When Lawyers Do it in a Civil Suit, it is Called Pleading in the Alternative. When You See a GOP Politican do it

you are watching an evil liar at work.

To explain, in the world of civil lawsuits, the person being sued has the right to plead in the alternative. That basically means he or she gets to throw up there every possible defense, even if some may sorta contradict others. The main reason that is allowed is you are not allowed a do over; you have to plead every possible defense in your 'answer' to the civil complaint. So even if they deny being in charge of the property, or say someone else owns it, they can say that any repairs they did were satisfactory, not the cause of the accident/injury, bla bla, yadda yadda.

Now in a criminal case that is not allowed. Firstly you don't file an answer in a criminal case; you plead not guilty. And it is the burden of the prosecution to make the case. It is the defendant's first line of defense to poke holes in that case, and if necessary, mount a full on alternative narrative that explains why the defendant is either actually not factually guilty, or not legally liable under the criminal laws (they are not necessarily the same thing.)

However, if between poking holes in the prosecution's case, and mounting their own counter narrative, the defense contradicts itself, the prosecution gets to say,"See. Defendant can't even keep his story straight. It's inconsistent. Defendant is lying. (That is usually inferred not deliberately plainly said.) The defendant is clearly guilty and trying every possible argument to get off."

Now why did I go that long in the set up? The corrupt Republicans, as a party, as a group, are acting like they are only held to the civil trail standard, with this torture stuff, instead of the more stringent and applicable (if there were a hard and fast moral rule in play) criminal trial standard. This past week they have shifted from merely saying torture is ok (even if we deny it is torture.) Now they are saying but Nancy Pelosi knew about it and did nothing about it (when she was merely minority member of the committee.) And even if the Bush administration itself stopped the torturing of prisoners, some how the world is less safe because Pelosi is criticizing the practice (which was stopped years ago.) And she should be kicked out of her position because she has besmirched the character of the CIA operatives who allegedly informed her of this, back when they alleged did (never mind that the Bush Admin was not being honest about how much and for what reasons and under what circumstances they were torturing people)?

I honesty heard some loon on the radio last night comparing Pelosi to Nixon. What the Fuck!

Anyway, that is inconsistent. That is about as bullshit as it gets, kids. This is a perfect example of why the GOP is not only a criminal enterprise, but nothing but a bunch of the worst liars since the days of the USSR. And I am saying that not only based on the notorious liars part, but on the loving torture part.

Sick bastards!

Oh. And I love (not) Sen. Kit Bond's new descriptive for CIA operatives and analysts (and most are analysts, not operators); Terrorism Fighters. Nancy Pelosi is picking on the Terrorism Fighters. What the fuck!