Torture. FISA. Civil liberties. The Constitution - those issues have stirred up more passion than any other issue I've seen in my year or so on Daily Kos (yeah, more than Obama vs. Hillary or the I/P diaries).
Given that passion, it's probably inevitable that once in a while, a nontroversy gets on the rec list, where a handful of people get overexcited about a story and read something into it that isn't there. With all the shifting rationales that have been thrown around for torture under the Bush administration (including such classics as "it's just a little water", "i'm a complete branch of government unto myself", "sure it's evil but it works", and "WHAT IF YOUR BABIES WOULD DIE IF YOU DIDNT?"), it's totally understandable that we'd jump on a moment that might shake a lot of apolitical people out of their stupor and be a "fundamentals of the economy are strong" moment on our relationship to torture.
It truly pains me to have to stick up for Condi Rice, but her Q&A at Stanford... is not that moment. Below the fold.