Blogoland

Hugh Hewitt is in fine form this morning:

McCain's problem is that many people view his every action as the product of self-serving calculation, and a need to be seen as being "apart" and "different." Even on the issue of harsh interrogation of detainees, McCain's very public approach based on his long imprisonment and suffering only reinforces his profile as a man who not insists on being heard, but insists on being seen as being heard.

This is almost complete incoherence, but let's try to unpack this a bit, shall we? Hewitt is saying that McCain is a publicity hound and a self-serving politician (No!). And, further, he apparently uses the fact that he continues to suffer physically from his own real-life horrors in Vietnam as the basis for opposing the administration on torturing others today.

Somehow this means that McCain "insists on being seen as being heard," which I guess roughly equates to "he doesn't really believe what he's saying."

That's quite an interesting thing to say. Is this what Hugh Hewitt means? That McCain probably really believes that torture is a good thing, but is now opposing it because he's a self-serving, insincere 'maverick' who is only interested in scoring political points in his effort to gain the presidency in 2008? I'd be interested to find out if that's what he really means.

Oh, and in case anyone has forgotten, this is what happened to McCain during his Vietnamese imprisonment:

At two to three hour intervals, the guards returned to administer beatings.

The intensity of the punishment varied from visit to visit - depending on the enthusiasm and energy of the guards.

Still I felt they were being careful not to kill or permanently injure me. One guard would hold me while the others pounded away. Most blows were directed at my shoulders, chest and stomach. Occasionally, when I had fallen to the floor, they kicked me in the head. They cracked several of my ribs and broke a couple of teeth. My bad right leg was swollen and hurt the most of any of my injuries. Weakened by beatings and dysentery, and with my right leg again nearly useless, I found it almost impossible to stand.

On the third night, I lay in my own blood and waste, so tired and hurt that I could not move. The Prick came in with two other guards and lifted me to my feet and gave me one of other worst beatings I had yet experienced. At one point, he slammed his fist into my face and knocked me across the room toward the waste bucket. I fell on the bucket, hitting it with my left arm, and breaking it again. They left me lying on the floor, moaning from the stabbing pain in my refractured arm.

What a whiney fake baby.