Monday, December 05, 2005
Republican Mavericks Lindsay Graham, John Sununu
"Finally, Congress Stands Up", David Broder's column in the Washington Post is about two Republican senators who defied the president. Lindsay Graham (SC) by raising the issue of torture of prisoners and secret prisons being operated offshore in "friendly" countries. Senator John Sununu (NH) is a leading opponent of the excesses embodied in the Patriot Act.
- Sununu has taken the lead in a group of senators pressing for changes in the Patriot Act, the legislation expanding FBI powers that the administration rushed through Congress after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Many of the changes they wanted were made in the Senate bill, but administration objections have stymied their acceptance in a House-Senate conference.
- For Graham, the issue is the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and other (still secret) overseas facilities. Like 89 other senators, he supported McCain's legislation barring the use of torture orthe extreme measures publicized at Abu Ghraib.
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On another issue, corruption--the give and take that exists between special interest groups and our elected representative--Michael Kinsley has a good column "Corrupt Intentions" in Slate about Randy Cunningham and his colleagues. Truly a den of thieves and Democrats are part of it.
