by Taylor Marsh
Democrats are against torture...
Republicans not so much.
Republicans are not only for torture, but they're against habeas corpus. You know, that little bitty right in the Constitution that grants people due process. Senator Specter offered an amendment, but the Republicans voted it down, 51 - 48.
The Bush-Republican Pro-Torture bill is now law. Torture is legal for the United States. Bush is king. HA-ZAH!
Senator Kerry said it succinctly today. Senator Feingold was brilliant as well, with Senator Clinton at her best. You evidently have to be a Democrat to appreciate the Constitution these days.
I can't be any clearer: if you want to change the course this country is on the only hope we have is to elect Democrats in November. Period.
Today's Senate vote on President Bush's detainee legislation, after House approval yesterday, marks a defining moment for this nation.
How far from our historic and Constitutional values are we willing to stray? How mercilessly are we willing to treat those we suspect to be our enemies? How much raw, unchecked power are we willing to hand over to the executive?
The legislation before the Senate today would ban torture, but let Bush define it; would allow the president to imprison indefinitely anyone he decides falls under a wide-ranging new definition of unlawful combatant; would suspend the Great Writ of habeas corpus; would immunize retroactively those who may have engaged in torture. And that's just for starters.
It's a red-letter day for the country. It's also a telling day for our political system.
The people have lost confidence in their president. Despite that small recent uptick in the polls, Bush remains deeply unpopular with the American public, mistrusted by a majority, widely considered out of touch with the nation's real priorities.
But he's still got Congress wrapped around his little finger.
Today's vote will show more clearly than ever before that, when push comes to shove, the Republicans who control Congress are in lock step behind the president, and the Democrats -- who could block him, if they chose to do so -- are too afraid to put up a real fight.
The kind of emotionless, he-said-she-said news coverage, lacking analysis and obsessed with incremental developments and political posturing -- in short, much of modern political journalism -- just doesn't do this story justice. ...
Bush Rules, by Dan Froomkin
People seem to be forgetting that torture doesn't work. When I interviewed Kristen Breitweiser on my radio show she stressed that point too. Not even a 9/11 widow wants to jeopardize our ability to presecute the murdering thugs who target Americans.
There's also the reality that when we tortured people in Abu Ghraib we lost the chance to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people. With Iraq now costing $2 BILLION per week, you have to wonder if just handing that money to the Iraqis and walking away could be any worse than what's happening today. That is how bad it's gotten in Iraq. Torture sure didn't help us over there.
Quite a campaign slogan the Republicans have for the '06 elections: PRO-TORTURE REPUBLICANS UNITE!
It's frightening, unless of course you're a Democrat.