Rasmussen has some telling results on the Obama administration’s decision to reinvestigate CIA operatives who used enhanced interrogation techniques at overseas locations. Thirty-six percent approve, 49 percent do not. Sixty-five percent think it is likely or somewhat likely we got valuable information from waterboarding terrorists. On the issue of how the investigation affects America’s image abroad, 29 percent say it helps, and 54 percent think it imperils our national security.

There are national-security, legal, and moral reasons to oppose Eric Holder’s inquest. But if you want to talk pure politics, it is one of the stupider moves that an already ailing administration could have made. At some point, a White House that is obsessed with its image and political standing might want to take note that Holder’s “judgment” is a political liability.