Stupid Republican Quote

Last week I was listening to Mark Belling. He said:

The Constitution never mentions waterboarding. Where in the Constitution does it mention waterboarding? Where does it say that it's illegal? It's not like a search and seizure.

You, of course, already know why this is stupid. But it's nice to point out the plethora of ways in which this is stupid.

First of all, the Constitution does not forbid many specific acts. It does not say "Thou shalt not covet they neighbors ass." It tends to be a bit more general, and deals more with the powers of government. Everyone that has ever read the Constitution knows this.

This argument is sort of an offshoot of the asinine conservative argument that the words "separation of church and state" are not mentioned in the Constitution. While technically true, the concept does in fact exist in the Constitution.

Anyway, Belling made this way dumber than it had to be by actually referencing the Bill of Rights. Of course there is no "search and seizure" issue. There is also no issue of quartering soldiers.

Waterboarding is, of course, cruel, and unusual. This runs afoul of 8th Amendment:

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

I italicized the relevant portion, just so no one misses it.

If you believe that waterboarding is not torture, read this.