Eugene David<br>...The One-Minute Pundit

Posted 8:18 AM by Gene

You know how a light bulb can sputter if it isn't fully secure in the socket? Richard Cohen's column is like that. Today it sputters ON:

America should repudiate torture not because it is always ineffective -- nothing is always anything -- or because others loathe it but because it degrades us and runs counter to our national values. It is a statement of principle, somewhat similar to why we do not tap all phones or stop and frisk everyone under the age of 28. Those measures would certainly reduce crime, but they are abhorrent to us.

But it is important to understand that abolishing torture will not make us safer. Terrorists do not give a damn about our morality, our moral authority or what one columnist called "our moral compass." George Bush was certainly disliked in much of the world, but the Sept. 11 attacks were planned while Bill Clinton was in office, and he offended no one with the possible exception of the Christian right. Indeed, he went around the world apologizing for America's misdeeds -- slavery, in particular. No terrorist turned back as a result.

It sputters off toward the end when Dick gingerly compares Dubya to the NAZIS, but we'll take our light from the press in whatever tiny quantities we can.