A Straight Talk Revival?
This Washington Post op-ed by Senator John McCain, rebutting his fellow Republicans on the use of torture, is notable.
Might it herald the return of the old McCain from the early 2000s? If so, he might also find his voice on the climate issue.
The torture issue is one he takes very personally, so I doubt that it necessarily means very much wrt other issues. But you never know. The Republican base doesn’t seem to be fond of him anyway, so he has little to lose now that he won reelection.
Dean Says:
May 13th, 2011 at 11:45 am
The torture issue is one he takes very personally, so I doubt that it necessarily means very much wrt other issues.
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[Keith, I always objected to Mario Cuomo’s stance on capital punishment and this is a bit OT but I put the disgusting necessity of torture interrogation right there with capital punishment!]
Dean is spot on. I never registered for any political party in America and checked off “independent” only because a choice was required when I filled out my selective service form way back when I turned 18 in NYC as required by law. BTW I lean right…but I vote for both sides and the last notable lefty that I voted for was the late truly great Daniel Patrick Moynihan whom I felt was essential to preserve balance in government and look our for our interests in NYC.
It astonishes me that Senator John McCain became the Republican candidate. Sarah Palin while much more qualified for executive service than Barack Obama as a VP candidate also mystifies me. The whole thing would seem rigged to me if I were bent on conspiracies. Keith, I bet you can guess when I turned my back to George Herbert Walker Bush and when I turned my back to Newt, who I think is a genuinely good person.
As far as torture or enhanced interrogation techniques(if we want to sugar coat it…) go I have no problem with them. I do not feel there is a need to inform the public regarding interrogations nor do I feel all of our national secrets need to be on wikileaks. If abuse occurs I fully expect our military/intelligence services to apply the harshest penalties available. BTW I want all executions in the states of America to be public so that everybody understands the horror and finality of the most severe sentence applied by some of our states.
John McCain as a former POW subjugated to the cruelest torture imaginable is not an unbiased reasonable person on the current applications of torture(interrogation). It is not with a heavy heart that I say specific interrogation under torture have saved lives of Americans and others.
John McCain has my thanks for past service and I would love to wish him well in his long overdue retirement.