After Pompeo Is Confirmed We'll Be Hearing Lots About "Bloody Gina"

I'm really looking forward to former Democrat Joe Lieberman's OpEd on why Democrats need to confirm Torture Princess Gina Haspell. He hasn't published it yet, just one called Senate should fulfill constitutional duty, confirm Mike Pompeo. Pompeo has to move on the State before Haspell cn be voted on for his old job at the CIA. Lieberman hectored Democratic senators that the pro-Pompeo and anti-Pompeo votes are "breaking along partisan lines which is contrary to precedent for this important position and bad for our country because it sends a message of internal division to our allies and adversaries around the world." But he doesn't lecture the Republicans about serving the country by rejecting him-- only the Democrats about confirming him. "Pompeo’s academic and professional credentials," he insists, "are stellar. He graduated first in his class from West Point, and served as a U.S. Army cavalry officer. Later, he graduated from Harvard Law School, as an editor at the Harvard Law Review. Afterwards, he was successful in business, co-forming an aerospace company and serving as president of an oilfield equipment company. During Mike Pompeo’s three terms in the House of Representatives, he became known as a thoughtful voice on national security, serving on the House Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Intelligence Subcommittee on the CIA. While in the House, he focused on homeland security and the War on Terror, sponsoring numerous bills to contain Iranian aggression. Nothing that indicates he would be a good Secretary of State.

For the last 15 months, Pompeo has served as director of the CIA. His tenure there has been considered broadly successful, including efforts to pare bureaucracy and squeeze North Korea’s supply routes. Pompeo delivered President Trump’s daily intelligence briefings, giving him insight about emerging security threats and how the president comprehends them. These briefings earned him the trust of the president, crucial to the success of any cabinet member. This president’s confidence in Pompeo is such that he dispatched Pompeo to handle the sensitive portfolio of meeting with North Korean despot Kim Jong Un earlier this month.

Given his strong background, Pompeo is certainly qualified to be secretary of State. His narrow path to confirmation in the Senate isn’t a reflection on his qualifications; instead, it reflects our country’s growing political polarization.

No-one doubts that had Democrats not driven Lieberman out of the Senate, he would be joining DINOs Joe Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp in supporting the nomination. He insists that "the Advise and Consent clause has become increasingly used in these hyper-partisan times as another way for senators to prove their conservative or liberal bona fides to their political bases. This risks turning every nomination into an exercise in ideological posturing. It is time to time to return to the traditional understanding of 'advise and consent,' putting the national interest above partisanship-- and judging simply if the candidate can do the job. Director Pompeo has shown he can. He deserves confirmation."

So what about Gina? Did he read her college record from the University of Kentucky? How about her record as Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency? There must be a reason that more than 100 retired admirals and generals are raising serious concerns about her.

I'd trust former CIA officer and torture whistleblower John Kiriakou, who personally knew her, far more than Lieberman. He told Amy Goodman at Democracy Now! that Haspel "tortured Just for the Sake of Torture." Perfect for Trump and his budding fascist state! And percent for Team Bolton! And Lieberman. What about Manchin and Heitkamp on this one?

He's not a big fan of Pompeo either but feels we could have done worse with that nomination "Gina Haspel, however, is a problem, a big problem. I’ve been talking about Gina Haspel for more than a year. She was a dreadful choice to be the deputy director. She’s a worse choice to be the director. I think it’s wonderful that there’s a possibility of a woman heading the CIA, but there are 50 different women who are qualified to lead the CIA. It shouldn’t be Gina Haspel... We did call her Bloody Gina. Gina was always very quick and very willing to use force. You know, there was a group of officers in the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, when I was serving there, who I hate to even make the accusation out loud, but I’m going to say it: who enjoyed using force. Yeah, everybody knew that torture didn’t work. That’s not even the issue. Lots of different things work. Was it moral, and was it ethical, and was it legal? I think the answers to those questions are very clearly no. But Gina and people like Gina did it, I think, because they enjoyed doing it. They tortured just for the sake of torture, not for the sake of gathering information."

[A] black site is a site that’s more or less off the books, meaning it doesn’t officially exist. It exists, but nobody is supposed to know that it exists. And in many cases, that includes the congressional oversight committees. So, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the CIA set up such black sites all around the world, with the idea being that if we captured someone from al-Qaeda or kidnapped someone from al-Qaeda, we could send him to one of these black sites, interrogate him without having to worry about the law, about ethics or morality or the FBI breathing down their backs. They could do whatever they wanted. And that’s how this torture program spiraled out of control. There were people who were murdered in the course of their interrogations.

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?

Gina Haspel Wanted To Withdraw-- Guess Which Imbecile Didn't Want Her To

Looks like Trumpanzee wants even more chaos and anguish. Sunday afternoon, a team of Washington Post reporters claimed that torture queen Gina Haspel tried to withdraw her nomination to head the CIA. Sensible, considering what's gone on in the past and what's coming in her confirmation hearing. But the fascist regime-- likely either Trumpanzee or Bolton, since no one remotely sane would have-- told Bloody Gina to keep fighting. She's not just a hands on torturer but was also caught destroying evidence of illegal torture for the CIA.

Haspel told the White House she was interested in stepping aside if it avoided the spectacle of a brutal confirmation hearing on Wednesday and potential damage to the CIA’s reputation and her own, the officials said. She was summoned to the White House on Friday for a meeting on her history in the CIA’s controversial interrogation program-- which employed techniques such as waterboarding that are widely seen as torture-- and signaled that she was going to withdraw her nomination. She then returned to CIA headquarters, the officials said.

Taken aback at her stance, senior White House aides, including legislative affairs head Marc Short and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, rushed to Langley, Va., to meet with Haspel at her office late Friday afternoon. Discussions stretched several hours, officials said, and the White House was not entirely sure she would stick with her nomination until Saturday afternoon, according to the officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Trump learned of the drama Friday, calling officials from his trip to Dallas. He decided to push for Haspel to remain as the nominee after initially signaling he would support whatever decision was taken, administration officials said.

...Haspel’s nomination to become the first woman to lead the CIA came close to being scuttled Friday ahead of any hearings-- and largely at her own hand, the U.S. officials said. The problem came to a head Friday afternoon when she was summoned to the White House for some urgent questions, particularly on her role in the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques.

She had been in a meeting with her staff at CIA headquarters in Langley, fielding mock questions to prepare for her confirmation hearing, when the summons arrived.

Some White House officials were concerned by material being raised in questions from Congress, information they were just learning about, according to the U.S. officials. Those officials said the material was not revelations that have been unearthed in recent months, but the White House wanted to hear Haspel’s explanation of it.

...Haspel’s chances of winning Senate confirmation are considered uncertain... with some Trump advisers telling the president in recent weeks she was unlikely to be confirmed.

Not really "high respected" and Trumpanzee doesn't need a single Democrat to confirm her

So why would Trump make such a goofy move as to keep her front and center? He loves playing the victim. He lives anything taking his own criminal behavior out of the spotlight. He loves a fight. Do you think he's verifiably insane? Just asking for a friend.

The DCCC Failed Beyond Anyone's Wildest Expectations

 

Let's start at the top, in the northeast corner of Illinois, CD-17, carefully gerrymandered by the Democratic legislature to elect Democrats. But instead of a Democrat, it is represented by Blue Dog/New Dem Cheri Bustos, chair of the DCCC. When I woke this morning 55% of the votes had been counted and this is what it looks like:

• Esther Joy King (R)- 91,942 (51.9%)
• Chris Bustos- 85,187 (48.1%)

One of the problem the Democrats had this cycle is that Bustos was determined to create a Democratic House conference that looked like her-- conservative-- by recruiting and supporting dreadful candidates. It will be a few more days before we know exactly how much the DCCC and the House Majority PAC wasted on conservative Democrats but they raised close to $300 million and tens of millions of dollars were flushed down the toilet trying to save the seats of worthless Blue Dogs and New Dems and in trying to elect more worthless Blue Dog and New Dem candidates.

In terms of IEs, the DCCC spent, for example, $5 million trying to save Collin Peterson's ass. Why? So he could continue voting with the Republicans. Maybe that $5 million could have been pumped into Austin and elected progressives Mike Siegel and Julie Oliver. Instead, if you add up all the money the DCCC and the House Majority PAC spent on IEs for both Mike and Julie together you come up with a grand total of... zero.

All 3 districts-- MN-07, TX-10 and TX-25-- had immense turnout and all three have been officially called for the Republicans. That $5 million helped buy Peterson 137,085 votes (39.9%). And the lack of help from the DCCC didn't prevent Siegel from taking 186,210 votes (45.3%) and Oliver from taking 164,415 votes (42.0%). Siegel and Oliver challenged Republican multimillionaires Michael McCaul and Roger Williams and were seriously out-raised-- McCaul $3,515,771 to Siegel's $2,332,415 and Williams' $2,160,554 (including at least $50,000 from his own personal bank account) to Oliver's $1,809,951. Meanwhile, decades of corporate-friendly corruption helped Peterson keep up with Congresswoman-elect Michelle Fischbach. She raised $2,205,150 and he raised $2,284,742. That extra $5 million from the DCCC didn't do any good at all.

As Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer put it at Politico this morning, "Tuesday was an abject disaster for Democrats in Washington. To imagine the amount of soul searching and explaining the party will have to do after Tuesday is absolutely dizzying. The infighting will be bloody-- as it should be. We fielded text after text from Hill Democrats Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning with existential questions about their leadership and the direction of their party... Democrats and Republicans told us that Dems would win a dozen seats in the House, and knock off a whole host of Republican incumbents, and that was completely wrong. Instead, Republicans-- powered by the NRCC and CLF-- beat a bunch of Democratic incumbents."

Votes are still being counted but it is safe to say that the Republicans are going to be a much stronger minority party in the House than they were in 2019 and 2020. I can't find a single case of a Democrat beating a Republican incumbent but I see at least half a dozen Democratic incumbents-- generally from the conservative Republican wing of the Democratic Party (so no tears spilled)-- losing, including odious Blue Dogs Collin Peterson (MN), Kendra Horn (OK), Joe Cunningham (SC), Max Rose (NY), Xochitl Torres Small (NM), and Anthony Brindisi (NY), plus Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (New Dem-FL) and Donna Shalala (FL), the last two in districts that are, respectively, D+6 and D+5.

I'll go state by state where there were House races worth mentioning. In Alaska, the DCCC supported an independent candidate, Alyse Galvin against Don Young. She out-raised Young $4,390,232 to $1,778,232 and the DCCC and the House Majority PAC spent around $2 million on her. Although just 36% of votes are counted, she's just at 38.2%.

Arizona was a bright spot for Democrats. Biden flipped the state and conservative quasi-Democrat Mark Kelly beat incumbent Republican Martha McSally. Although Blue Dog (and "ex"-Republican) Tom O'Halleran is hanging on to his seat my his fingernails, New Dem Hiral Tirpirneni appears to be about to possibly beat a Republican incumbent-- leading David Schweikert 169,543 (50.3%) to 167,761 (49.7%), with 80% of the vote counted.

In Arkansas, it looked like the Democrats had a shot in the Little Rock district with Joyce Elliott, but incumbent French Hill beat back the challenge 55.1% to 44.9%. California's final results will probably take at least a week-- at least but there are 13 uncalled House races now; these are the ones that might result in a district flip:

• CA-01- 73% counted

Doug LaMalfa (R)- 142,742 (55%)
Audrey Denney (D)- 116,985 (45%)

• CA-04- 81% counted

Tom McClintock (R)- 173,324 (52.9%)
Brynne Kennedy (New Dem)- 154,090 (47.1%)

• CA-08 (open seat)- 60% counted

Jay Obernolte (R)- 90,179 (53.3%)
Christine Bubser (D)- 79,080 (46.7%)

• CA-21- 71% counted (in a disgustingly low turn-out election

David Valadao (R)- 56,269 (51.4%)
TJ Cox (New Dem)- 53,236 (48.6%)

• CA-22- 86% counted

Devin Nunes (R)- 126,022 (53.5%)
Phil Arballo (D)- 109,596 (46.5%)

• CA-25- 82% counted

Christy Smith (New Dem)- 131,218 (50.5%)
Mike Garcia (R)- 128,462 (49.5%)

• CA-39- 85% counted

Young Kim (R)- 134,556 (50.2%)
Gil Cisneros (New Dem)- 133-263 (49.8%)

• CA-42- 49% counted

Ken Calvert (R)- 83,706 (55.4%)
Liam O'Mara (D)- 67,331 (44.6%)

• CA-48- 93% counted

Michelle Steel (R)- 169,179 (50.3%)
Harley Rouda (New Dem)- 167,229 (49.7%)

• CA-50- 78% counted

Darrell Issa (R)- 136,322 (52.2%)
Ammar Campa-Najjar (New Dem)- 124,688 (47.8%)

Colorado has just one uncalled race but it doesn't look good. Neo-Nazi Lauren Boebert beat right-wing Republican Scott Tipton in the primary and now she's leading Democrat Diane Mitsch Bush 51.1% to 45.7% with 91% counted.

In Florida, the state party did what it does best-- lost through lack of trying and through incompetence and self-serving corruption. They lost two seats in very blue districts and failed to win any of the seats that looked flippable.

In Georgia, the two uncalled races in the Atlanta suburbs both show New Dems leading-- incumbent Lucy McBath with 53.5% and Carolyn Bourdeaux with 51.2% in the open red seat.

In Illinois-- aside from the good news about Bustos' agony-- it looks like progressive Marie Newman will replace Blue Dog Dan Lipinski by beating Mike Fricilone 53.2% to 46.8%. Meanwhile with 78% of the vote counted perennial super-rich right-wing nutcase Jim Oberweis may be on the verge of ousting New Dem Lauren Underwood. With 78% of the votes counted, he has 151,425 (50.3%) to her 149,395 (49.7%).

Indiana looked like a chance for a Democratic pickup in an open red seat (IN-05) but with 89% of the vote counted, it looks like New Dem Christina Hale was beamed by Victoria Spartz 51.7% to 44.2%.

Iowa-- TOTAL shitshow: Trump won the state, Joni Ernst was reelected to the Senate over a weak Democratic opponent Chuck Schumer recruited, and all 4 house seats look pretty bad. Randy Feenstra (basically Steve King-lite) beat JD Scholten 62.1% to 37.9% (86% counted) after the DCCC told him they wouldn't help him unless he played down his progressive agenda and allowed them to staff his campaign with their useless operatives; he turned them down. Conservative and useless incumbent Abby Finkenauer is behind 211,573 (51.3%) to 200,814 (48.7% with 91% counted and the even worse New Dem Cindy Axne is barely hanging on-- 218,968 (49.0%) to 212,727 (47.6%). It was thought that Rita Hart would hold onto Democrat's Dave Loebsack's seat but with 89% of the vote counted it's a 50-50 race-- 196,773 for Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks and 196,487 for Hart.

In Michigan it looks like Justin Amash's seat is going to Republican supermarket scion Peter Meijer instead of New Dem Hillary Scholten. The DCCC decided to not help Jon Hoadley (too progressive and too gay for their tastes) and he lost 58-38% to Fred Upton (with 70% counted). New Dem Elissa Slotkin is narrowly holding onto her seat (MI-08) with 50.9% and 96% of the vote counted but fellow New Dem Haley Stevens seems to be losing-- 77% counted-- to Eric Esshaki, 50.4% to 47.6%. Good news: Rashida stomped her GOP opponent 77.2% to 19.5%.

Democrats missed pick-up opportunities in Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska and New Jersey, where New Dem Amy Kennedy looks to be failing to oust fence-jumper Jeff Van Drew who is ahead 50.9% to 47.5% (75% counted).

In New Mexico the Torres Small/Herrell rematch looks like (68% counted) the Republican beat the Blue Dog 53.3% to 46.6% this time. The Trump voters that didn't come out in 2018, definitely voted yesterday!

New York had 6 Democratic losers: New Dem Nancy Goroff and Blue Dog Jackie Gordon on Long Island, Blue Dog Max Rose (with just 42.1% of the vote) in Brooklyn/Staten Island, Blue Dog Anthony Brindisi (NY-22), progressive Dana Balter (58.5% to 37.8%) and progressive Nate McMurray (31.1%). On a brighter note, look forward to Congressmen Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones, while AOC beat back the well-financed ($9,590,891) Republican challenge with about 70% of the vote.

North Carolina reelected Democratic Governor Roy Cooper but it looks bad for Biden and Cunningham and with all House seats now called, the Dems picked up the two lay-ups (NC-02 and NC-06), both with crap conservatives but failed everywhere else they thought they had a chance. Nazi Madison Cawthorn beat Moe Davis 243,898 (54.5%) to 189,516 (42.4%).

The only district the DCCC tried to win in Ohio was in Cincinnati and their New Dem candidate lost with 44.5%.

In Oklahoma, one of the worst Dems in Congress, Blue Dog Kendra Horn was beaten 158,044 (52.1%) to 145,541 (47.9%)-- with 95% reporting. Good riddance!

Pennsylvania is still counting votes but it looks like New Dem Christina Finello is losing to Brian Fitzpatrick in the bluest Pennsylvania seat held by a Republican. Meanwhile conservatives Chrissy Houlahan (52.7%), Susan Wild (46.7%) and Conor Lamb (43%) are having trouble holding onto their seats, Blue Dog Eugene DePasquale is being crushed. With 82% of the vote counted, Matt Cartwright is having a tough time as well but will probably hold onto his seat once all the early votes are counted.

Texas was tragic. Every Democratic hope-- the good, the bad and the ugly-- was dashed. Instead of half a dozen pick-ups, there were no changes and the Democrats came close to losing a New Dem (Lizzie Fletcher) and a Blue Dog (Vicente Gonzalez). The DCCC poured over $7 million into Blue Dog Sri Kulkarni's race and he lost 202,320 (49.8%) to 173,899 (42.8%). Even the "easiest" seat for the Dems to flip-- TX-23, an open seat Hillary won and with an R+1 PVI-- was lost by Gina Ortiz Jones, a mediocre candidate the DCCC spent over $5 million on.

With just 67% of the vote counted, Utah Blue Dog Ben McAdams in barely holding onto his seay-- 109,880 (49.5%) to 102,115 (46%).

In Virginia conservative Democrat Elaine Luria seems to be holding on with 50.7% and Blue Dog Abigail Spanberger is in a 50-50 nail-biter against neo-Nazi Nick Freitas (199,786 to 199,513, with 86% of the vote counted).

And no changes in West Virginia, Wisconsin or Wyoming. In Washington 10's D vs D race, conservative New Dem Marilyn Strickland beat progressive Beth Doglio 50.2% to 35.9%.

Once all the figures are in, we'll look more closely at how Bustos wasted hundreds of millions of dollars trying-- and mostly failing-- to elect conservative Democraps.