Y’all may be right that McC or Kerry would not have prevented idiots from torturing and killing innocents at Abu G, but I still believe that they could better explain our policy regarding torture than fumblemouth can. No need for a philosophical circle-j.; just a simple, concise statement, for those of us who care about winning the war AND maintaining the moral high ground, of what our torture policy is. That’s an eminently fair and reasonable demand.

As far as I’ve heard, Bush’s line is that the US doesn’t condone or support torture. Bullshit! Of course we do, and should, in certain well-defined and -circumscribed situations!

So tell us, please, more about those situations. I’m not an expert on this, but it strikes me as stupid, both as a matter of operating procedure and a matter of PR/international “law”, not to spell it out clearly. It’s not a secret, dirty war; in fact it’s a war under global klieg lights, and PR, though not determinative, is still important.

The worst possible approach is to BS your way along. It’s a deeply serious matter, and though it won’t sway my vote, it leaves Bush and Co wide open to the diplomatic incompetence charge and makes it more difficult for pro-Bush Americans like myself to defend the Iraq war. You do want to reduce your guy’s vulnerability on this score, don’t you?