We can check-mate McCain in the next 5 days. Here's how...

[DeadElephant_ORG]

Last week, the Administration was finally cornered by their torture videos - forced to admit to waterboarding prisoners. Now, their only way out of criminal charges is to try to make torture NOT ILLEGAL. That's why last Thursday (Feb 7th) Cheney publicly admitted to, and defended, torture. He stood in front of an Ultra-Right audience (CPAC) and, in-effect, dared the country to arrest him: "Would I do it again? You're damned right I would."

This places McCain in the ultimate no-win political bind. Torture is John McCain's signature issue. The best-known fact about McCain is that he was tortured. He lead the fight in the Senate to ban torture - and won the issue, over stiff White House resistance, 90 to 9! Right now he's in a fight with the Ultra-Right for his political life. Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, et. al., are attacking him relentlessly and refusing to support the Republican ticket. He went before that same CPAC audience, just before Cheney, to beg for conservative support. He can't win the general election without it. So he can't cross the Ultra Right right now. But Cheney is defiant about breaking McCain's torture ban. And what has McCain done about that? NOTHING.

If McCain is going to give us "straight talk", he'll have to accuse the President and Vice President of war crimes. That would finish his campaign. If he fails to stand up for his principals and call them to account, he will brand himself as history's preeminent flip-flopping, pandering, wimp. It would destroy the McCain brand. If we demand that he answer the question, any answer he gives is his doom.

So our task is simple: for the next 5 days we hold John McCain's feet to the fire over torture. Our demand for his answer should be lead by both of our Democratic candidates.

And the price of failing to do so? To wake up tomorrow in an America in which torture is forever legal.

Jeff Goldsmith
www.DeadElephant.ORG

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More detailed information and links:

• This week, the White House admitted to waterboarding (controlled drowning) of terrorist suspects. It’s an ancient and barbaric technique, long understood - without any question - to be torture.

• Cheney gave a speech in which he acknowledged and defended the use of this known torture.

• A White House spokesman reserved the right to do it again! But he refused to answer whether it would be torture if Al Qaeda waterboarded US soldiers.

• While questioning our new Attorney General today, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) claimed that “99% of Americans would support” waterboarding. He emphasized that the Bush administration should “not be defensive about using” the technique.

• Ann Coulter this week comfortably acknowledged on national television that she supports torturing our prisoners. She felt no need to mince words about "waterboarding".

video of Cheney, and White House spokesman
transcript of Rep Lemar Smith
Anne Coulter: "I should feel concerned about putting a little water up a terrorists nose!?"


This is a balls-to-the-wall play to make the war crimes which they have now admitted to somehow, suddenly NOT BE CRIMES. It out-Cheneys Cheney for sheer aggressive, criminal hubris.
They are moving right now to make TORTURE NORMAL. So NOW is when we MUST OPPOSE THEM.

The Clinton and Obama campaigns must pull together on this and raise HELL right now! Besides the immorality of it, the normalization of torture is a wedge issue pointed right at the heart of John McCain. Because he taking hits from Right wing media (Hannity, Rush, etc.), McCain has not yet spoken out about the fact that Bush and Cheney have violated the anti-torture law that he lead the fight to create.

A poll three months ago asked Americans whether they think waterboarding is a form of torture. More than two-thirds of respondents, 69 percent, said “yes”. So not only are we are in the right, we are in the MAJORITY. And because most moderate Republicans and Independents are morally opposed to torture – including most Christian evangelicals (after all, who would Jesus torture?) - torture is the ideal issue by which to wedge McCain and moderate Republicans away from the fanatical Right. Away from pure evil.

Torture has no part in the America that you and I love. It is the scariest possible step towards a police state. We must hold John McCain’s feat to that fire NOW. (pun intended)


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[rocktivity]

1. In other words, stick McCain to Bush like Glue

Obama hinted as much during his VA speech tonight.

:headbang:
rocknation

[DeadElephant_ORG]

2. You can Digg this here:

You can Digg this here:
http://digg.com/politics/NOW_or_never_on_TORTURE_Put_a_wedge_into_McCain_s_heart

And promote it on C2NN here:
http://www.care2.com/news/member/404810293/631990