Pirate's Cove

They darned sure don’t want to talk about the economy, which, under their stewardship, crashed when they assumed control of Congress. When adding a Democrat president to the mix, they added legislation that didn’t help alleviate the recession, and made the private business environment toxic. The recession officially ended in June 2009, yet the United States has wallowed in pathetic conditions since. So, what now? Two from The Hill

The Senate Intelligence Committee plans to finish a long-awaited report on “enhanced interrogation techniques” this summer, reviving the debate over whether the United States has engaged in torture.

The panel’s lengthy report has been more than three years in the making and examines controversial interrogation techniques such as water boarding and sleep deprivation.

The release of the report is likely to move the issue of enhanced interrogation to the forefront of the political debate as the parties vie for control of Congress and the White House.

I think we can expect Senate hearings on this, calling forth witnesses, subpoenaing former interrogators and Bush era officials in order to create a circus and throw some red meat to their base. Republicans point out that we wouldn’t have gotten Osama Bin Laden without the use of enhanced interrogation methods. It’s a cute distraction, eh? However, Repubulicans will be able to point out that the Senate Democrats haven’t held hearings on Fast and Furious, a program which ended up killing Americans.

Democratic candidates are using JPMorgan’s $2 billion loss in campaign attacks against Wall Street, a trend liberal groups predict will escalate between now and election day.

Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren (D) led the charge earlier this week by calling for a “new Glass-Steagall Act” that would limit what types of trades banks can be involved in. She followed that with a radio ad touting her work on Wall Street reform that said, “she told all the Wall Street banks to clean up their act.”

While it would probably make sense to create a separation between holding banks and trading banks, there was nothing illegal in the loss. Furthermore, perhaps Warren should stop taking Wall Street money.

New Mexico House candidate Eric Griego (D), a liberal netroots favorite in a tough primary race, released his own ad on Tuesday calling for “Wall Street bankers who broke the law go to jail.”

Perhaps Griego could point out who broke which law. So far, being a fool and making bad investments isn’t illegal.

The article goes on to discuss how many “progressive” organizations think this will become a campaign issue deep into general election time. I say to the Democrats “go for it.” It’ll give Romney and the Republicans a chance to highlight Obama’s own donations from Wall Street, investment bankers, links to Jamie Dimon, etc. Also, they’ll have the opportunity to highlight the enormous amounts of taxpayer money Democrats and Obama have wasted on failed projects, including the weatherization scheme, Solyndra, and First Solar. Are you better off now than you were before the $800 billion Stimulus?

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.