Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either.
Here's what I just read on WaPo. Either Magoo is so senile he can't remember his last position again ("I'll have my staff get back to you on that") or he is so cynical he thinks people just don't care:
McCain Suggests Bush Has Endorsed Torture
By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Sen. John McCain today issued some of his strongest criticism of President Bush over an aggressive interrogation technique, clearly suggesting that the president has endorsed torture.
During an assessment of the Bush presidency on "Fox News Sunday," McCain discussed the administration's use over "waterboarding," a technique that has been used to interrogate terrorist detainees.
"Waterboarding to me is torture, okay? And waterboarding was advocated by the administration, and according to a published report, was used," McCain said. "I obviously don't want to torture any prisoners."
Read the punchline below.
[All emphases my own.]
Amazingly (and thankfully I was sitting down when I read it), Goldfarb actually points out that, er...
The issue of waterboarding has been a central one for McCain, a former prisoner of war who sponsored in 2005 the Detainee Treatment Act. That legislation forbade the U.S. military from using waterboarding and other harsh tactics on prisoners, but it exempted the CIA. Bush signed the legislation grudgingly, adding a signing statement that stated the president will decide when and how the bill's limitations apply during wartime.
Earlier this year, McCain voted against making the CIA subject to the act. Bush later vetoed that bill. Democrats accused McCain of ignoring his principles to appeal to core Republican voters; aides rejected that, saying the vote was consistent with his long-expressed view on how best to prosecute the war.
WaPo, today
Let's go waaaaaaaaaaaay back to February 2008 (to paraphrase Harry Shearer):
Republican presidential front-runner John McCain bluntly called waterboarding "torture and illegal" Wednesday morning, again challenging the Bush administration's defense of a harsh interrogation tactic that makes prisoners think they are drowning.
But later the same day, McCain cast a vote against Democratic-sponsored legislation supported by anti-torture advocates that sought to ban waterboarding and other coercive tactics by the CIA.
The Senate vote put McCain (R-Ariz.) on the same side as President Bush, who plans to veto the waterboarding ban. It also was consistent, his spokesman said, with statements McCain has made on the subject since 2005.
But several Democrats referred to the vote as an opportunity to undermine his image as a straight-talking opponent of harsh detainee treatment and as a former prisoner of war unafraid of challenging the administration on points of principle.
"He's in a precarious spot and is trying to shore up his base," said Stacie Paxton, press secretary for the Democratic National Committee. "This shows he will put his principles on hold in order to get the nomination."
McCain and his campaign aides bristle at such allegations, saying that his opposition to waterboarding has not wavered and that his vote was consistent with his assertion that the interrogation technique is illegal.
WaPo, 16 Feb 2008
Anyone else's head spinning at this Republican logic?