McCain: Bush Should Veto Anti-Torture Bill

No real surprise here. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) voted against a bill in the Senate that would have confined the CIA to interrogations outlined in the Army Field Manual — that means no ambiguity about the use of waterboarding or other “enhanced interrogation” techniques. We explained his position at length here.

The President has threatened to veto the bill, and because sometime swing votes like McCain, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) oppose it, a veto override vote in the Senate seems certain to fail. Today, McCain told reporters that Bush should veto the bill and said he’s banking on the consistency of his position on the issue of torture overriding the subtlety of his stance. From the AP:

“I think I can show my record is clear. I said there should be additional techniques allowed to other agencies of government as long as they were not” torture.

“I was on the record as saying that they could use additional techniques as long as they were not cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment,” McCain said. “So the vote was in keeping with my clear record of saying that they could have additional techniques, but those techniques could not violate” international rules against torture.

Of course, that’s the administration’s position, too: we don’t “torture.”

Interestingly, McCain also took the opportunity to outline a real difference between himself and the president: he says that if he were elected president, he wouldn’t use signing statements — those statements Bush has tacked on to a number of important bills (including McCain’s anti-torture amendment) that essentially say, “NOT.” As McCain put it: “If I disagree with a law that’s passed, I’ll veto it.”