Wait, Wasn’t McCain Anti-Torture?

<p>So much for John McCain’s courageous stance against torture. McCain voted against a certain-to-be-vetoed bill restricting CIA interrogations to the interrogation methods listed in the Army’s interrogation field manual. His explanation for it is… well… just <a title="read Marty Lederman" href="http://balkin.blogspot.com/2008/02/senator-mccain-is-against-torture-but.html" id="qw:f">read Marty Lederman</a>. <br /><br />

Now, CIA interrogators who are anti-torture have <a title="their own bureaucratic reasons for looking skeptically" href="../../../view/haydens-humanity" id="h21.">their own bureaucratic reasons for looking skeptically</a> at the Army Field Manual. But McCain doesn’t cite those reasons as the basis for his opposition. I don’t really understand this, either. <br /><br />

Oh, wait, yes I do. McCain, who himself was tortured in Hanoi, is <a title="pandering" href="../../../view/mccain-silent-on" id="oimo">pandering</a> to the more bloodthirsty elements of the GOP coalition. Hope that nomination helps you sleep at night, Senator!</p>