A couple of weeks ago, Dick Cheney interviewed with ABC’s Martha Raddatz, and dismissed the opinion of millions of Americans with a snotty, "So?"
CHENEY: On the security front, I think there’s a general consensus that we’ve made major progress, that the surge has worked. That’s been a major success.
RADDATZ: Two-third of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.
CHENEY: So? [emphasis TP’s]
Tonight, President Bush did a Friday night news dump interview with Raddatz where he effectively said precisely the same thing–only this time about torture (h/t Scarecrow).
President Bush says he knew his top national security advisors discussed and approved specific details about how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to an exclusive interview with ABC News Friday.
"Well, we started to connect the dots, in order to protect the American people." Bush told ABC News White House correspondent Martha Raddatz. "And, yes, I’m aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved."
[snip]
In his interview with ABC News, Bush said the ABC report about the Principals’ involvement was not so "startling."
[snip]
In the interview with ABC News Friday, Bush defended the waterboarding technique used against KSM.
"We had legal opinions that enabled us to do it," Bush said. "And, no, I didn’t have any problem at all trying to find out what Khalid Sheikh Mohammed knew."
The President said, "I think it’s very important for the American people to understand who Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was. He was the person who ordered the suicide attack — I mean, the 9/11 attacks."
"So?!?!?!" You’ve never seen a United States President order torture from the Oval Office before, you wuss? Well, get over it. It’s not so startling.
No, President Bush, it’s not startling at all. I understand you don’t have any problem authorizing the water-boarding of KSM.
But I would imagine your efforts to stage a show trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed just got a whole lot more difficult.