I still think it would have been a disaster to elect him president and his career will always be tainted with his association with Keating and Lincoln Savings. On the other hand, he's had moment like these.

This is the best speech he has given in a long time.

if he, as a long-term Republican Senator, survivor of war-time captivity, and anti-torture advocate, actually proposed DOING something about this. Even if it was a symbolic gesture, like a resolution calling for censure of the highest-ranking perpetrators. Point fingers and name names on the Senate floor, FFS, even though we already know who they are.

I will never appreciate this clown. No matter how many nanoseconds he managed to stay lucid.

He admitted, on public television, to bombing women and children during the war.

BUT..... this Bomb-bomb-Bomb-Iran guy has given impetus to SO MANY THINGS that fostered climate and opportunity for such law-breaking that the worth of this speech is cancelled out completely. This escapee from the 19th century needs to retire from DC and from living.

I've got a parrot that talks up a storm most days. His knowledge of phrases is vast and ever-growing (sadly, he's picked up a few of the things I exclaim when I watch the videos posted to DU). And just every now and then - this particular parrot recites something that seems pertinent for a given moment. I think the bird is pretty smart - for a bird. And I think McCain is almost as smart as this same bird.

intelligence gained from torture -

agree with your assessment that he is an escapee from the 19th century

Despite the validity of his claims condemning the value of intelligence gained from torture - he's still operating under some difficult points of departure - when his arguments are based upon ' violence emanating from the Muslim world' and the 'terrorists for life calling to attack Americans'......

In his presentation one could easily substitute 'American' for 'Muslim' in his premise that Muslims are prone to violence and that 'terrorists for life' have a calling to attack Americans'.

He certainly isn't talking to US.

He can give all the speeches he wants now, but nothing we found out today -- except some of the finer details -- is a surprise. It's been know for 10 FUCKING YEARS. And through all of that, John McCain supported the war criminals and those committing crimes against humanity. He supported them! He can take his fancy speech and shove it up his ass.

during the Bush administration. When Abu Ghraib happened he went up against the Bush administration and passed a bill in the Senate (Detainee Treatment Act of 2005--attached to a Defense spending bill) requiring that the US follow Geneva Convention rules for prisoners of war. He gave an impassioned speech recalling his imprisonment by the Vietnamese....Bush threatened to veto the bill saying that it would "tie his hands in the fight against terrorism." (how many times did we hear that carp?)

Each time he stood up to Bush and company about torture I would think---here it is, the right wing-nuts have to listen to one of their elder statesmen and end this torture and "enhanced interrogation" techniques....but they never did. When McCain was nominated to run as President I was very surprised....then I realized that they knew that the shit was about to hit the fan and if McCain won then he could take the heat, or if a Democrat won then he or she could take the heat.

Speeches are just words

As to the 2005 bill, several Senators, Kennedy, Leahy, Kerry among them voted AGAINST it because "it allowed torture" as Kerry said in his floor speech. Kennedy tried to add an amendment that would specifically ban waterboarding and about 12 other things that had been done that were torture -- and it lost on a party line vote. In fact, those three Senators had incredibly strong, unambiguous speeches that were 100% no torture.

It is true that the bill had some good provisions, and John Warner and McCain did initially anger Bush, BUT before the vote had a Senate bill it was changed to something that Bush could live with. Note the Republicans controlled both Houses in 2005 and there is no very little hope that any bill that Bush would veto would be overwritten.

Now, has McCain spoken against torture - yes, he has. In addition, he has always been given enormous credit for doing so -- more than any Democrat or Republican who said similar things. In addition, there is respect that he does know what he is speaking of here -- he learned the hard way.

However, in 2003 - when others spoke out on Abu Ghraib, McCain did not -- it was too close to an election year, where he backed Bush 100%.

Get off my lawn, and I Sarah Palin.