Below I have expanded the CIA’s list of congressional members who were informed of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (a.k.a Torture) before the information became general, public knowledge. I have amended it to include the party affiliation and home state of every individual. This list has not been confirmed by third party information as the Obama Administration has yet to order the release of more detailed, classified information on the briefings. Since the information released thus far has been very partisan in nature, I think it is only fair that this information, which reveals the extent of the hypocrisy and incompetence in congress, be used as credible information until President Obama sees fit to make the whole picture public.

Democrats

Nancy Pelosi – Speaker of the House, Representative from California (D)

Bob Graham – Senator from Florida (D)

John Rockefeller – Senator from West Virginia (D)

Jane Harman – Representative from California (D)

Evan Bayh – Senator from Indiana (D)

Richard J. Durbin – Senator from Illinois (D)

John Edwards – Senator from North Carolina (D)

Dianne Feinstein – Senator from California (D)

Carl Levin – Senator from Michigan (D)

Barbara A. Mikulski – Senator from Maryland (D)

Russ Feingold – Senator from Wisconsin (D)

Silvestre Reyes – Representative from Texas (D)

Bill Nelson – Senator from Florida (D)

Ron Wyden – Senator from Oregon (D)

Sheldon Whitehouse –  Senator from Rhode Island (D)

John Murtha – Representative from Pennsylvania (D)

Anna Eshoo – Representative from California (D)

Janice Schakowsky – Representative from Illinois (D)

Dutch Ruppersberger – Representative from Maryland (D)

James Langevin – Representative from Rhode Island (D)

Robert Cramer – Representative from Alabama (D)

Leonard Boswell – Representative from Iowa (D)

Patrick Murphy – Representative from Pennsylvania (D)

Rush Holt – Representative from New Jersey (D)

Republicans

Porter Gross – Former Director of Central Intelligence (R)

Richard Shelby – Senator from Alabama (R)

Pat Roberts – Senator from Kansas, Former Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee (R)

Porter Gross- Director of Central Intelligence,  Representative from Florida (R)

Peter Hoekstra – Representative from Michigan (R)

Ted Stevens – Senator from Alaska (R)

Thad Cochran – Senator from Mississippi (R)

John McCain – Senator from Arizona (R)

Bill Frist – Senator from Tennessee (R)

Duncan Hunter – Representative from California (R)

Christoper S. Bond – Senator from Missouri (R)

Saxby Chambliss – Senator from Georgia (R)

Mike DeWine – Senator from Ohio (R)

Chuck Hegel – Senator from Nebraska (R)

Orin G. Hatch – Senator from Utah (R)

Trent Lott – Senator from Mississippi (R)

Olympia Snowe – Senator from Maine (R)

John W. Warner – Senator from Virginia (R)

Bill Young – Representative from Florida (R)

Orrin Hatch – Senator from Utah (R)

Richard Burr – Senator from North Carolina (R)

Chuck Hagel – Senator from Nebraska (R)

Mike J. Rogers – Representative from Michigan (R)

Darrell Issa -Representative from California (R)

Elton Gallegly – Representative from California (R)

Mac Thornberry – Representative from Texas (R)

Terry Everett - Representative from Alabama (R)

John McHugh – Representative from New York (R)

Todd Tiahrt – Representative from Kansas (R) 

It’s no secret that Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter has not been well liked by his state’s Republican party as of late. A state senator since the 1980s, Specter’s last primary in 2004 was not promising. Despite the public support of then President Bush-before the former president’s popularity dropped like a stone- the long shot primary campaign of Representative Pat Toomey was able to narrow the race to 49-41%. Following the election, Specter resumed his mantle as one of the more "independent" (or politically confused) voices in the Senate. Out of the entire Senate, Specter voted with his party the fourth least number of times (only 65.3% of the time).

                Specter’s Waterloo in the GOP, however, was his decision to join just two other GOP senators in voting for the Democrat’s Economic Recovery Act. Specter staffers have admitted in newspaper interviews that, following that vote, the office phones began to ring incessantly. Conservative groups took out adds criticizing the decision and they demanded the National GOP not assist his campaign. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators branded him a traitor. Specter’s primary chances, already weakened by the defection of many moderate Republicans prior to the stimulus vote, were all but destroyed. Successive polls showed his formed rival Pat Toomey gaining an ever larger lead. The most recent poll showed Specter trailing Toomey by 21 percentage points. Barring a political miracle, it was statistically impossible for Senator Specter to even win his party’s nomination.

                So it should have come as no surprise when Senator Specter announced on Tuesday, April 28 that he planned to switch his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat. Newspaper headlines called the move "shocking" and excitedly pointed out that the political world had been thrown into "turmoil." Pundits keep focusing on how close the Democrat’s 59 seats brings them to the magic 60, the number of seats a party needs to break a filibuster. Let us not forget that without Specter’s assistance, the GOP filibuster of the Economic Recovery Package would not have been possible. Without his vote, the GOP would not have been able to avert the ultra-liberal Kathleen Sebelius’s appointment as Health and Human Services Secretary. Or rather, had Specter actually supported his party’s own platform and the principles of many of his voters, he would have been invaluable.

                Arlen Specter, however, was not helpful in any of the efforts listed above. In fact, he voted against the GOP’s efforts to, at the very least, force more debate on every one of these issues. Why should the GOP and its conservative backers worry about the loss of a vote they couldn’t count on in the first place? Specter shies away from controversial votes and votes to please the political sentiment of the day. His lack of principle is only more apparent with his defection for personal gain and political expediency.  Somehow, conservatives are to believe that men like Specter will revive the GOP? That claim is ridiculous. As Specter’s own voting record shows, he did more to sidetrack the conservative agenda than many Democrats did. In the last election, moderate Republicans lost in droves as their fickle supporters voted Democratic and staunch conservatives refused to vote. The GOPs rightward turn is not only a good thing, it’s perhaps the best thing for the party since Ronal Reagan. The GOPs new direction is a real change that has energized the GOP’s core conservative supporters and will finally offer voters a choice between big government and big government-lite.