John McCain hits GOP hopefuls over waterboarding

Republican Sen. John McCain criticized statements by some of the 2012 Republican nominees for president Monday, tweeting, "Very disappointed by statements at SC GOP debate supporting waterboarding. Waterboarding is torture."  

McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential nominee who was tortured while he was a prisoner of war, was referencing comments at the CBS News/National Journal debate on Nov. 12, when GOP candidates Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann stated that they were in favor of using waterboarding.

"I don't see it as torture. I see it as an enhanced interrogation technique," Cain said.

"If I were president, I would be willing to use waterboarding. I think it was very effective. It gained information for our country, and I -- and I also would like to say that today, under Barack Obama, he is allowing the ACLU to run the CIA," Bachmann said.

Fellow presidential aspirants Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman expressed opposition to waterboarding. "It's illegal under international law and under our law. It's also immoral, and it's also very impractical. There's no evidence that you really get reliable evidence," Paul said.

"We diminish our standing in the world and the values that we project, which include liberty, democracy, human rights and open markets, when we torture," Huntsman added.

As the Washington Post notes, Mitt Romney did not discuss the issue during the debate, but his campaign says the former Massachusetts governor does not see waterboarding as torture. Romney clashed with McCain over the issue in the 2008 presidential campaign.

President Obama, meanwhile, broke with his general policy not to comment on the GOP contenders' statements to criticize waterboarding in the wake of the debate.

Mr. Obama, who has banned waterboarding, responded to a question about the Cain and Bachmann view on waterboarding at the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit press conference in Hawaii Sunday. 

"They're wrong. Waterboarding is torture," he said. "It's contrary to America's traditions. It's contrary to our ideals. That's not who we are. That's not how we operate. We don't need it in order to prosecute the war on terrorism. And we did the right thing by ending that practice."

Bachmann shot back on Monday: "Well, I think the president is clearly wrong."

CBS News/New York Times polling in 2009 found seven in ten Americans view waterboarding as torture, though they were split on whether it could be justified.

35 Photos

The commander-in-chief debate

Transcript of the debate

Full video

All debate video

Full coverage: The CBS News/National Journal debate

Romney, Gingrich at GOP debate: We'd go to war to keep Iran from getting nuclear weapons

Perry: My foreign aid budget starts at zero

Gingrich, Romney back Obama killing American accused of turning on U.S.

More debate videos

[Ericwvb]

These GOP candidates have no problem supporting torture because deep down they are psychopaths!

[rramer56]

what gets me about the while thing is how in hell were they gonna get info from torturing any middle easterner about how bush and cheney pulled off 911? OOOPSS i forget after 10 years the idiots up there still think that mid easterners did 911. Or they have to say that to get elected cuz the country is still full of stupid sheep that also still believe that propaganda.

[Wizstars]

Waterboarding in interrogation is like Flanagan's Finagle Factor in accounting--it gives you the answer you want to get, not necessarily the truth. We prosecuted japanese officers for war crimes because they used waterboarding on American soldiers. It is PROHIBITED by the Geneva Convention. That's all we need to know. Those Repiglicans who advocated it have no concept of the rule of law, and so should NOT be allowed near the White House or any other place of authority! Period, end of discussion.

[JoePlummer]

Would you hire an admitted liar or torturer to babysit your kids? If not, why would you hire one to babysit your nation? STOP electing criminals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGMEc0gKBA4

[SomeguyfromAuTX]

Anyone else notice Cain said again "Period"? Notice, in this case he said, I don't support torture Period.. but then actually admits to supporting "Enhanced Interrogation techniques" which by multiple definitions is torture ... So this just goes to show he can claim to never have been "Inappropriate", but that doesn't mean he wasn't. He may just think that was an "Enhanced Job interview".

I'm going to start listening for "Periods" from him... humans are creatures of habits and I bet he believes this is a "get out of lie free" phrase.

[BobSmith224]

Wow! This CBS site is like a magnet for dems/liberals! (which makes sense, considering it's CBS!) I won't even begin to refute so many misconceptions and outright lies being promoted here; it would take far too much time. I would urge all of you lefties to move out of your parent's homes, start reading and listening to things other than MSM, and most of all, just get a little bit of common sense and a basic understanding of human nature.

[karlejohn]

I would like to see Mr Cain submit to about one hour of his perferred waterboarding to see if he is telling the truth. For get that lie dedector test.

[mgginva]

As less and less people rely on the mainstream media for news I have to believe this is a good thing. If Dr. Paul doesn't have a decent chance to win the GOP it's because the MSM has been steering this campaign and doing their best to marginalize Dr. Paul and keep his message from reaching those voters that have yet to realize just how far the MSM will go to keep it's/their own agenda. I saw incredible abuses in 2008 from Fox, ABC, CBS and NBC. I was amazed daily by what the media was willing to do to make sure Dr. Paul's message was kept away from the average voter. Fortunately a lot of his message from 2008 is now coming from the other candidates as Dr. Paul was so accurate about what was going to happen. But what we are seeing is nothing less that the media attempting to dictate who we will be able to vote for next year. We don't really know what Dr. Paul's chances are or what they would have been in the past as he has to fight not only the other candidates but the entire Main Stream Media as well. It would be interesting to see what kind of chance Dr. Paul would have if he were allowed the same amount of time as the other top tier candidates. Yes - Dr. Paul is a top tier candidate. If only we had not let the entire news media become consolidated under the control of big business we might get a fair shot at hearing the issues and selecting the candidate who best represents what we feel is the truth. This just isn't the case and until more people become aware and insist on fair treatment we will get very bad representation in Washington.
BTW waterboarding is torture.

[Eisenhowerisashamed]

As a history student (UCI '13) I've noticed that since Eisenhower's time, the GOP has stopped representing the views of successful and sensible Americans. There's been something like a drop in class--I mean socioeconomic class. When the GOP took the South from the Dems, it seems the redneck element overpowered the NY executives who'd dominated the party previously. Maybe that's why the current candidates seem like such yokels compared to Eisenhower and his advisors.

[Eisenhowerisashamed]

McCain is the only GOP politician Dwight Eisenhower, the greatest modern Republican, would embrace. The rest of the nominees are exactly the sort of "lunatic fringe" people Eisenhower laughed at and kept well out of any policy decisions.