Torture is here, the Dems couldn't get it together [VIDEO]

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 2:33 PM on September 28, 2006.

A rundown on the soon-to-be finalized Bush/McCain Torture Bill... In the video to the right, Hillary gives a history lesson on America's first run-in with the ethics of torture featuring Washington and the vicious Brits...

"Today, the Congress has forever stained its reputation and that of the United States of America," writes mcjoan.

Sisyphus explains:

"on an almost completely party-line vote, the majority in Congress used their position as the majority in Congress to kill an amendment which would have removed from the torture enablement bill Our Fearless Leader's ability to round up and torture - well, pretty much anyone they want to, including United States citizens on United States soil, without judicial review or the need to show any evidence that the disappeared citizens are, in fact, anything more dangerous than political opponents of the party currently in power."

Booman sums it up thusly: "The Democrats didn't prove they are strong on terrorism. They proved they are weak on human rights and defending the Constitution."

According to the Times, what essentially happened is that "The bill’s ultimate passage was assured on Wednesday when Democrats agreed to forgo a filibuster in return for consideration of the amendment."

Arlen Specter, who coauthored the amendment which would have given anyone detained by America the right to judicial review, commented, "What this bill would do is take our civilization back 900 years,” referring to the origins of habeas corpus.

Melissa writes:

"As I’ve said before, I can’t understand the reasoning of Christians who support torture, people who pray to a savior who, when facing certain torture and eventual death, fell to his knees and prayed that he might be spared."

And I also cannot begin to comprehend why anyone supports torture, other than simple hatred, since it doesn’t fucking work."

Paul Kiel asks why it took 10 hours to deliberate on freaking TORTURE but three days on the Marriage Protection Amendment...

Today's Times editorial hits the pathetic and distressing nail on the head:

Here's what happens when this irresponsible Congress railroads a profoundly important bill to serve the mindless politics of a midterm election: The Bush administration uses Republicans' fear of losing their majority to push through ghastly ideas about antiterrorism that will make American troops less safe and do lasting damage to our 217-year-old nation of laws - while actually doing nothing to protect the nation from terrorists. Democrats betray their principles to avoid last-minute attack ads. Our democracy is the big loser.

The only bright spot is the relative ease with which the Daily Show and Colbert Report writers will find themselves working this evening... (Kos, SisyphusShrugged, Booman, Shakespeare'sSister, TPM)

Evan Derkacz is a New York-based writer and contributor to AlterNet.