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September 25, 2005

Another Reason Why John McCain Should Not Be President.

F
roomkin on McCain: "It is hard to accuse a man who obviously displayed great physical and moral courage as a young man of being a moral coward now that he's considerably older. But there it is."

One wonders: if McCain's torturers had been from a North Vietnamese intelligence agency, would that have made it different?

Posted by Eric at September 25, 2005 8:27 PM

Comments

Just so we're clear:

McCain is against the torture of McCain. Aside from that, he believes torture as a marketing tool for US foreign policy falls somewhere between bland & ineffective.

Posted by: Loopy at September 26, 2005 1:30 AM

In fairness, Eric, what American politician has made an argument against the torture of prisoners of Americans that is not contingent on American self-interest? Senator Biden's argument, for instance, is that we shouldn't do it to them because that opens justification for them to do it to his son. I see no reason to single out John McCain in this regard, except that he is a Republican.

Posted by: Ralph Luker at September 26, 2005 3:17 AM

Ralph, Michael Froomkin takes McCain to task for flinching at including American intelligence agents within his desired prohibition on torture. That's what Froomkin (and I) criticize.

There are plenty of people who oppose torture by all U.S. agents, not just some. I don't think they're all Democrats.

Posted by: Eric at September 26, 2005 7:14 AM