On C-span right now is Senator McCain speaking on cruel and inhumane treatment.
This is an amendment to the Defense Bill.
He makes reference to the reports on CIA prison camps in Europe.
A slightly fuller note will appear as an edit after posting the diary
He is now being followed by Senator Lindsey Graham. "We must not erode what we are fighting for", he says. Seems to sum it up. But he can't hear himself. His argument appears to be that al Quaeda don't recognise the Geneva Convention so why should the United States. Huh?
Despite explaining the administration's position, Graham accepts that Abu Ghraib was an abomination. He spouts about American values and that is what the war is being fought about. So he wants a change - a compromise, he calls it - sometime. Seems to suggest in the next two years. (Sounds horribly like give us a bit longer using the methods that we are employing right now and then we will become that beacon of light for the free world).
The amendment is carried.
Reid was very powerful on his opening address for today's session. He listed all the the things that had not been achieved this week by the White House. He spoke of the continued inefficiency of responding to the hurricanes and then listed the failure to take measures to help the poor, to provide health care and all the others issues that exercise us here on DKos.
"The rich get richer, the poor get poorer", says Reid
He was particularly aggressive about the fraud of the name of the Deficit Reduction Bill which actually increases the deficit. "Is it any wonder", he asked "that the President's approval rating is down today to 35%"
No Senator Reid, it is no wonder. The only wonder is that these Republicans in Senate cling to his discredited policies.