Bush on leakers: "I would like to string them up by the thumbs."

[kskiska]

Canadian Book Gives Bush Two Thumbs Up

As might be expected, a new book by Eddie Goldenberg , chief of staff to then-Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien , is not making a splash in this country. But "The Way It Works: Inside Ottawa," has rocketed to the bestseller list up north.

(snip)

In March 2002, six months after the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush, with the war in Afghanistan going well, "jovially greeted" Chretien. Both leaders talked "about their dislike of those who leak to the press," Goldenberg recalls, "a dislike shared by all heads of government, regardless of party, ideology or country."

" 'If I catch anyone who leaks in my government,' " Bush is quoted as saying, " 'I would like to string them up by the thumbs.' He paused for a few seconds and added, 'The same way we do with prisoners in Guantanamo!' The president laughed at his own joke."

"Our notes from the meeting show no reference to Gitmo," a White House spokesman said Friday.

Goldenberg says he can back it up.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

[Donnachaidh]

1. no need to prove he's a sadistic bastard, huh?

[rfranklin]

2. It's only a matter of time before he tries to do something like that...

The push for Presidential powers equivalent to a Third World despot is leading up to it. Which is why we need to get control of Congress. I worry though that even with that, the Dems will not work diligently to reverse each and every Bush attack on the Bill of Rights.

[kysrsoze]

3. OMG! How do you even respond to that? He thinks it's funny.

He's seriously insane. It would be comical were he not the antichrist.

[marmar]

4. Let there be no doubt that this man loves torture...

How Bush is an asshole, let me count the ways....

[MessiahRp]

7. Cowards love torture from afar...

He would never fight man to man... he has thugs do his dirty work.

Rp

[endarkenment]

5. I believe that would be allowed under our new laws.

As stringing up by the thumbs does not cause enough organ damage to qualify as actual torture.

By the way has busholini signed the abolition of habaeus corpus and our withdrawal from the GC yet?

[Karenca]

6. k --- r . NT

[sinkingfeeling]

8. And I would like traitors like Bush and Cheney strung up by their thumbs.

[KansDem]

16. I too would like to see them strung up...

...and not necessarily by their thumbs!

[bullimiami]

9. im sure he would. probably like to give them a little homomasochistic

treatment and waterboarding while hes at it.

its how he does.

[niceypoo]

10. Unless they leak the name of a CIA agent...

...then they are to be awarded a 'freedom medal'

[Golden Raisin]

11. Abu Ghraib & Gitmo

and all the "rendition" sites around the globe did NOT happen in a vacuum. This has been approved right from the top of the pyramid. All his little "jokes" like the above about hanging leakers by their thumbs, or how, "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator", are extremely revealing and extremely scary.

[liberalmuse]

12. Jaysus, what a sadistic little f*ck.

Laughing about torture at Gitmo? What a sick bastard this pretender-in-chief is.

[helderheid]

13. jeeeeeesus that gives me chills

[Hubert Flottz]

14. And this is the type of person the GOP wants to give even more

power to? The GOPers are crazy as hell.

[Jcrowley]

15. Detestable punk

In truth this pissant is a sniveling little coward only protected by his privilege. I do not forgive this man, I detest him quite profoundly. And that is a natural and very healthy reaction to someone who revels in torturing frogs and laughs at the thought of executing a mentally handicapped (sic) person.

Fuck you George Bush.

[progressoid]

17. Good - are you gonna start with KKKarl or Hadley or Cheney or ...

[tex-wyo-dem]

18. The truly sick mind of the dictator-in-chief is really coming to light...

as time goes on.

There is truly no psychological difference between * and other brutal dictators this world has known throughout history.

[sakabatou]

19. What a fucking sociopath

[peekaloo]

20. Bu$holini in all his full gory.

[Marr]

21. That was in March of 2002?

That's long before Abu Ghraib and other torture scandals came out- and before all the denials and "we d not torture" talk.

If he can back this quote up, I'd like him to do it. It's very damning.

[petgoat]

22. "Two Thumbs Up?" Half-thumbs don't count. nt

[Javaman]

23. Then he* should start with himself*. nt

[BrotherBuzz]

24. White House transcripts are routinely scrubbed or sanitized

I have no reason the believe Goldenberg doesn't have a true transcript and recording of the event.

[krkaufman]

25. I see no reason to doubt that quote. n/t