McCain On Opposing Mukasey: ‘I Can’t Be That Absolute’
McCain On Opposing Mukasey: ‘I Can’t Be That Absolute’
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), a former prisoner of war who was tortured by the North Vietnamese, has spoken out forcefully against the practice of waterboarding. He said waterboarding is “a horrible torture technique” that “should never be condoned in the U.S.”
Last week, ThinkProgress questioned whether McCain would be willing to hold up Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey’s confirmation until he provides a clear-cut answer on whether he believes waterboarding is illegal.
On ABC’s This Week, McCain said, “Anybody who does not know if waterboarding is torture or not has no experience in the conduct warfare and national security.” The comments were a direct criticism against Rudy Giuliani and Mukasey, both of whom have refused to clearly condemn the practice.
Host George Stephanopoulos said, “You obviously feel strongly about this. Will Mr. Mukasey have to say clearly that waterboarding is torture to get your vote for attorney general?” McCain visibly stammered, hedged, and then refused to take a bold stance against Mukasey:
I can’t be that absolute. But I want to know his answer. I want to know his answer. Obviously, you judge a candidate for office or nominee for office on the entire record. But this is a very important issue to me.
Watch it:
McCain’s answer did not preclude him from holding up Mukasey’s confirmation. But, he did not lend his support to efforts by a number of Senators to refuse to confirm Mukasey if he does not come out firmly against waterboarding.
If McCain isn’t willing to stand up to Mukasey, he will have to explain why someone who “has no experience” in national security and condones a “horrible torture technique” deserves to be Attorney General.
Sort Comments By: Top Rated | Date
35 Responses to “McCain On Opposing Mukasey: ‘I Can’t Be That Absolute’”
Register
RSSLogin
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Think ProgressContact Us
Donate
so, mcCAVE thinks that the people WANT torture?
is that why he’s hedging?
he doesn’t want to lose the “torture vote”?
yeesh…
October 28th, 2007 at 11:36 amThe Straight Talk Express left the station a long time ago and is lost somewhere in the Dakotas.
John McCain sold his soul a long time ago in his pursuit of power. He is not going to oppose Mukasey. That would take to much courage. On the other hand, it looks like most of the Democrats aren’t going to oppose him either, so I guess it’s kind of hard to diss McCain for supporting him.
October 28th, 2007 at 11:41 amIs the McCain of the OLD making a comeback?
http://OsiSpeaks.com or http://OsiSpeaks.org
October 28th, 2007 at 11:48 amHere is this nominee for attorney general who is not rejecting any notion that torture is wrong. And this Senator who has been subjected to severe torture. And Senator McCain does not rule out categorically voting for Mr Mukasey.
Senator McCain strengthens the case of those who believe that torture is not so bad after all, more than anybody without the first-hand experience he himself has, could do.
And, he is far more responsible for the pain and suffering of all who are subjected to acts like waterboarding, because he knows how it feels and doesn’t stop it.
Supporting torture, or “enhanced interrogation techniques” disqualifies anybody for the office of attorney general from the start.
October 28th, 2007 at 11:49 amall aboard the ‘zero dignity express’!!
October 28th, 2007 at 11:52 amI don’t know how important this specific torture method is; if Mukasey does condemn it they can always find a new method that is equally loathsome.
October 28th, 2007 at 11:53 amThe real point about torture is that we are not using it to extract information from terrorists. That may happen occassionally, but that’s not why we’re doing it. We torture in order to send a message to cultural adversaries, muslims in particular, that they better learn their place in the world and recognize the superiority of America, or this is what is ultimately waiting for them if they continue to resist or otherwise threaten the American way of life. That is why the humiliation component of our torture methods is more important than actual physical pain (see Abu Grahib), and why the Bush admin doesn’t really have a problem with public debate about our torture methods.
Warning: TCDon is a troll.
Do not feed this troll!
October 28th, 2007 at 11:53 amMcCain: Well, of course I can’t be that absolute! I have to know which answer is going to buy me the most political mileage first!!!
Disgusting panderer. He ought to be ashamed of himself.
October 28th, 2007 at 12:01 pmWater boarding is torture when the North Vietnamese do it.
October 28th, 2007 at 12:06 pmIt is still undecided if Backwater water boarding is torture.
Leftside Annie, maybe it’s time to get the ‘Pander Bear’ out again? It could be life-size, and McCain’s unofficial mascot, following him around to all his campaign stops.
October 28th, 2007 at 12:15 pmdoof,
Water boarding is torture when the North Vietnamese do it.
It is still undecided if Blackwater water boarding is torture.
darn spell checker.
October 28th, 2007 at 12:15 pmPoliticians….
McCain is saying all those things about being against torture, etc., but he is refusing to take a STRONG stand against a guy (Mukasey) who is clearly reluctant to say that he is against torture.
And he wants to be President? Give me a break!!!
October 28th, 2007 at 12:17 pm..then instead of a dunk-tank there could be a waterboarding tank, and people could line up and take a turn trying to dunk the pander bear.
October 28th, 2007 at 12:18 pm10 - TR- Sounds damned good to me!!
If there is ANYONE on this planet who should speak out absolutely against torture — it should be John McCain, who experienced it first-hand.
The fact that he refuses to do so speaks very eloquently of his complete lack of morals and character.
October 28th, 2007 at 12:19 pmOnce again, SHAME ON YOU, JOHN MCCAIN!!!! I have said it before and I will say it again. George Bush and Dick Cheney have managed to do to McCain what the Vietnamese could not. They have made him into a traitor and a coward.
SHAME ON YOU, JOHN MCCAIN.
October 28th, 2007 at 12:23 pmThe fact that he refuses to do so speaks very eloquently of his complete lack of morals and character.
Comment by Leftside Annie — October 28, 2007 @ 12:19 pm
Absolutely correct, Leftside Annie. If he’d spoken out about his experiences as a POW, and the horrible torture he endured, and held onto any personal integrity he had, he could have been president. But he chose to betray himself in the worst way, and has become a pitiful clown.
October 28th, 2007 at 12:29 pmSenators are too weak-willed to stand-up to prevent this confirmation. Must be that Dubya has dirt on all the Senators to blackmail them.
October 28th, 2007 at 12:33 pmemail to John McCain: SHAME ON YOU, JOHN MCCAIN!!!! How dare you would even consider voting for someone for Attorney General who can’t answer simply if waterboarding is torture. Or someone who cannot say that it is illegal and against everything that this country stands for.
SHAME ON YOU, JOHN MCCAIN!!!!
Everytime I see you anymore, I can only think to myself that George Bush and Dick Cheney have managed to do to you what the Vietnamese were unable to do. They have turned you into a traitor to this country and a coward, and it is a damned shame.
SHAME ON YOU, JOHN MCCAIN!!!!
Why don’t you ask Mr. Mukasey if he would think waterboarding were torture if it were done to his wife or his children. Or if putting them in a freezing cold room and wetting them with water and putting them in a stress position for 24 to 48 hours would be torture?
I am horrified to see what this country has become in 7 short years, and equally horrified to see what you have become.
SHAME ON YOU, JOHN MCCAIN!!!
October 28th, 2007 at 12:35 pmOne thing Flipper McCain can be absolute about - he’s ABSOLUTELY an idiot. Did they do a frontal lobe on his while he was a POW perchance?
October 28th, 2007 at 12:38 pmJohn McCain traded his soul to the devil after being “thumped” during the primaries by GWB. He then took the deal to be his front man and chief-asslicker.
October 28th, 2007 at 12:38 pmMcCain says all of the right things when asked about waterboarding. And then falls flat on his face.
Q - How do you feel about the U.S. burning abandoned children in countries where the population growth is putting a burden on world food production?
McCain - You’ve stumped me. Are we on the Straight Talk express? I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on burning children – I’m sure I support it as a method of population control, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it. This doesn’t constitute abortion does it?
October 28th, 2007 at 12:39 pmHow does McCain quantify and qualify “waterboarding”? It’s a drowning experience, plain and simple. McCain has just successfully “drowned his campaign” - he’s “waterboarded his presidential campaign”. That’s all folks!
October 28th, 2007 at 12:40 pmI love the foolish way McCain continues to set himself up to flop on his ass. Amazing that this guy is so incredibly stupid to do it time and again. Clearly, he has absolutely no business running for prez.
October 28th, 2007 at 12:41 pmMcCain is very senile, so the press must not give him any opportunity to try to revive his dying campaign for President. We have already endured a senile old guy before: Ronald Reagan. So we must not have another fool.
October 28th, 2007 at 12:49 pmYeah, and right now we have a pretty old, senile guy as vice: shrinking DICK
October 28th, 2007 at 12:52 pmNow there’s another idea for a McCain ‘mascot’. “They call him Flipper — Flipper, faster than lightening…”
October 28th, 2007 at 1:01 pmJohn McCain: DEAD MAN CAMPAIGNING
October 28th, 2007 at 1:07 pm.
The “tortured war hero” can’t even decide what the hell is torture and even if it is acceptable.
LAUGHABLY SHAMEFUL.
Dear Senator,
IS torture EVER an American Principle?
McCain forgot that the Constitution was written during a time of war, ON OUR SOIL and yet he espouses forgoing it so that he can be correct?
Such anti-Americans should not be allowed to populate Congress.
McCain is NOT supporting and defending the Constitution of the USA when he excuses the allowances he grants to the president and himself/Congress for usurping and willfully violating that very Document.
.
October 28th, 2007 at 2:00 pmthis talk of john mccain being some kind of war monger in support of war crimes is ridulous…..the aurguments sometimes made on the far left. WILL i repeat WILL lose responsible democrats the election…….it seems some of our brethern are about a hair trigger away from total insanity…its a good thing that john mccain is thinking of holding up the nomination if he belives in his heart he should……he dosent care about the election…if he did he would have not supported the imigration plan…which is kicking his ass in the primary right now……..the only thing that will lose the democrats the election and total control of two branches of government is our own loonies going unfairly at the charcter of the opposition…we will have power soon and we the boggishpere will be the new base…we control the youth………….we control some media outlets…we have the world almost in our hands……a little patience guys…we’ll get what we want
October 28th, 2007 at 3:10 pmYes or no?
Which answer will get me your vote?
October 28th, 2007 at 3:30 pmTorturing non-US citizens is only a small part of what Mukasey and company are doing. There are very extensive and long-running (5-years+ already) NIMH-sponsored clinical trials to destroy the brains, bodies, and social and career lives of people considered ’sub-human’ or biosocially inclined to criminality, particularly sex-crimes (e.g., psychopathic sexual deviants, etc.)
Lives, minds, families, and communities are being destroyed, the lobotomy is being brought back, and civil rights are being eviscerated. Torturing foreign prisoners is the least of our worries. When Mukasey was chief judge in NYC, he approved many of the NAZI-clinical trials.
But don’t worry, the victims are sub-human. The weak corrupt the strong! Ein Volk! Ein Reich! Ein Fuhrer!
October 28th, 2007 at 4:02 pmThe Maverick’s magic touch has turned to saw dust. Yup, he is certainly lives up to his name: McCave!
October 28th, 2007 at 5:37 pmWhat bothers me about the film clip is watching the blink rate (a body language that can imply lying)
When on a diatribe about how bad waterboarding is and why we can’t do it, his blink rate goes through the roof.
When saying that he doesn’t know about the nomination, his blink rate slows down to a more reasonable rate.
October 28th, 2007 at 7:17 pmI have a suspicion that Mukasey’s balking on the issue of waterboarding might be just a diversionary tactic to distract from his overall belief in the dangerous and anti-democratic theory of the Unitary Executive. Ultimately, Mukasey will deliver an answer on the issue designed to satisfy Senators Specter and McCain. The whole debate over whether the president is above the law will then be swept aside leaving the issues of illegal warrentless spying on American citizens, the suspension of Habeas Corpus and Bush regime’s flaunting of Congressional investigations into corruption and politicization of the Justice Department unresolved.
Mukasey is just the man the Bush regime needs to set all these other issues aside. We focus on only waterboarding at our own peril.
October 28th, 2007 at 8:10 pmThis is the same John McCain who, along with 4 or 5 other Republican sneators vociferously objected to torture, and turned around and wrote it INTO law, last year.
Did anyone ask McCain if he’d be willing to restore the Constitutional protections if he’s elected? No one ever asks that…..
October 29th, 2007 at 1:15 pm