The Military Commissions Act has been recognized as the most dangerous piece of right wing legislation passed during the entire time that George W. Bush has been in the White House. The law makes a travesty of our judicial system, replacing time-honored principles like the presumption of innocence and the right of a defendant to examine the evidence against him with a new system of kangaroo courts. The Military Commissions Act removes habeas corpus as the foundation of American liberty, and ends the legal status of the Geneva Conventions as part of the law of the land. The law even gives legal amnesty to George W. Bush and other top officials for responsibility for war crimes. It legalizes torture and gives the President the power to throw people in prison without trial. The Military Commissions Act is a smear of shame across the American tradition of freedom under the rule of law.

The real tragedy is that many Democrats in Congress voted in favor of the MCA. Also, many Democrats running for Congress declared their support for the pro-torture, anti-freedom law. Among those was Michael Arcuri, running as a Democrat for the House of Representatives in New York State’s 24th congressional district.

Mike Arcuri acknowledged that he supported the Military Commissions Act without even bothering to read the law himself. Now, as word has spread that Arcuri supports the worst aspects of the right wing political agenda of the Bush White House, Arcuri’s lead shows signs of dwindling, and Democrats throughout his district are grumbling about whether they can ethically support voting for their own party’s candidate. Mike Arcuri is within danger of losing his campaign tomorrow, and if he does, it will probably be because of Arcuri’s foolish choice to embrace the Military Commissions Act.

So, what do you think is happening today? Unsubstantiated rumors are being spread through the 24th district in New York that Michael Arcuri has seen the error of his ways, and promises to put up a statement on his campaign web site declaring that he now opposes the Military Commissions Act. Yet, even as these rumors of this promise are being spread, there is no sign of such a reversal.

The Arcuri for Congress web site has no statement indicating that Michael Arcuri regrets, much less reverses, his support for the Republicans on the Military Commissions Act. A phone call made to Arcuri’s campaign headquarters was met with a denial that Arcuri has changed his position at all.

Of course, rumors have their own power when it comes to elections. Perhaps that’s what the Democrats are counting on. As one Democratic voter in the district ruefully commented, “Sounds like someone is trying to have it both ways.”