Senate panel defies Bush on terror

Associated Press ^ | ANNE PLUMMER FLAHERTY

[300magnum]

WASHINGTON - A rebellious Senate committee defied President Bush on Thursday and approved terror-detainee legislation he has vowed to block, deepening Republican conflict over a key issue in the middle of congressional campaigns.

Sen. John Warner (news, bio, voting record), R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, pushed the measure through his panel by a 15-9 vote, with Warner and two other GOP lawmakers joining Democrats. The tally set the stage for a showdown on the Senate floor as early as next week.

[onyx]

Yes, citywide. No tap water. Imagine all the toilets flushing simultaneously...lol. Fortunately, we have three bathrooms. I told the doc that he will have to pee outside in the yard with the dog.

[Incitatus]

Well, hey. Lets just say to hell with the whole democracy thing completely then. God knows, a militarial police state is the easiest way to keep the terrorists at bay on the home front. We can then pre-emtively nuke the ME back into the days of Abraham to remove the threat from its source. We should hit China and North Korea while we're at it. Why wait? Who knows when they might threaten us?

We can then sit back and thank the government - which will tell us when to eat, shit and sleep by then - for our 'freedom'.

It's not JUST about winning the war. It's about winning the war and having a peace worth living for.

Better dead than smeg, is what I say.

[onyx]

Excellent! Is that your work, potlatch?

[SE Mom]

Going to listen to Mark Levin now...he is likely to bust a gut.

[A Citizen Reporter]

Thanks Mo. I've got more phone calls to make tomorrow.

[Mo1]

Brit is on this now

[potlatch]

I animate the cartoonists cartoons! Thanks Onyx.

[Txsleuth]

Yes...both Powell AND Richard Armitage.

[El Gato]

RINOs Rule!

and it's a crying shame.

[Steel Wolf]

God knows, a militarial police state is the easiest way to keep the terrorists at bay on the home front.

Hey, if it saves even one life, it's worth it.

You don't have any right's if you're dead.

.. uh.. it's for the children!

[MNJohnnie]

A a teenage I got a DWI. The police did not let me go to the bathroom until I took a breath test. (This was before the current Implied Consent laws). Under the vague nonsensical RINO terms of this bill, I was tortured.

Without a clear definition of what IS torture and what is not, this whole exercise is nothing but a Senate RINO PR game. Basically were have a choice. We can either trust Bush and the Pentagon to know what they need or we can a handful of grandstand Senators they know better.

Sorry but if it is a choice between trusting the President and Rummy or trusting THESE Grandstanding Senate RINOS, I trust the President a WHOLE lot more.

IF these three had real concerns they could of talked to the White House in private. That they did not indicates this has noting to do with their so called "principals" and everything to do with political Media theater

What is so stupid is McCain and Garham are cutting their political throats here. They are just both too arrogant to listen to anyone about why this grandstanding is so counterproductive to their asspirations. They will learn the error of their ways. It these kinds of issues that set a politicians image in stone for party activists. This is not something that can be forgiven or forgotten.

[tiki]

You can say that again!! :-}

[Mo1]

Mark is hot tonight

[F.J. Mitchell]

Warner has always been a wimp, RINO and a gigolo. Has everyone forgotten that he was once Senator Elizabeth Taylor?

[tiki]

If McCain and Graham think that this will help them when they run for president/vice-president they are sadly mistaken. Even if something like this made them more palatable to Democrats, they have to get past a Republican primary.

I have many reasons not to vote for McCain but this one just enforces my opinion of how DUMB he is and would, of itself, be enough reason not to vote for him for any office. He is so in love with himself and has been pushed by the media to embarrass himself. And screw Colin Powell too, lying, traitorous &*stard!!!!!!!!!!!

[Peach]

I am so mad I'm not fit for human company. This nonsense about what we can do to interrogate terrorists is making us look like idiots.

Now the terrorists will know what we're allowed to do and we won't even be able to let them think we're going to physically harm them.

And what is this about jihadists being entitled to the Geneva Conventions anyway? They don't wear a uniform and they don't represent nation states. Aaaargh.

[F.J. Mitchell]

Better dead than a sh*t head towel head.

[Steel Wolf]

Sorry but if it is a choice between trusting the President and Rummy or trusting THESE Grandstanding Senate RINOS, I trust the President a WHOLE lot more.

I trust the guy that cuts my hair more than any of the above. In the end, they're all politicians.

Still, it's the Congress's job to make the laws, and the Exec's job to carry them out. Congress definitely needs to put down in writing what's permissable, especially considering the legal and political ramifications. That way, every interrogator will have a known legal standard to work with, and every Congressman can be held accountable if the practices are too harsh or too ineffective.

"Leaving it up to the President" is a losing proposition for us and our CIA agents. Bush won't be in office forever.

[MNJohnnie]

Here is the mission. Kill enough terrorists so the rest realize Jihad is a fools game or the locals realize it is in their best interest to control their freaks rather then ignore them. It is the same way we killed enough Nazis and Japanese to convince the rest fighting us was a really bad idea.

Anything that helps, good. Anything gets in the way bad. This piece of Political Theater by RINOs in the Senate does NOTHING to help achieve the mission. It is merely a bit of do nothing feel good PR posturing by people too arrogant to listen to people who KNOW what they are talking about.

YOU say trust the Senate to know best. I say, I have every reason to suspect the conduct of these 3 grandstanding RINOS and DO have reason to trust the President and Rummy. IF they had serious concerns the Senators COULD of got on the phone with the WH. That they did NOT indicates they could care less about the bill and merely see this as a way to posture and mug for the cameras.

Sorry but the war is far too important to be left to gutless grandstanding Senators PR whimsies John McCain and Linsay Gahrams are politically dead as Republicans now.

And no amount of feel good platitudes or neo Isolationists rationalizations about "Higher standards" are going to change that basic fact. Like the Democrats these clowns are more concerned with dreaming up excuses to expand the rights of terrorists who would see us dead then in protecting Americans FROM these terrorists. Very well, they have made their political bed, let them lie in it.

[F.J. Mitchell]

And the bodies of all their victims show signs of being tortured unmercifully.

How are they protected by the Geneva Convention, while they are free to be absolute barbarians themselves?

If the Muslim demons are protected from abuse by the Geneva Convention, etc., shouldn't the Geneva Convention likewise protect the innocent victims of the Islamofaciests demons from the Islamofaciest demons?