The Political Voices of Women

Dems Cave on FISA and McCain Flips on Torture — Posted by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at Care2 Election Blog)

Senate Democrats have caved on the FISA wiretapping bill (specifically the telecom immunity aspect), and it appears McCain has changed his mind on torture. Shocked? You probably shouldn’t be. Let’s take a closer look, starting with the FISA bill.

This is from The Flaming Grasshopper…

The FISA bill passed by the Senate is a disgrace. By legalizing warrantless spying on Americans and granting retroactive amnesty to lawbreaking telecoms, the Senate seeks to ensure that the Bush administration’s illegal spying programs are never investigated or subjected to the rule of law. The Senate bill is a profound betrayal of the votes of millions of Americans who voted in 2006 to put Democrats in control of Congress in order to increase, not eliminate, checks and oversight on this administration, and to restore the rule of law to our country.

Firedoglake has an important petition drive going. Happily, for what it’s worth (not much), Chelsea Green’s Senate contingent (Leahy and Sanders) held together more spine than too many of their pathetic brethren and sistren. Fingers are crossed for the House.

From CBS/AP…

President Bush, in remarks meant to spur House Democrats into accepting a controversial new bill that would expand the government’s ability to spy on Americans, warned that the country faced terror strikes that would make September 11 “pale by comparison.”

In response, critics of the new bill accused Mr. Bush of “fear mongering,” and of trying to deflect attention from the bill itself. Its most controversial provision would prevent Americans from suing phone companies that helped the administration spy on them since the White House surveillance program was instituted in 2001.

Also See:

South by Southwest

The Telecom Amnesty Bill

Now lets look at John McCain. Is he flip-flopping on the issue of torture and waterboarding, or just pandering? And, does it matter?

This is from a post at Hullabaloo…

Oddly enough, the nation’s leading moral voice on torture and one of the most famous victims of it in the entire world, John McCain, voted against using the Army Field manual across the government. This is the same moral voice who said this:

“I would hope that we would understand, my friends, that life is not 24 and Jack Bauer. Life is interrogation techniques which are humane and yet effective. And I just came back from visiting a prison in iraq. The army general there said that technques under the army field manual are working and working effectively, and he didn’t think they need to do anything else. My friends, this is what america is all about.

This isn’t the first time McCain has been outmaneuvered by more nimble legislators and a savvy (compared to him anyway) George W. Bush — or has completely sold his integrity down the river for cheap political gain. (You decide…) I suspect that Senator Straight Talk has been distracted and confused by all those pesky political considerations, which have rendered him incomprehensible on nearly every issue.

This is from the MCDAC Blog…

This, of course, is just the latest of a series of positions that McCain has taken that represents a change from his previous, i.e., before running for President in 2008, positions. Originally he was against Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy, now he is for them. Originally he was for the immigration bill that he co-authored; now he is against it. Originally he was against torture, now he is against banning it. These are a series of well known and well publicized flip-flops. Now, let’s see if the news media calls him out on them.

Also See:

McCain Caves on Waterboarding

Bush Will Veto Ban On Torture

Arianna Huffington – John McCain Sells His Soul To The Right

What do you think about Dems caving on FISA, and the apparent McCain flip-flop???