Where Is Bill Nelson's Spine?

Susan S has a fascinating post about what a weak-willed pol Bill Nelson is. Remember, Nelson was one of the 12 Democrats, in the Senate, to vote for what is now known as the torture bill. The bill gave the President the ability to bend the Geneva Conventions to his liking.

(b) The Military Commissions Act defines certain prohibitions of Common Article 3 for United States law, and it reaffirms and reinforces the authority of the President to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions.

Nelson voted for this bill out of political fear. The pathetic thing was at the time he was killing Katherine Harris in the polls and raising shitloads of cash. Nelson displayed more cowardness in the Senate Intelligence Committee. He backed Republicans to continue funding the CIA's interrogation techniques.

But the committee stopped short of using its budget authority to shut down the program. In a closed session on May 23, two Democrats, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Dianne Feinstein of California, proposed barring spending on interrogation techniques that go beyond the Army Field Manual, which bans physical pressure or pain. Under their proposal, the only exception would have been when the president determined “that an individual has information about a specific and imminent threat.”

The amendment failed when Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, joined all the Republicans in voting no.

Nelson recently voted for the FISA bill that gives President Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales more power to spy on Americans. Susan S had a heated exchange with Nelson at a town hall meeting in Pasco County. This was after Nelson told the audience that the administration lied to him about Iraq WMD intelligence. Susan then went off.

"Then why, when you know they can't be trusted, when you know they lie to you, did you vote for the FISA bill that gives the incompetent Bush administration more power to spy on American citizens?"

Nelson ducked the question and Susan interrupted him again.

"I can't believe you fell for it again. You just gave Alberto Gonzalez more power to spy on us."

Nelson weakly responded on how Gonzales can't be trusted.

Why can't Florida have better Senators than Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez?