suspected VC. "If they're dead, they'r VC," was a common refrain...
Smith's merely repeating official USer propaganda, as a member of the sold-out, lap-dog CorpoRat press MUST do to remain employed...
I do NOT EVER look to the SCUM for journalistic courage...
#1 Posted by Woody, CJR on Thu 23 Apr 2009 at 12:05 PM
And who pissed in your cornflakes, Woody?
The thing about the rule of law is not that it always prevents atrocities like torture from occurring, it's that it lays out strong penalties for those who commit those atrocities.
Under the Bush Administration, for the first time in our nation's history, the penalty for violating the rule of law regarding torture was rationalized away. Suddenly, it just didn't exist anymore.
Shepard Smith grew up with learning about the same America I did: We are a nation of laws, not men. We hold ourselves to a higher standard. We do not stoop to the level of dictators and strongmen. But under Bush we were none of those things, and I believe Shep is just now really figuring that out. The rest of the DC Village should be so fortunate.
http://bigfagontherag.typepad.com
#2 Posted by BigFagontheRag, CJR on Thu 23 Apr 2009 at 12:36 PM
Shepard Smith was deliberately acting irrational. Whether to give less credibility to the pursuit of American criminals amongst those who govern us. He said the same thing over and over. He had nothing new to say, it was frankly embassing. But oddly enough it seemed like he was during it purposively to almost hyptnotize his message.
His message is America does not torture. Then he said, which is most revealing, is that I do not care how you define torture, that is for others to decide, but America does not torture. If torture is defined as not including enhanced interrogations such as water boarding and America does those acts, that is not torture, or at least not torture when America does it.
Then, he said America can not torture, because we are the leaders of the world, we SET the standard. This is an American exceptionalism which is affecting real willingness to put an end to the crimes and deterring future infringements into torture. Rather, America does not torture, it can not be perceived that it tortures, so what was going on in Cuba and Iraq is not torture, because America does not torture. It's not torture because America does not torture. He will allow others to make decision on defining torture and assume any decisions they make are a definition which is not torture, because America is of the people and America does not torture. He will not believe people making those decisions would decide on torture, because he is people too and he would not do it. This argument is very naive and real irresponsible.
America can only set the standard if they find justice not ignore it and just yell loudly. America has been a great nation at times and there are of the people at times, but to be so self-deluded to not tackle the concerns head on using the rule of law which has made America great at times is insanity. The image of America is more hurt by the hypocricy which is noticed and accepted by the foreign world, just read foreign press.
#3 Posted by Jonathan, CJR on Thu 23 Apr 2009 at 04:00 PM
Woody states for a FACT that GI's tortured Vietcong in Vietnam. Was he there to observe this? Did he see it with his own eyes? As a thirty year veteran who was there, I will state for the record that in my two tours incountry, I was never a witness to anything like this, and I have serious doubts that Woody did either. It'as very easy to set on the sidelines and bitch, it's tougher to be in the action. I suspect Woody is of the former persuasion. To quote one of your probable heros, Bill O'reilly, "What say you, Woody"
#4 Posted by bigdon1, CJR on Mon 27 Apr 2009 at 04:08 PM