Salon.com > R-Ariz.

Why is Obama withholding secret torture report from Americans?

Mon, 06 May 2013 18:08:00 +0000

Much of what you’ve been told (or seen in movies) about George W. Bush’s supposedly effective torture program is false and overhyped. At least, that’s one of the conclusions of the 6,000-page review of the program the Senate Intelligence Committee completed last year.

Yet, right now, President Obama is preventing you from learning any of this, by keeping the report classified.

Before the end of the Bush administration, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. — then the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee — started investigating the torture program. When Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., took over as chairwoman of the committee in 2009, she intensified the investigation and negotiated with the CIA to get access to its files. After almost four more years of work and reviewing 6 million pages of documents, the committee voted out the report in December on a mostly party line vote.

Reports: Fiscal cliff vote unlikely tonight

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 21:30:00 +0000

Updated: December 31, 5:04 p.m.: Numerous sources reported that there would not be a fiscal cliff vote tonight

Following weeks of hysteria, numerous news outlets are reporting that the House of Representatives may nDATEot even vote on a fiscal cliff deal before the tax hikes and spending cuts take effect at midnight tonight.

Here's CNN's take:

The reason is partly about process, but the benefit is political.

House GOP sources said the main reason the House is not likely to vote before the deadline is because the deal is not yet done, and it still has to go through the Senate–which takes time.

GOP leaders prefer to vote in broad daylight, sources said, instead of in the middle of the night.

"There is no difference in voting at 2 a.m. than tomorrow at 4 p.m.," one of the GOP sources said.

GOP sources admitted there is an added benefit to the Senate's delay: taxes would already be up, so lawmakers could argue that they are voting for tax cuts, as opposed to tax increases.

“¡Viva Obama!”

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:46:00 +0000

If Barack Obama is really going to redraw the political map this year, this isn't a bad place to start. Colorado's nine electoral votes have gone blue in only one of the last 10 elections, but they look within Obama's reach now according to recent polling. The same goes for nearby Nevada (with five votes) and New Mexico (also five). If John McCain weren't from Arizona, its 10 votes might be up for grabs, too.

Latino voters are a big reason that Democrats may find new electoral power in the West. In all the Southwestern states Obama is targeting, Latinos make up at least 12 percent of the eligible voters; in New Mexico, the Hispanic vote is a staggering 37 percent of the electorate. (Latinos are now the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the country, making up an estimated 15 percent of the U.S. population, though only about 9 percent of the electorate.) Recent polls show Obama beating McCain nearly 2 to 1 among Latinos. Obama's chances of winning, if he can't carry the Southern states and can't turn Ohio blue again, could well come down to how successful his outreach to the Latino community is here and in neighboring states.