Media Largely Ignores Rudy's Claim That He Waterboarded Mafia Suspects
November 6, 2007 -- 6:01 PM EST // //
I really don't know what to make of this. As faithful TPM readers know by now, over the weekend Rudy reacted to a question about extreme torture techniques by saying the following:
"Now, intensive questioning works. If I didn't use intensive questioning, there would be a lot of mafia guys running around New York right now and crime would be a lot higher in New York than it is. Intensive question has to be used. Torture should not be used. The line between the two is a difficult one."If you watch the video of this you can see that Rudy was perfectly serious. Which means that Rudy either was saying:
(a) He literally used such techniques on mafia suspects; or
(b) He actually thinks that there are similarities between waterboarding/extreme interrogation techniques and the questioning of suspects he conducted as U.S. Attorney, in the sense that he sees extreme interrogation as little more than an extension of lawyerly cross-examination.
In a sane universe, either of these interpretations would be seen far and wide within our journalistic and political establishment as so beyond the pale, so completely whacked and out of touch with reality, that either would make it overwhelmingly obvious that this fellow is completely unfit for the Presidency. Either interpretation should make it startlingly clear how unfit this guy is to be anywhere near the nuke button.
As such, this should be a big story. And indeed, if a Dem had said something even a fraction as ludicrous it would be a big story. So what kind of news coverage has it gotten?
Almost none. It got one paragraph at the end of a Times story that didn't describe the comment as being at all eyebrow-raising. It was covered by The Boston Globe and the New York Daily News and got a mention from Keith Olbermann. It got no mention that I can find from The Washington Post, the Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, or any of the major networks. The only pundit save Olberman I can find who talked about it at all is Richard Cohen.
This is really, really remarkable. How to explain it?
My view is that many in the media elite still view Rudy as a kind of harmless buffoon who's only being talked about as Presidential material because he hit the political jackpot on 9/11. His lisp, his comically clipped speaking style, his marital history, his history of cross-dressing, and the alleged impossibility of his winning a GOP primary have lulled lots of commentators and pundits into seeing him as little more than a political freak, as a kind of comic book character who will shrink and disappear when the 9/11 spell wears off. Buffoonery like the above just gets slotted into that narrative and hence overlooked.
You'd think that these folks in the media elite, who have the highest regard for Rudy's rival, John McCain, would be listening to what he has to say about this. As he put it: “When someone says waterboarding is similar to harsh interrogation techniques used against the mafia in New York City, they do not have enough experience to lead our military."
Why won't people in the media listen to Saint McCain? As he rightly suggests (though with far too much understatement), this guy is completely unfit for the Presidency. That kind of matters. At the least you'd think someone would ask Rudy or his campaign for clarification of this.
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