Chris Matthews cites the Senate Armed Services Committee report to Rep. Mac Thornberry and although he admits there was a systemic failure in the prison he won't admit it came from the top and that Gitmo and Abu Ghraib are in any way connected. Thornberry like the rest of them are trying to turn this into a political issue. It's a legal issue and a question of whether or not there were war crimes committed. In Rep. Thornberry's world it's appropriate to punish the underlings but heaven forbid hold those at the top accountable for their actions.
I never thought for the life of me I'd see this many Republicans coming on the air and justifying torture. First it didn't happen. Then well okay, it happened but it was just a few bad apples. Now torture was necessary and down right patriotic if we were torturing suspected terrorists. All that other torturing that was going on...of course that had nothing to do with the policies that had us torturing the "bad guys". I've got to wonder just how stupid they really think most of the non-Sarah Palin worshiping American public is to buy this sort of double-speak.
I would also guess they're counting on no one ever watching this again.