McCain Votes Against Torture Ban

Thinkprogress.org:

Today, the Senate brought the Intelligence Authorization Bill to the floor, containing a provision from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) that establishes one interrogation standard, requiring the intelligence community to abide by the same standards as articulated in the Army Field Manual and banning waterboarding.

Just hours ago, the Senate voted in favor of the bill, 51-45.

Earlier today, ThinkProgress noted that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), a former prisoner of war, has spoken strongly in favor of implementing the Army Field Manual standard. When confronted today with the decision of whether to stick with his conscience or cave to the right wing, McCain chose to ditch his principles and instead vote to preserve waterboarding:

Mr. McCain, a former prisoner of war, has consistently voiced opposition to waterboarding and other methods that critics say is a form torture. But the Republicans, confident of a White House veto, did not mount the challenge. Mr. McCain voted "no" on Wednesday afternoon.

Read the whole story: Thinkprogress.org

Comments

[Arleang]

He has been stewed in the pot that is Washington, basted by lobbyists and seasoned by right-wing crazies. His lust for power has produced an unattractive dish that will not pass the smell test.

[Bobby]

Principles? Integrity? Truthfullness? Honesty? Loyalty? Courage? No McCain. They have all left your soul and conscience. You are a pathetic man, you old piece of delusional crap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y395Tftgz0E

[fact finder]

Bobby; Check the voting records of ALL Congress members and you will see that not one has any of the principals that you mentioned. 1776

[ranger5]

Principles and politics are apparently mutually exclusive. McCain is a man who wants to be president too much. He claims he was tortured while a POW, and has made a lot of noise about America being above that sort of thing. Until now, when he needs the votes of all those right-wing evangicals who call themselves Christians and yet think it's okay to torture people and wage illegal wars. People like McCain, and Clinton, who will do anything, say anything, embrace any scumbag in order to get elected are truly pathetic yet dangerous people. How could any of us trust such an unprincipled person with the office of president? McCain has violated the memories and the suffering of his fellow POW's with his vote to allow torture. He has dishonored himself, and them, and should be held up to the righteous scorn that he has earned.

[oldjuggalo]

Just goes to show,John McCain is a no gut,warmongering piece of shit.Maybe he can show our torturers the specifics of how the Vietnamese got HIM to talk.

[craneman]

well,maybe we should replace water boards with Hueys. Back in the good old days, I've been told that a good way to get a confession from VC or their buddies to the north, would be to load a few of them in a Huey, then shove one out the door,shoot him on the way down,and see how fast the others begin to sing.

[cordier]

Sometimes you find wisdom in the most unlikely places. Check out this article from The American Conservative http://www.amconmag.com/2008/2008_02_11/cover.html

[Pleidian]

yeah...they nailed it. I wonder how one "goes this Cheney" without spending time in the upper echelons of the military-industrial complex? Their agenda has reigned supreme under Bush...at the expense of great human sufffering and the Treasury.

[MissingAmerica]

I have faith that we will return to legal elections this time, and that the winning candidate will be one who actually believes in America and the values it held before this "moral, faith-based" administration upended the world and destroyed America and its reputation. God help us if we get another Bush-brain.

[HBeachbum]

So what is worse ... someone who takes a stand (by voting) or the two cowards who didn't even vote ... your liberal champions BHO and HRC?

[ColoradoDan]

McCain represents the celebration of mental and ethical sickness that has permeated the Republican Party. I know a couple McCain supporters ... weird and bizarre characters ... both of them! 100 years of war he promises and the war profiteers are drooling like mental patients.

[Janus]

The evidence is piling up to prove that McCain has absolutely no self respect. First it was the infamous picture of his embrace with the Oafel Office Puppet, in which McCain was resting his head on the Puppet's left shoulder despite what the Puppet and his miserable Rovian thugs had done to him and his family members in South Carolina, through leading the charge of aggressive, ignorant, Bible-thumping Dupes (the redneck constituency) in the worst outrage in our political history.

Now comes still another of his mounting number of flip flops. This guy is shameless, and fully intends to continue the Bush II incompetence and disastrous foreign and domestic chaos. His breast-beating claim of being a proud conservative should finish him off. All thinking middle income and lower middle income Americans have learned the painful lesson of what it is like to have ultra-right winger conservatives in the White House and Congress and who the beneficiaries are under that regime.
Accordingly, the whole gang of misfits ought to be cast out and returned to wandering in the political wilderness for another forty years, being cheered on only by the upper 1% and .5% of income earners in the Country composed mostly of neoconic, quasi-fascist conservatives, aided and abetted by the pathetic Dupes across the Country.

VOTING MCCAIN IS THE EQUIVALENT OF A THIRD TERM FOR BUSH II, THE WORST CHIEF EXECUTIVE EVER.

[sassafra]

if anything, *anything* were to convince me in this election cycle that republicans are utterly soulless creatures interested only in their own selfish ends it would have to be the sight of mccain, tortured as a pow, reverse his position against the practice and in the process locating his proboscus squarely between two large far right wing hams.

[MajorKong]

I thought McCain was supposed to be some sort of straight-talkin' maverick? At least, that's what the media keeps saying.

[sugarmoes]

tool.

[Ammobob]

The DOJ's position on this technique is it's ILLEGAL due to laws passed since 2005. But, the Congress still needs to get off it's derriere and make it official. Dictating approved interrogation techniques from the comfort of your Congressional LAZ-E-BOY doesn't cut it.

[GoCards1978]

John McCain was right in his 2000 characterization of the evangelical leadership. Now he flipflops to their beck and call - how pathetic. I just hope Jon Stewart takes note of the change the next time McCain's a guest on the Daily Show.

[Ammobob]

MCJAW did the right thing and voted against publishing a manual for slimeballs to study on Approved CIA Intterogation Techniques. The Senate should have just passed a ban on WATERBOARDING and MCJAW would have signed it along with many others. But no, the Senate couldn't just ban the controversial technique, they wanted to publish the whole playbook. Pres Bush will VETO it and the DEMS will CAVE once more.