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

[boyleebob]

Mccain is a phucking flip flopper.

[waynesmyer]

"I am not a flop-flipper! Why, I don't even know what a flop-flipper looks like" your next beloved war presinator, Johnny "Ride The Bomb" McCain
BOMB THEM ALL AND LET FUCK-THEE CHENEY SORT THEM OUT!

[Ohg]

McCain is vacillating, catering to the right wing. He fails to understand that elections do not happen in a vacuum. He has the nomination - and he won the nomination in spite of the right wing - he is making a mistake in thinking th Republican Party operates in a vacuum.....
http://thefiresidepost.com/2008/02/14/vacuum-the-votes-but-not-in-a-vacuum/

[neworleanslady68]

For God's sake, Hillary supporters who are saying you might vote McCain, think about what you are saying. Same goes for any Obama people who might say they won't support Hillary. McCain can not become president! I don't think I will live through the stress of 4 or 8 more years of this stuff. It's seriously affecting my health!

[in4success]

if the hillary camp inists on cheating and bringing in the FL and MI non-primaries you will be shocked at the number of voters who will stay home.

but then... not much dif between hillary and mccain wth the exception of the lies she is telling on the stump.

while in the neighborhood she didn't even show up to vote against imunity for the telecom companies.

oh -- that's right, they helped finance her hundred million dollar iowa campaign. -- at least we know she could manage the ntnl' budget well.

[jinjinpinti]

neworleanslady68: Well said! I believe you are exactly right about the effect BushCo has had, not only on our collective national health, indeed, the very health of the entire planet, but also, as you said, on the personal health of so many individual citizens who feel literally poisoned and sickened by the criminal policies of this worse-ever administration. McCain as POTUS would be another nail in the coffin of our democracy, our foreign and fiscal affairs and our personal health.

[lastams]

Unbelievable.
The one thing that McCain seemed to have going for him was a sense of conviction.
Apparently his need to pander to the far right, let’s kill and torture Moslems, base has overridden any sense of morals or principals.
Way to go John.
I’m sure Ann and Rush will welcome you with open arms.

[w&cheneysuck]

McCain is an a-hole! I can only hope that the Dem's use this in their ads to demonstrate what a hypocrite McCain really is. And Hillary, why didn't she go and vote for the torture ban when she was in Washington? I don't get it. She votes for the war, then the funding, now ignores voting for the ban on torture? I just don't get it!

[TLV]

I don't think any of the supposedly "conservative" idiots in this nation are decent people. The guy who ran the smear campaign working FOR BUSH against McCain in 2000 is now working FOR McCain! Have they no shame? Why would McCain hire someone who lied about him?

[lastams]

Because McCain has to pander to the same authoritarian base is he has any chance to win.
That means people who are fixed in their beliefs and will vote on "values" instead of logic.
It also means voting in lockstep with G.W. Bush from here on out as well as parroting all the White House spin.

[TLV]

"Sibel (Edmonds)obtained her information while translating Turkish language telephone intercepts directed against several Turkish lobbying groups who had contact with senior officials in the Bush Administration, both at the Pentagon and in the State Department. Many of the officials involved are apparently the same neoconservatives who cooked the books to enable the rush to war against Iraq and who are continuing to urge more wars in the Middle East, most notably against Iran and Syria. Several of them are close allies of leading Republican presidential candidate John McCain."

Read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-giraldi/sibel-edmonds-must-be-hea_b_84781.html

[syllepsis]

Thanks for the reminder of how invidious the McCain candidacy really is.
Those who betrayed Plame and gagged Sibel are salivating at the thought of a former POW who's lost his mind at the helm of the White House.
His military decorations would lend him the credibility Bush never had. It would be a hundred-year NIGHTMARE.

[Rendon76]

My God he's completely sold out.

[markusmarkus]

Yup, here's his receipt!

[peggio]

And you're surprise? Why? I can't wait to see the campaign photos of Little Johnny get your gun w/ President Smirkly in their series of embraces. Then there's his American hero idol version of Bomb Iran. He is digging his grave and by the looks of the rouges gallery of oldies but baddies that stand stupidly smiling behind him (generally more of them then in the "crowd") none of his followers will be far behind. My friends, I bid him adieu!

[Groobiecat]

Yeah, he started the selling back in 2000 whenl, after the MC Rove war machine did a push poll in South Carolina asking people if they would "vote for McCain if they discovered that he had fathered an illegitimate black child."

McCain, of course, lost as a result, and then hugged Georgie boy on Air Force I, because he knew he'd have to bide his time until it was "his turn."

Ugh-ly.

[EVILDOERSCONS]

To the poor US troops in the M E I say do not get captured

Thank your President congress and supreme Court

And do blame your Country men for allowing these last 5 years

[TLV]

I'm sure you meant to write - Blame those who voted Republican! - right?

[MajorKong]

I'm absolutely against torture, but the Middle Eastern governments were practicing it long before we ever got into the game.

Both Iraq and Iran were pretty tough on POWs during their war in the 1980s.

One of my former student pilots was shot down in an A-10 during the 1991 Gulf War. He wasn't systematically tortured, but the Iraqis beat the living crap out of him.

[SatinPanties]

So we should do it to then?

That's some pretty low standards!

[larryfishkorn]

With a little luck, there'll be a big "terrorist" attack before the election. That way, Bush can declare martial law and stay as president. The upside to this would be, we won't have to listen to McCain try and act like he's anything in the world but four more years of Bush.

[jinjinpinti]

larryfishkorn: I, too, have this nightmare of a false flag 'turrist" attack, oh, say, right about late summer or so. I've wondered just what the hell the Chimporater was up to playing Ali Baba over there with the Saudis at the palace recently. Arranging another hit? Hmmmmmm? Sure, it sounds too far-fetched and conspiratorial, but I wouldn't put ANYTHING past the nasty NEOcons in their plot to rule ze vorld!

[doinaheckofajob]

Listening to McInsane and the repiglicans, that's another form of torture.

[JPE33180]

Since 2004 Mc Cain has done nothing to make me consider voting for him.

[DELICIOUS]

MORE OF THE SAME IF YOU VOTE FOR MCCAIN! STOP THE REPUKLIMANIACS. BRING DEMOCRACY AND DECENCY BACK TO OUR ONCE GREAT COUNTRY!!! BE A SMART ASS VOTE DEMOCRAT!

[robodweeb]

Keep in mind that this is a guy who's chosen profession was dropping bombs on people from 10,000 ft.

[amorosotom]

You know, I'm glad you posted that comment. That's my feelings too. I've often thought it took a special kind of person to drop bombs on civilian sites. I'm sure it's part of being a good soldier but damn, I have to question one's moral compass.

[ProfessorDuh]

That's it, McCain. Authorize TORTURE for your own political advantage. You filthy, loud-mouth, unprincipled, power-mongering, war-mongering scum.

[syllepsis]

McCain is a prostitute.
Torture is what his clients demand, so he will vote to support torture.
McCain aims to please.