McCain Opposes Water Boarding

If Rudy Giuliani is the only GOP presidential candidate who differs from the pack on abortion, John McCain stands alone on treatment of detainees, the LA Times notes. In the second debate, while Mitt Romney and Giuliani sanctioned using some forms of torture, including water boarding, on suspected terrorists, former POW McCain called for limits on interrogation techniques.

"We could never gain as much ... from that torture as we would lose in world opinion," McCain said. Giuliani, conversely, would let interrogators use "any method they can think of." One analyst noted that candidates struggle to appear tough without embracing torture, but McCain, who spent five years in a North Vietnamese prison camp, doesn't have to worry about looking weak. (More John McCain stories.)