Bill O’Reilly wrapped up his interview with John McCain.
The first half of the interview was harmless, but did not break any new ground.
Before getting to the second half of the interview, O’Reilly performed a public service that every red blooded American male should thank him for. He had Amanda Carpenter and Mary Katharine Ham on at the same time. Because Amanda Carpenter did an interview with me, and Mary Katharine Ham was very friendly when I met her, I will resist my junior high school impulses to make comments that are beneath the dignity of these two smart, classy, republican women. Besides, the Chicago Cannonball and I are happy, rendering discussions of paddling or jello wrestling with other women inappropriate, even if they are republican.
Below is the substance of the second half of the interview.
Bill O’Reilly very frankly told John McCain why he supported waterboarding. McCain politely but firmly stood his ground on how he felt about the issue. O’Reilly pointed out that the Geneva Convention does not protect Al Queda, but McCain disagreed with exactly what the Geneva Convention represented.
When asked if he would support an Israeli preemptive strike against Iran by Benjamin Netanyahu (if he becomes Prime Minister of Israel), McCain stated that he would need to see the circumstances first. However, he then followed up this equivocation with a crystal clear view when he said, “I will never allow a second Holocaust.”
Regarding the Iraqi government, “they are functioning badly, but better.” He acknowledged significant progress in the last 6 months in Basra.
“Setting a date for withdrawal would cause chaos and genocide.”
“Nobody hates war more than those who have been in them.”
He cited Ronald Reagan’s “peace through strength,” and reiterated that he “would rather lose an election than lose a war.”
O’Reilly asked McCain the same question he asked Hillary, that being the location of hotbed activity in Pakistan. O’Reilly again mentioned Quetta, but McCain deftly pointed out that Whiziristan was the key.
McCain was asked about how he can straddle separating himself from the unpopular President George W. Bush without offending him or his supporters. McCain pointed out his differences on climate change and spending, and the War in Iraq.
This part of the interview was only about 6 minutes long, yet it contained more meat than the much longer first part of the interview.
This was the best part of the interview. John McCain is a man of deep convictions and principles, and on areas where others may disagree with vehemently, they still admire his honor and integrity.
This was also a fairly “quiet” interview. What I mean is that with John McCain, you have to listen to him. He does not yell or rant or rave. He speaks in a calm, quiet voice, but his words matter.
This interview started wrong but finished strong.
The interviewer, with all respect to Bill O’Reilly, is barely relevant. John McCain is an adult, and those wanting serious answers to serious questions should listen further to John McCain.
eric
I’m a little taken back by McCains stance on torture.
The article below quotes him saying that torture worked on him.
Now, I don’t know if he’s ever said that torture “doesn’t work’ during his campaign or before.
The information he gave up seems to of not amounted to much in terms of valued counter intelligence.
But the inconsistency is that still, he said torture worked.
To say I’m confused would not be accurate. But I am curious.
If I were Oreilly I would of asked him if he believes that if he had been tortured even more , would he of given up more info?
Don’t get me wrong. I am supporting McCain even though I don’t agree with all his positions. He sure as hell beats the competition when it comes to foreign policy , war time decisions and keeping my money.
——————————————————————————————————————–
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/11/29/100012.shtml
Sen. John McCain is leading the charge against so-called “torture” techniques allegedly used by U.S. interrogators, insisting that practices like sleep deprivation and withholding medical attention are not only brutal – they simply don’t work to persuade terrorist suspects to give accurate information.
Nearly forty years ago, however – when McCain was held captive in a North Vietnamese prison camp – some of the same techniques were used on him. And – as McCain has publicly admitted at least twice – the torture worked!
In his 1999 autobiography, “Faith of My Fathers,” McCain describes how he was severely injured when his plane was shot down over Hanoi – and how his North Vietnamese interrogators used his injuries to extract information.
“Demands for military information were accompanied by threats to terminate my medical treatment if I did not cooperate,” he wrote
“Bill O’Reilly very frankly told John McCain why he supported waterboarding. McCain politely but firmly stood his ground on how he felt about the issue. O’Reilly pointed out that the Geneva Convention does not protect Al Queda, but McCain disagreed with exactly what the Geneva Convention represented.”
I can’t yet read past this. Your first full paragragh was so funny, and then this one stuck in my craw like an inhaled toothpick.
In law enforcement and in war we all should understand that there has, is, and will probably long be the use of torture. We should assume that it goes on far more than is reported, that it is discreet but ubiquitous. It is human nature. When it does become known to the public, it must be dealt with carefully and honestly. Often the torturer, as well as the tortured, is not necessarily reprehensible, but the law cannot be any clearer.
Anyone who “(supports) waterboarding” and believes “that the Geneva Convention does not protect Al Queda” has either not read the UNCAT or is just making things up as they go along. If you read the UNCAT, you see several clear violations of the terms, spirit and intent of the treaty, which is also a part of US law. And when you take the whole spectrum of abuses and violations of this treaty in the GWOT, it is shameful and appalling.
I am ashamed of my nation for this. It is despicable. It’s one thing to accept a wrong and forgive, it is entirely another to accept that wrong and then condone it. It is disgusting. It’s like the bad parent who tells there bad kids that it’s okay to be bad. It’s like the slobby family you see in the grocery store with their children running amok and cussing at old people and stealing candy. It is slovenly. It makes me sick to think that people in my nation actually endorse such despicable, disgusting, slovenly behavior. And worse yet, to somehow equivicate this as acceptable because the very worst sorts of human being do it as well. That bothers me most.
Again, there has been and will always be torture. We should examine it when we can and deal with it humanely, considering all the aggravating and mitigating factors. We shoud look beyond the UNCAT, and look at third persons involved in the decision chain of any such event. But to go out of your way to condone, even codify, this behavior, is, well… I won’t even say it. Just read.
http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html
JMJ
What a load of over sympathetic ridiclously grandeur crap.
Here we go again with some bleeding heart BS that supports our image as opposed to our safety.
Yea Jersey, big words, big soap box, big heart on your sleeve,
Ashamed of your nation as it protects your saftey and rights so you can ramble off a bunch of self righteous king of humanity statements.
Please Mr. terrorist, tell me where the dirty bomb is and I’ll let you go.
UNCAT isnt worth the paper its written on and says nothing about waterboarding.
As a matter of fact it goes into detail on what it determines to be cruel and inhumane treatment and waterboarding is not mentioned anywhere in the . Also, it is not international law and is only meant as a guideline of sorts with about 140 countries signed on to it. Also it does not cover or include any provisions to the Geneiva convention.
So your arguement sounds very eloquent but is really, nothing.
The CIA has performed coerced interogations many times as recently as KSM who was wtaerboarded and released a host of info that led to interupting many operations , saving lives and lead to ther captures.
You libs are the guys who sit in the sandbox and cry when you get popped in the nose and then go tattletailing to the teacher instead of just smacking the guy back.
If it were up to you guys all these terrorist “would” be running around the store screwing everything up. Because with you they know they can get away with it.
“If it were up to you guys all these terrorist “would” be running around the store screwing everything up.”
Huh. And all this time I thought it was you cheap-labor, free-trade, deregulation, authoritarian rule, war on terror, war on drugs, cold war, hot war, war on ____ (fill in the blank), war war, war war war, blame-Americans-but-never-America, “conservatives” “running around the store screwing everything up.” Gee, I guess I’m just not that smart, huh Micky?
LOL!
JMJ
You said it, not me. LOL
We appraoch the problem as it is.
You approach the problem as if it was a war on human rights.
BS.
You guys would rather protect the assumed supposed made up rights of some “slobbola’ murdering thug terrorists running around the big store called the world , rather than protect the lives of millions of Americans.
Now that ! Is something to be ashamed of.
YUP !
Not that smart.
And then the most laughable part of all is that your best counter is to mention some obscure agreement made up by and even more obscure and useless organization called the United Nations as some kind of moral guidline.
We have recorded instances where coerced interogations have worked and saved lives.
All you got is idealistic wishful thinking that will get people killed.
Unless you can show me a system of retreiving vital life saving info that works you really have nothing.
I’m sure after you read this you will go off on some emotional tangent that has nothing to do with actually proving your case, whatever it may be, other than the fact that you are disgusted with and ashamed of your country which is falling apart every which way and full of nothing but people who arent too bright except when they see things your way.
Anyway, I made my point factually.
Whatcha got ?
Thank God that McCain is running for President. Mature, thoughtful answers to tough questions. McCain in 2008!
Well, Micky, again, I do understand that torture is a natural and understandable part of war and law enforcement. It is human nature. Give a guy a uniform and a grudge and abuse will happen. Plenty of studies have proven this incontrovertably. And when we encounter torture, we do have to take the high road. We have to punish offenders. But again, I do believe that we should treat all the parties concerned humanely and realistically. I thought, for example, that the case of that little England twit was handled terribly. She was over-punished while her superiors got a slap on the wrist. I found that disgusting.
But to accept, condone, even laud the use of torture is truly digusting. It lowers us to the very people we are fighting. I am deeply ashamed of my nation for this.
JMJ
Your shame is irrelevant to the survival of millions.
What is truly shameful is that you equate us with cowardly bastards that go after innocent women and children in the most cowardly way thinkable.
And whats truly disgusting is that you would like to give them a pass all because some egotistically narcissistic need to look as if you are the bearer of all ethics and morals.
Little England was a clown.
There was no interogation going on in that situation, so I dont see how it applies to when we need info to save lives.
Really, get off yer high righteous horse.
You sound like some beauty queen contestant
“Your shame is irrelevant to the survival of millions.”
Oh puh-lease. LOL!
JMJ
Really !
Who cares about your concieded shame ?
You can sit there on your pity pot all you want.
Do you really think anyone cares about your self indulgent shame when millions of lives could be at stake ?
Get over yourself.
Too bad thats the way things really are.
When our guys are getting blown up and innocent Americans are getting killed no one is going to say ” wait a minute! this is going to cause great shame on the part of Jersey McJones”
You position has been shot to hell so now all you can do is what I said you would do.
“I’m sure after you read this you will go off on some emotional tangent that has nothing to do with actually proving your case, whatever it may be, ”
Whats really shameful and about as disgusting as it gets along with making you the poster child for everything thats wrong with this country is when you say that if we interogate we are no better than the enemy.
The difference between us and them is so vast that it must be the reason you cant concieve it.
In all liberal fashion you are some how under the sick impression that all men are equal no matter what. And they all deserve equal treatment.
Try telling that to our enemy who sees us as nothing but a scourge to the planet.
Try telling that to our soldiers and 911 victims and their families.
These bastards kill by using some of the most inhumane methods around and have absolutly no concept of human rights or human dignity.
They are cowards who prey on the weak and innocent. They wear no uniform.
They treat their own women and children like dispensable animals.
They have no respect for human life what so ever.
And you say we are just as bad as them for sticking a wet towel over a guys face for less than a minute?
I would like to know how you come to this conclusion. PLEASE ! enlighten me.
The course of action you propose is to do basically nothing. And quite frankly is the reason we are in this position.
These bastards know that they have the option to take advantage of a country that has a standard of human rights and so they know that all they have to do once they are locked up is to scream “I was abused”
And BAMM ! The ACLU comes a runnin and they guy gets all this attention.
When really he is being treated more fairly and just than any of the prisons in his country would afford him or especially an American.
Do you really think they give Americans the quality of care in their prisons that we give to them in ours ?
So yeah Jersey !
Screw your shame.
It means about as much to anyone as flatulating pig
You guys and yer ter’rists just crack me up. Thousands of lives, trillions of dollars chasing loonies around the comic book world in your minds.
JMJ
Yup, I was right.
Nothing more to say but a bunch of meaningless rhetoric.
And if I were you I would not include Allah in any of those comic books of yours.
Poor muslims might get offended.
My comic book has him on a step ladder behind a camel.
What the real crack up here is you Jersey.
After all that all you can do is change subjects and somehow think you came out ontop of anything.
Trillions of dollars, comic books, war casualties, have nothing to do with you not being able to controvert me or make sense out of the ridiculous things you say.
Theres a few questions in my last few posts.Try answering one so the conversation appears to have pupose other than you spewing a bunch of emotionally charged crap.
[…] sazzylilsmartazz wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptBill O’Reilly very frankly told John McCain why he supported waterboarding. McCain politely but firmly stood his ground on how he felt about the issue. O’Reilly pointed out that the Geneva Convention does not protect Al Queda, … […]
Where’s Mel Brooks terrorism play? The world needs a Mel Brooks terrorism play.
JMJ
I am deeply ashamed and saddened by the amoral relativism championed by far too many Westerners…
The torture issue is a difficult one…the disturbing nature of equating the United States with organizations such as Al Queda is not…that is a disgrace and vast indictment of those who practice such nonsense…
The story remains as it always has…you either get it or you don’t…
Personally I was not impressed with McCain. Maybe it was because O’Reilly spent most of the interview talking over him…. but that’s his style…
He is, however, much better than the socialist candidates///
I don’t get it. hehe
JMJ
Not sure what “amoral relativism” is in the greater picture. An Infantryman’s mission is to close with and destroy the enemy. If the Infantryman lets an enemy live so he can gain information from him that may save lives, it seems relatively moral because not only would friendly lives be saved, but the enemy’s life is saved as well. I’m not advocating “torture”, or more accurately, Little England style humiliation, but to inconvenience someone for a few minutes rather than kill him may be the preferred alternative to the enemy. Let’s ask him. Sen McCain’s perspective is from one who was held prisoner for years and had no fresh intel, and the enemy knew this but tortured him anyway to break him. Therein lies the difference. I get that part.
Jersey.
Your attempt to humorize your inability to argue this intelligently shows that you will never get it.
And since you admit to not getting it , what point is there in you participating on this thread ?