Sarah Palin said this on Wednesday:
"Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America ... he's worried that someone won't read them their rights?"
I liked her speech overall, as I wrote yesterday. She knocked it out of the ballpark, and made herself a credible candidate at a time when even many Republicans were worrying that John McCain had been as stupid as his critics suggested in inviting her to be his VP.
However, I forgot to mention that I found the above statement of hers upsetting. If the US does not stand up for the rights of the accused, what does it stand for?
I hope this does not imply that a McCain/Palin ticket would continue to endorse waterboarding and other forms of torture of captured enemies. War or not, torture is not what America does.
Last year, John McCain said this at Dordt College:
“Anyone who knows what waterboarding is could not be unsure. It is a horrible torture technique used by Pol Pot and being used on Buddhist monks as we speak People who have worn the uniform and had the experience know that this is a terrible and odious practice and should never be condoned in the U.S. We are a better nation than that.”I certainly hope he continues to believe we are a better nation than that. Our use of torture is to the Republican right what the abortion issue is to the Democratic left – an example of fear and pragmatism overcoming right reason and morality.
UPDATE:
I may have to re-think my vote. I have already begun praying that the Republican party come to its sense over the use of torture.
