The smart politics of the detainee vote

Schumer said polling indicated that the war in Iraq is the top concern for most voters. He also said that, “on the merits (of the detainee issue) people agree with us (Democrats). You poll them; they agree with our position,” not the Republicans’.

Schumer had predicted that a majority of Senate Democrats would vote against the bill, which some Democrats think offers an amnesty to those who abused or tortured detainees, but “a significant minority” of Senate Democrats would vote for it.

Meanwhile, some in Ohio were upset with Brown’s support of the detainee bill.

An Ohioan who writes a blog called “Fundamental Truths” wrote, “I am shocked and dismayed that even in an election year, Sherrod Brown voted to legalize Bush's Crimes.” He called Brown’s vote for the bill “unbelievable and unforgivable.”

Clash with Feingold position
Ironically Brown’s vote came just a few hours after the political action committee (PAC) of Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., an outspoken critic of the detainee bill, announced that Brown had just won its online poll of Feingold supporters. Feingold’s Progressive Patriot PAC will now send a fundraising email to its entire e-mail list, urging Feingold supporters to back Brown’s candidacy.

“I am happy to continue to support a great candidate for Senate, Sherrod Brown,” Feingold said in his statement. “We’ve contributed to his campaign, sent him a field staffer through our Patriot Corps program and are glad to continue to do all we can to help Sherrod win on November 7th. I look forward to serving with him in the United States Senate.”

POLITICAL RESOURCE Find your elected officials Issues and calls to action More of Your Government

But Feingold said Thursday the detainee bill for which Brown voted would “deny detainees the ability to challenge their detention in court.  Among its many flaws, this is the most troubling—that the legislation seeks to suspend the Great Writ of habeas corpus.”

The House passed the bill by a vote of 253 to 168, with 34 Democrats voting for it and 160 voting against it. Seven Republicans also voted against it.

A whiff of the rhetoric that might have been aimed at Brown in campaign ads if he had voted “no” came from House Speaker Dennis Hastert after Wednesday’s vote.

Democrats, Hastert said, "continue to support rights for terrorists. In fact, Democrat Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and 159 of her Democrat colleagues voted today in favor of MORE rights for terrorists. So the same terrorists who plan to harm innocent Americans and their freedom worldwide would be coddled, if we followed the Democrat plan.”

Pelosi calls Hastert 'desperate'
Pelosi said Thursday, “The Speaker is a desperate man…. I feel sad for the Speaker that he would have to stoop to that level.”

She said. “I’m sure Republicans will try to exploit” the vote, but argued that Democrats had compelling reasons to vote against the bill.

Democratic leaders such as Schumer seem confident this issue won’t work for Republicans and apparently confident that it won’t alienate the liberal Daily Kos/Moveon.org side of the party.

And there is some evidence that it won’t.

On the Daily Kos web site, a poster with the pseudonym Mehitabel9 wrote, “I'm really unwilling at this point to post anything on a site that has as many readers as this one that could even indirectly encourage people to vote against otherwise solid Democratic candidates,” such as Brown and Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., who also voted for the detainee bill.

Ford is in too-close-to-call Senate race against Republican Bob Corker.

“Mehitabel9” urged Democrats to “hold your noses and vote for them anyway.”

MORE FROM POLITICS

Politics Section Front

NYT: Obama eyes cost of Afghan decision   2012 already? GOP wannabes jockey early Chinese racist? Obama trip spurs talk Obama, Medvedev to talk weapons treaty Obama hints at Pacific Rim trade pact GOP weekly address targets health strategy Palin's memoirs trigger a book boomlet Obama: Congress should wait on Fort Hood Obama eyes domestic spending freeze Republicans end abortion insurance for employees Politics Section Front   Add Politics headlines to your news reader: