Karen Hughes was closer to George Bush than anyone except Karl Rove - perhaps even closer. She was Bush's press pitbull during his six years as governor and during his Presidential campaign, then became "Counselor to the President." So this is a startling revelation (h/t Ben Armbruster):

She acknowledged the current uproar over interrogation tactics and allegations of prisoner torture during the Bush years.

“I was very vocal in the internal debate,” she said. “I worried about how that would make us look in the eyes of the world. But I had left the White House when a lot of that was taking place.”

Then she paused, worried for the first time in 90 minutes that she’d made a gaffe. Whatever Sen. John McCain says about interrogation techniques, she added quickly, she has similar views.

That was a gaffe indeed. Let me count the ways:

1. There was an "internal debate" about torture, and at least one senior advisor to Bush was "very vocal" opposing it. So those who decided to torture (Cheney et al) cannot claim "everyone" thought it was perfectly legal and acceptable.

2. Hughes admits she was a witness to the debate. She can now be subpoenaed by Congress and a Special Prosecutor.

3. Hughes left her powerful White House job in July 2002 to return to Texas. Did she leave because she vehemently objected to torture and/or the invasion of Iraq, both of which were fully underway by that point?

4. Even after she left the White House, Hughes was a member of the White House Iraq Group (WHIG), which was created by Andy Card in August 2002 to "market" the invasion of Iraq. Without a White House job, her work with WHIG may have been illegal. She may also be unable to claim Executive Privilege to avoid subpoenas about that work.

5. It's likely some of the "internal debate" about torture occurred within WHIG, so investigators should FOIA/subpoena its records. The other WHIG members were Andy Card, Karl Rove (who served as chair), James Wilkinson, Mary Matalin, Nick Calio, Stephen Hadley, Condi Rice, and Scooter Libby.

6. Larry Wilkerson told Rachel Maddow, "There's still grave doubt in my mind that the President was very intimately involved in the details of this process. I think it was almost exclusively the VP." As Bush's closest confidante, Hughes would know.