If the president does it, it's not torture. really.

If the president does it, it's not illegal. That's the Nixonian defense of breaking and entering and wiretapping, among other things. Luckily, at the time, Democrats (and more than a few Republicans) had the sense to say 'no.'

It's a given, of course, that President Bush thinks the same way as Nixon. When it comes to wiretapping and waterboarding, if he orders it, it's OK. But when did we get a Democratic congress that agrees with him?

This week, they confirmed an attorney general who claimed he didn't really know what waterboarding was, or if it was really torture. Where's he been? He didn't anticipate he might be asked about it? This has been a method of torture since the Inquisition; as ABC News and many others have pointed out, the U.S. has long condemned this as torture when done to our guys.

Only in politics can someone testify to this sort of ignorance with a straight face and still get confirmed. I mean... really? If Al Queda tortured a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan with water until he thought he was drowing, the AG wouldn't know if that was a violation of international law?

Still, this AG did get confirmed. The Democratic Congress, which has already agreed that spying on Americans isn't illegal if the president does it, has approved an AG who isn't sure that waterboarding is all that bad and who apparently thinks it's not torture if the president orders it.

A new low in American law.