Voting For Torture For Electoral Expediency

John McCain is probably dying. And from his death bed he's talking about torture and why his colleagues in the Senate should reject "Bloody Gina" Haspel to head the CIA. This weekend the second Democrat worried about his reelection prospects, Joe Donnelly of Indiana (following Joe Manchin of West Virginia) announced that he would vote to confirm "Bloody Gina." Trump just got the guarantee he needed to confirm his torture princess. How could it not have been a Democrat?

Donnelly, one of the most conservative Democrats in the Senate: "I believe that she has learned from the past, and that the CIA under her leadership can help our country confront serious international threats and challenges. Importantly, Ms. Haspel expressed to me her commitment to be responsive to congressional oversight and to provide her unvarnished assessment-- both to members of Congress and the president." This president:



This president:



Thanks, Joe Donnelly. Does Donnelly think because he votes to confirm "Bloody" Gina, Trump will stir doing this:

Donnelly’s office said the Indiana Democrat met Thursday with Haspel, the current acting director of the CIA.

The same night, President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Penceappeared together Indiana at a rally in support of Donnelly’s Republican challenger Mike Braun.

During the event, Trump and Pence criticized Donnelly for his voting record, while also pushing him to support the CIA nominee. In his statement, the senator said the support Haspel has received from the intelligence community was an important factor in his decision.

“As our country faces dynamic and challenging security threats, it is critically important that our intelligence agencies have the leadership and support that they need to help keep Americans safe and defend our nation from those who wish to do us harm,” Donnelly said. “Gina Haspel has served our country and the Central Intelligence Agency for more than 30 years, and she has the strong support of both her colleagues at the agency and former CIA Directors Hayden, Panetta, and Brennan, who served under Presidents Bush and Obama.”

Donnelly can't possibly. Sensing weakness, Trump, if anything, will ramp up the attacks against him. That's his modus operandi. About a year ago only 5 Senate Democrats voted to keep arming the Saudis and Emeratis so they could continue destroying the civilian population of Yemen. Donnelly and Manchin were among the five. The two of them did it again 2 months go. The both of them also undercut the Democratic case against confirming Pompeo the same way they're undercutting the case against confirming Haspel.

I've heard people say that the two of them have no choice, that they live in red states that supported and continue to support Trump and that they have to vote for Trump's nominees to win in November. Why's that? Republicans have their own candidate-- Mike Braun-- who Trump will be supporting loudly and even fanatically. Trump is already referring to him as a "sleeping swamp person."

Donnelly is counting on the Democratic base sticking with him anyway, that they'll pick the lesser of two evils. Friday the state's biggest newspaper reminded him that his voting record-- even voting against Planned Parenthood-- "could dampen enthusiasm." The paper pointed out that Donnelly has been "careful about putting too much distance between himself and Trump in a state where the president is well-liked. Donnelly often touts that he has voted with Trump more often than not, an indication that his campaign believes he needs to win over at least some Trump supporters to win in November."

Although it's usually conservative Democrats who give way to this kind of thinking, it isn't always only conservatives. In 2006 my favorite Senate candidate was progressive congressman Sherrod Brown (D-OH). But Blue America withdrew out endorsement-- over torture. At the time Brown has a 10-point lead over Bush incumbent rubber stamp Mike DeWine (R-OH). The House passed Bush's torture bill 253-168, only 7 Republicans voting for torture, but 34 Democrats crossing the aisle in the other direction to vote for torture. The only progressive among them was Brown. Later-- after he was safely elected-- he apologized and admitted he was wrong. Democrats eventually stopped voting for most of the 34 aisle-crossers. I believe that besides Brown, only Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX) and co-sponsor Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN) are still in Congress. In the end, it was a Democratic wave year and Brown beat DeWine 56.2% to 43.8% about two and a half points more than before the vote. Was it worth it?