Progress of the torture legalization bill

If the current vote-counting I'm seeing reported is right, it makes the content of my last post on Third parties a grim thing. The torture-legalization and habeus-corpus-abridgement bill is set to pass - and we could see a majority of Democrats voting for it.

The Dems, of course, would do so because so many of them are still intimidated by the Republican meme that Democrats are "soft on defense". In Democrats may come to regret not opposing Bush on torture War Room blog 09/27/06, Glenn Greenwald writes:

The principal difference between Republicans and Democrats in 2004 was that Republicans stood firm on their principles while Democrats were perceived not to have any. In 2004, Bush's policies were already unpopular, including the war in Iraq, yet this was the defining line from his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention: "In the last four years, you and I have come to know each other. Even when we don't agree, at least you know what I believe and where I stand. (Applause.)" If Democrats vote for the torture bill in significant numbers, how could the same be said for them?

As I've tried to document previously, there are ample reasons to hope for a Democratic takeover of Congress notwithstanding the unprincipled capitulation of many Democrats on what may be the most profoundly important bill of the Bush presidency. But Democrats who support the torture bill are doing very little to help that cause.

Jack Balkin is even harsher in his comments, understandably so: Spineless Democrats Deserve to Lose 09/27/06:

The reason why the Democrats have not been doing very well on these issues, however, is that the public does not believe that they stand for anything other than echoing what the Republicans have been doing with a bit less conviction. If the Republicans are now the Party of Torture, the Democrats are now the Party of "Torture? Yeah, I guess so." Not exactly the moral high ground from which to seek office.

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