Haspel confirmed.

"Two Republican no votes — and opposition from Senator John McCain of Arizona, the victim of torture in Vietnam who was not present for the vote — were more than offset by Democrats, most of whom represent states that Mr. Trump won in 2016," the NYT reports.

One of the most impressive female firsts in American history.

"Sen. John McCain is 2,200 miles from Washington and hasn’t been on Capitol Hill in five months, but he showed this week that he remains a potent force in national politics and a polarizing figure within the Republican Party."

"From his home in Sedona, Ariz., where he is receiving treatment for an aggressive and typically fatal type of brain cancer, McCain has challenged and praised the Trump administration’s actions on national security — his voice limited to news releases and Twitter. But his declaration Wednesday in opposition to Gina Haspel, President Trump’s nominee for CIA director, has uniquely roiled the political scene. The denunciation has prompted reactions from fellow senators and a former vice president, as well as intemperate remarks from some Republicans aligned with Trump, including a White House aide. It has revived the fierce debate over torture and its effectiveness in extracting information in the years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — from a man who speaks from experience. McCain was held for 5½ years in a North Vietnamese prison, often deprived of sleep, food and medical care, after a jet he piloted was shot down over Hanoi...."

So begins "Speaking out on torture and a Trump nominee, ailing McCain roils Washington" (WaPo).

Also at WaPo: "John McCain is the single greatest political leader of our time" (by Dana Milbank). Excerpt:

McCain is still with us, and this is no obituary. But as Trump loyalists besmirch this good man, I thought I would put in writing what I have often thought over the years: John McCain is the single greatest political leader of our time. He is, in a way, not of our time, for his creed — country before self — is unfamiliar to many who serve in office and utterly foreign to the man in charge.

Only once during the nearly quarter of a century I’ve been covering politics did I think I could work for a politician, and that politician was McCain. I first got to know him in early 1999, when there were just a few of us driving around New Hampshire with him in an SUV, before the “Straight Talk Express” rolled. Had he beaten George W. Bush (he surely would have defeated Al Gore), and had he been president on Sept. 11, 2001, I know he would have done great things with the national unity Bush ultimately squandered....

"State Sen. Leah Vukmir, R-Brookfield, issued a press release Wednesday with an image of Baldwin alongside Khalid Sheikh Muhammed... labeled Team Terrorists.'"

"The image includes photos of Vukmir and [Gina] Haspel with the label 'Team America," the Wisconsin State Journal reports. Baldwin is up for re-election this fall, and Vukmir is one of the GOP candidates. The primary isn't until August. According to the news article, Baldwin has not met with Haspel or taken a position on her confirmation.

What do you think of that ad?

Excellent — clear, hard-hitting, justified.

Acceptable, but another choice would have been better.

Bad. Makes me question Vukmir's judgment.

Atrocious. Really embarrassing for Vukmir.

 

pollcode.com free polls

"John McCain Urges Senate To Reject Gina Haspel’s Nomination For CIA."

HuffPo reports.

In his statement, McCain said he understood “the urgency that drove the decision” to resort to torture as a method of interrogation after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. “But as I have argued many times, the methods we employ to keep our nation safe must be as right and just as the values we aspire to live up to and promote in the world.”

He continued: “I believe Gina Haspel is a patriot who loves our country and has devoted her professional life to its service and defense. However, Ms. Haspel’s role in overseeing the use of torture by Americans is disturbing. Her refusal to acknowledge torture’s immorality is disqualifying. I believe the Senate should exercise its duty of advice and consent and reject this nomination.”

ADDED: Here's the key discussion of morality:

Kamala Harris: So one question I have not heard you answer is, do you believe that the previous interrogation techniques were immoral?

Haspel: Senator, I believe that CIA officers to whom you refer—

Harris: It’s a yes or no answer. Do you believe the previous interrogation techniques were immoral? I’m not asking do you believe they were legal; I’m asking do you believe they were immoral?

Haspel: Senator, I believe that CIA—

Harris: It’s a yes or no answer.

Haspel: —did extraordinary work to prevent another attack on this country given the legal tools we were asked to use.

Harris: Please answer yes or no. Do you believe in hindsight that those techniques were immoral?

Haspel: Senator, what I believe sitting here today is that I support the higher moral standard we have decided to hold ourselves to.

Harris: Can you please answer the question?

Haspel: Senator, I think I’ve answered the request, the question.

Harris: No, you have not. Do you believe the previous techniques, now armed with hindsight, do you believe they were immoral? Yes or no?

Haspel: Senator, I believe that we should hold ourselves to the moral standard outlined in the Army field manual.

Harris: Okay, so I understand that you have not answered the question, but I’m going to move on.

"Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) said Wednesday that he will vote to confirm President Trump's nominee for CIA director, Gina Haspel."

"Why it matters: Several Republicans and outside groups were hoping they could get Manchin, a red-state Democrat, to fold on Haspel because, with his support, Haspel will go to the floor as a bipartisan nominee."

Reports Axios.

Manchin's statement (via CNN): "I have found Gina Haspel to be a person of great character. Over her 33 year career as a CIA operations officer, she has worked in some of the most dangerous corners of our world and I have the utmost respect for the sacrifices she has made for our country. She has earned the trust of her colleagues in the intelligence community and her intellect, steady temperament, vast knowledge of threats we face, and dedication to our country are undeniable. These attributes make her supremely qualified to serve as our next CIA Director."

I thought we were going to have an uproar about torture. How did that wither away into nothingness?

How far must I scroll into "Gina Haspel, Trump’s pick for CIA director, tied to use of brutal interrogation measures" before I see a picture of Gina Haspel?

My sexism detector is triggered by this Washington Post article. The first woman has been selected as the director of the CIA, and — let me put the "tied to use of brutal interrogation measures" part aside for a moment — the screen looks like this:



They ran a picture of the vacancy! They'd rather show nothing than a picture of a woman who is not the right kind of woman.

Behave, ladies, and you might win our approval.

Has a male appointee at this level ever been treated with such disregard? I'm thinking this is special for women. This is what happens to women when they don't adhere to the required politics. Be warned!

Scrolling down, the next image is:



Men. It's an article about Gina Haspel. Why am I seeing Trump and Tillerson?

Another screen's scroll downward and we finally get a picture of the woman, nudged over to the side:



Don't worry, Gina. The building will love you.

I'm complaining about the formatting of the page, not the choice to decline to do a dance of celebration for this female first. The story of the involvement in "harrowing interrogation measures widely condemned as torture" would, I assume, be told the same way for a male nominee, and it should therefore be told about the female nominee, even when she is a first. If you don't muck it up with insinuations that it's a perversion of femininity not to be caring, it's fine. Give us the facts:

Her extensive involvement in a covert program that used harrowing interrogation measures on al-Qaeda suspects resurfaced last year when she was named deputy director of the CIA....  Haspel ran one of the first CIA black sites, a compound in Thailand code-named “Cat’s Eye,” where al-Qaeda suspects Zayn al-Abidin Muhammed Hussein, better known as Abu Zubaida, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri were subjected to waterboarding and other techniques in 2002....

Haspel later served as chief of staff to the head of the agency’s Counterterrorism Center, Jose Rodriguez, when he ordered the destruction of dozens of videotapes made at the Thailand site. Rodriguez wrote in his memoir that Haspel “drafted a cable” ordering the tapes’ destruction in 2005 as the program came under mounting public scrutiny and that he then “took a deep breath of weary satisfaction and hit Send.”

I wonder how many people think this background helps overcome concerns they'd otherwise have about a female CIA director. And I wonder how many people would impugn my womanhood for having said even that.