PITTS WORST VOTE #39:  PITTS DEFENDS WATERBOARDING
 
September 21, 2010 —  Picking the 40 worst votes by Joe Pitts from the past four years is tough:  there are so many of them.  But we at the Herr 2010 campaign just had to include the Congressman’s votes in defense of waterboarding, mock executions and other perversions of American principles.
 
Vote 39:  H.R. 2082, the FY 2008 Intelligence Authorization Act
 
The occasion was the vote on December 13, 2007, when the House accepted a conference committee report on H.R. 2082.  One provision would ban waterboarding, mock executions and other extreme forms of interrogation.  The bill passed 222-199 and was sent to President Bush.  And sure enough,
 
Pitts votes NO.
 
But the story doesn’t end there.  President Bush, ignoring the harm that torture and torture-like treatment did to America’s standing in the world, vetoed the bill.  It was sent back to the House for an attempt to override the veto, and it happened again:
 
Pitts votes NO.
 
The House vote to override was 225-188, which fell short of the 2/3 majority needed.  Nice work, Joe.
 
Stay tuned.  There are 38 more, one a day.  While we don’t encourage illegal wagering, office pools on #1 would be understandable.