Bush/McCain Say McCain Was Never Tortured

We all know the Bush administration has made torturing human beings an official policy of the United States. We also know that McCain has gone from opponent of torture, to Bush-hugging supporter of torture. Andrew Sullivan summed this up nicely yesterday on his blog:

And the government of the United States now practices the very same techniques that the Communist government of North Vietnam once proudly used against American soldiers. When they are used against future John McCains, the victims will know, in a way McCain didn't, that their own government has no moral standing to complain.

Now the kicker: in the Military Commissions Act, McCain acquiesced to the use of these techniques against terror suspects by the CIA. And so the tortured became the enabler of torture. Someone somewhere cried out in pain for the same reasons McCain once did. And McCain let it continue.

That is old news. That was basically the only issue I ever respected McCain for taking a principled stand on (about the only issue he ever did take a principled stand on), and then he threw his "principles" to to wind like the empty soda can that is his mind, a did one of the biggest flip-flops of his illustrious flip-flopping career. McCain now supports torture. I think his sacred POW mythos should have evaporated instantly at that point.

Anyway, the post raised an interesting question, a new angle, that I hadn't really ever pondered before. Does Bush think McCain was tortured as a POW? I mean according to the Bush definition of torture, McCain was never tortured, he was simply interrogated, maybe even "specially" interrogated, but certainly never tortured. If Bush ever states that McCain was tortured, is that not an implicit admission that he authorized torture?

Furthermore, now that McCain has accepted Bush's definition of torture, does McCain still think he was tortured by the North Vietnamese? I'm sure he has claimed many times to have been tortured by them...does that mean he has essentially acknowledged that he himself now supports torture? It's an interesting predicament...either McCain was never tortured, or he is a supporter of torture. He can't have it both ways.

Oh wait, yes he can, he is John McCain.

Add that to the pile of legitimate questions that the media will never bring up.