ERIC CANTOR DISCOVERS HUMAN RIGHTS.

Dave Weigel has been offering excellent coverage of the debate over the Iran resolution. Spencer Ackerman says that the White House would support a version with toned down language. But I'm struck by how quickly the party of torture has acquiesced to the rhetoric of human rights:

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the minority whip who has put out blistering statements about the White House’s response, spoke loudly and emotionally about “America’s moral responsibility to speak out on the protection of human rights wherever they are violated” — hint, hint. “I urge President Obama to follow the lead of this House,” Cantor said.

This is, quite frankly, astonishing. Republicans have universally opposed bringing any suspected terrorists detainees to trial, and in 2005 Cantor voted against the military appropriations bill that banned cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of terrorist detainees. If Cantor truly believes in "America’s moral responsibility to speak out on the protection of human rights wherever they are violated," he might want to start at here at home, preferably by reconsidering his own support of torture.

-- A. Serwer