As a species, the right wing has separated itself off from humanity, and declared itself above law, above rational support for the principles that made this nation safe from authoritarian rule, and most especially above decent treatment of all people. Under that species’ dominion, the law of the jungle is supreme, and charity itself becomes a crime.

David Broder replied to Robinson, saying he thinks that Robinson was wrong and contending that the danger of seeking accountability for the actions of higher-ups in enabling torture and prisoner abuse is too great, as is the risk of extreme stress and damage to the US political system that we would take if we prosecuted, convicted, and punished those responsible for torture.

Broder’s views received strong reactions very quickly. Marcy Wheeler, Glenn Greenwald, and Brad De Long all weighed in with very critical comments, and Congressman John Conyers also wrote a very persuasive critique of Broder’s position in the Huffington Post. I’ll leave it to my readers to review all of these excellent critiques of Broder’s argument. What I want to talk about here, however, is only one of Broder’s points. His point that President Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon was good for the country.