National Review has discovered the winning theme for Scott Brown’s victory and for a Republican resurgence in 2010: Torture Works! And a “nation under siege” can willfully ignore its own laws.
Since Vice President Cheney warned that the “War on Terror” would last for decades, Republicans have been forced to defend (or, more often, to ignore, deflect, or even to deny) the indefinite suspension of any US laws that might interfere with the conduct of that still-undeclared war. That existential contradiction will make it very hard for “small government, pro-liberty” GOP candidates to address security issues squarely in 2010 and (especially) in 2012. (Of course, Obama has embraced the same mindset. “Change,” anyone?).
Will U.S. Senator Scott Brown or anyone else in the GOP dare to confront this issue squarely? As far as clearly confronting the issues, the GOP cloakroom will continue to be the party’s Waffle House until they address the forbidden question.
Oh yes, and NR perpetuates Richer Perle’s standard neocon mantra: Only the “Left” is interested in the rule of law.
9:40 am on January 20, 2010
