Another Episode of "If It Were Not So Tragic, It Would Be Comical"

TPMmuckraker:

During today's hearing, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) asked Goldsmith where [the Bybee Memo definition of torture] had come from. "It came from a health care statute designed to define the circumstances under which there was an emergency situation warranting health care benefits," he answered. He explained that "severe pain" is hard to define, and so the lawyers likely cast around for a way to define it -- but that the health care code probably wasn't the best place to look.