John McCain today called the Supreme Court's ruling to grand habeas corpus right to Guantanamo Bay detainees "one of the worst decisions in the history of the country," The Boston Globe's Political Intelligence blog is reporting.
The Arizona senator blasted the ruling at a town hall forum in Pemberton, N.J. today, saying it will "hurt our ability" to protect the U.S. from terrorists.
A proponent of closing the Guantanamo prison, McCain reacted more mildly to the ruling when asked about it yesterday.
"These are unlawful combatants, they are not American citizens and I think we should pay attention to Justice Roberts' [dissenting] opinion in this decision," McCain said yesterday. "But it is a decision that the Supreme Court has made. Now we need to move forward. As you know I always favored closing Guantanamo Bay and I still think we ought to do that."
See The Trail's report on McCain's initial reaction here.
Americans United for Change will begin airing a radio ad in Las Vegas tomorrow that attacks Nevada Republicans Rep. Jon Porter and Sen. John Ensign for voting against the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
Porter voted against the bill when it passed the House in July, and Ensign voted against a motion to consider the bill in the Senate last week. The Senate motion failed.
The bill seeks to combat pay discrepancies for women and minorities. Americans United for Change says the ad will run for the rest of this week and most of next week. Listen to the ad here.
Democratic leaders are expressing their outrage over a 6-3 Supreme Court decision upholding an Indiana law requiring a photo I.D. be presented at polling places in order to vote.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, "The Court
The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) tomorrow will launch a tour through California, Nevada, and Colorado in opposition of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy for gay and lesbian servicemembers. The tour will start in San Diego, then will proceed to Las Vegas, Denver, and Palm Springs.
John McCain told the Associated Press, in his opening remarks at an AP meeting today, that he supports legislation to prevent journalists from being forced to reveal confidential sources.
McCain outlined both pros and cons to the bill: the media has publicized sensitive security information, McCain said, but it also "revealed the disgrace of Abu Ghraib"--a disgrace that, McCain said today, made it harder to protect America.
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) has noted, however, that the bill does not offer absolute protection for journalists and their sources. Since the bill was introduced by Sens. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) in the 109th Congress, SPJ says, several concessions have been made.
John McCain, speaking in Memphis on the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination, said he was wrong to vote against a federal holiday in honor of King. The audience clamored and booed McCain when he acknowledged the vote -- see the video below.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama also spoke about King today, Clinton in Memphis and Obama in Fort Wayne, Ind.
See Clinton's speech here. See Obama's speech here.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) released its own 3 a.m. web ad today. U.S. intelligence officers cannot monitor phone conversations between suspected terrorists, the NRCC says, "because the Democrat Majority refuses to answer the call to protect the American people."
The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter today urging Attorney General Michael Mukasey to take "immediate action" toward investigating the breach of passport information of all 3 leading presidential candidates.
Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) want the Justice Department to examine any possible violations of federal privacy law involved in the breach. Mukasey had said he would wait for a State Deparment investigation to conclude, but Leahy and Specter want him to push ahead.
The passport information of presidential contenders Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) were all viewed by State Department contractors without permission. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has apologized for the breech.
The letter coincides with a push from both Senators to get floor time for their privacy bill, as reported by J. Taylor Rushing.
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
