November 14, 2011 11:45 am ET filed under Blog
Rep. West Defends Torture: "In The Movie G.I. Jane, Demi Moore Was Waterboarded"
November 14, 2011 10:37 am ET filed under Blog
Fact Checking The Sunday Shows - November 13, 2011
November 14, 2011 10:29 am ET filed under Fact Check
Fact Checking The Sunday Shows - November 13, 2011
The Penn State sexual abuse scandal headlined the political talk shows on Sunday, but Republican leaders still found plenty of time to air dishonest talking points about conservative policies. GOP super committee members Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) misled viewers about the root of the debt problem the committee is trying to solve and what Republicans have proposed to address it. In particular, both lawmakers severely distorted the impact of the failed Bush tax cuts. Elsewhere, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus declared that Republicans want to "reduce taxes on every single American," ignoring the party leaders demanding that the poor pay higher taxes, and struggling presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) claimed that "what we need to win this war on terror" is the reinstatement of Bush-approved torture techniques.
October 03, 2011 10:30 am ET filed under Blog
Fact Checking The Sunday Shows - October 2, 2011
October 03, 2011 10:20 am ET filed under Fact Check
Fact Checking The Sunday Shows - October 2, 2011
On the first weekend in October, the Sunday talk shows saw a presidential candidate, two governors, and a former vice president's daughter. Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) appeared on CBS and CNN to absolve President George W. Bush for the current economic situation while solely placing the blame on President Barack Obama. Not to be outdone by Barbour, Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) appeared on Meet the Press to lie about the president's previous statements on unemployment. Herman Cain, still riding high from his Florida straw poll victory, appeared on Fox News Sunday to falsely claim that his "9-9-9 plan" is actually fairer than the current progressive tax system. Lastly, Keep America Safe's Liz Cheney appeared on State of the Union to claim that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said that enhanced interrogation led us to Osama bin Laden. In fact, Panetta has said that the Bush-era torture program produced lies and misinformation about the identity of bin Laden's personal courier.
August 31, 2011 12:25 pm ET filed under Video
Cheney Misrepresents Record On Torture And Bin Laden
From the August 30, 2011, edition of Fox News' Hannity:
August 31, 2011 10:43 am ET filed under Blog
Cheney Misrepresents Record On Torture And Bin Laden
May 17, 2011 4:31 pm ET filed under Blog
Santorum: Sen. McCain "Doesn't Understand How Enhanced Interrogation Works"
May 12, 2011 11:10 am ET filed under Blog
Sen. McCain: Torture Did Not Lead Us To Bin Laden, And It Undermines Our National Character
May 09, 2011 10:19 am ET filed under Blog
Fact Checking The Sunday Shows - May 8, 2011
May 09, 2011 9:51 am ET filed under Fact Check
Fact Checking The Sunday Shows - May 8, 2011
The right wing deployed its war-on-terror heavy hitters to Sunday's political shows to proclaim that waterboarding — or "enhanced interrogation" — was what got us to Osama bin Laden. Former Vice President Dick Cheney (R) said those methods got us "the early leads" while his daughter Liz claimed CIA Director Leon Panetta credits the bin Laden intelligence to harsh interrogations, Rudy Giuliani (R-NY) insisted they played "a significant role," and former Defense Sec. Donald Rumsfeld (R) said "it's clear" that the interrogation program "worked." But the pro-torture right protests too much; there's no evidence "enhanced interrogation" led us to bin Laden, and Panetta's comments were not so clear-cut as Liz Cheney claimed. Meanwhile, on CNN, former Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) misled viewers about Democratic debt-reduction plans and claimed — wrongly — that the Bush tax cuts haven't helped the wealthy or hurt the rest of us.
January 26, 2011 12:06 pm ET filed under Blog
Despite Right-Wing Freakout, Civilian Court Sentences Terrorist To Life In Prison
February 04, 2010 4:03 pm ET filed under Blog
Rep. Burton: Working With Abdulmutallab's Parents Is Not "The Way To Conduct Intelligence"
August 31, 2009 6:58 pm ET filed under Blog
Former GOP Rep. Defends Torture: Waterboarding Is Just "Scaring" Somebody (Updated With Video)
June 05, 2009 3:28 pm ET filed under Blog
Republicans Still Playing Politics With Torture
The United States was built upon the rule of law. Yet, Republicans like Pete Hoekstra and John Kline are willing to abandon a fundamental part of who we are as Americans just to score a few cheap political points.
May 22, 2009 11:05 am ET filed under Blog
Rep. King Defends Torture By Citing Intelligence Official Who Opposes Torture
While Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair has said the use of torture produced usable information "in some circumstances," he also maintains that the damage it caused "far outweighed" any benefit.
April 24, 2009 12:40 pm ET filed under Fact Check
Tortured Logic: Rep. Peter King Will Shut Down Congress Over Torture Investigations
On April 23, 2009, Politico reported the completely unsurprising fact that Rep. Peter King -- who recently made the nonsensical suggestion that the DHS should be "talking about look out for mosques" -- doesn't want any investigation into Bush era officials responsible for torture. In fact, Rep. King threatened to shut down Congress if any charges are filed, saying, "[w]e would need to have a scorched earth policy and use procedural means to bring the place to a halt - go to war." But Rep. King's defense of torture ignores reality: torture doesn't work and it puts more American lives at risk.
