John McCain was busy in San Diego at a fund-raiser instead.  Interestingly, he was in San Diego, laughing it up with George Bush at a fund-raiser at the end of August, 2005, when Hurricane Katrina was inundating New Orleans. 

Here’s a great article from FireDogLake.com pointing out how wrong-headed that type of thinking is (emphasis mine):  

McCain: Only Veterans Can Talk About Military Matters By: Blue Texan Friday May 23, 2008 9:30 am

St. McCain unveils a new standard for discussing military affairs in this country:

 

“I will not accept from Senator Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did,” said McCain, a former naval aviator who was held as a prisoner of war for more than five years during the Vietnam War.

 

Really?

 

So I guess that means Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Roy Blunt, Jeb Bush, Karl Rove, Rudy Guiliani — not to mention Mitt Romney, Charlie Crist, Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson — and of course Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Sean Hannity, Jonah Goldberg, Bill Kristol, Laura Ingraham, Glenn Reynolds and pretty much every other right wing blowhard and elected Republican henceforth needs to [shut up] when it comes to military affairs, right?

 

Right?

That is an amazing list of the Republican leadership that have been so hawkish about war, yet never served in any fashion.  My gosh, even Al Gore served in Vietnam as an Army journalist!  Of course, if they had been to war, they would never have endorsed it, unless you happen to be John McCain. 

Not that McCain did not suffer as a P.O.W, but I have heard many G.I.’s state that the men flying above it all in Vietnam did not share the same type of 24/7 threat that the guys on the ground did.  I’m not making excuses for McCain, but if he had experienced the real minute-by-minute terror of being on the ground and not knowing when some mortar or tripwire would set off an explosion that would kill and wound members of your patrol.

However, when I think about that, I’m probably mistaken.  John McCain *was* tortured, yet he did not vote for the bill to ban waterboarding.  My bad.  It’s just hard to understand what the political down-side would have been for supporting the New G.I. Bill.  Was he really concerned that he would upset George Bush?  

Somehow, I don’t think that was it.  However, since the New G.I. Bill passed with a veto-proof majority, John McCain will never have a chance to vote “yes” to a bill that provided honest educational benefits to soldiers who might live and be able to attend college after Iraq and Afghanistan.  He has forever lost the chance to do the right thing for our men and women in uniform.

If you go by McCain’s standards for discussion of military matters, I guess the opinions of John Kerry, Republican Chuck Hagel, and John Murtha carried a lot of weight with him.

If you are interested in these issues, please consider visiting: http://www.votevets.org/index_html  

(I would add George W. Bush to that list of people that never served – but wait, the records showing that he was AWOL from his military service for six months in the Air National Guard somehow disappeared.  A concise account can be found here: http://www.hereinreality.com/commander.html)

Ashcroft is reported to have said at the meeting,”Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly.”

The report follows is in text format. The video “Top White House Officials Approved Torture” is the ABC News video of the report, a chilling must-see documentary on how far the Bush White House was willing to pursue breaking international law.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush’s most senior advisers approved “enhanced interrogation techniques” of top al Qaeda suspects by the Central Intelligence Agency, ABC News reported on Wednesday, citing sources it did not name.

ABC reported that the so-called “principals” discussed interrogation details in dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House.

Then national security adviser Condoleezza Rice chaired the meetings, which took place in the White House Situation Room and were typically attended by a select group of senior officials or their deputies, ABC said.

“Highly placed sources said a handful of top advisers signed off on how the CIA would interrogate top al Qaeda suspects — whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding,” ABC reported.

In addition to Rice, the principals at the time included Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft, the report said.

There was no immediate comment from the White House on the ABC report.

Waterboarding has been condemned by many members of Congress, human rights groups and other countries as a form of illegal torture. Bush and administration officials have said repeatedly that the United States does not use or condone torture.

ABC News said spokesmen for Tenet, Rumsfeld and Powell declined to comment about the interrogation program or their private discussions in the principals meetings.

The White House also declined comment on behalf of Rice and Cheney and Ashcroft could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, ABC said.

Citing sources, ABC said Ashcroft agreed with the policy decision to allow aggressive interrogation tactics and advised that they were legal but was troubled by the discussions.

Ashcroft argued that senior White House advisers should not be involved in the grim details of interrogations, sources were cited as saying.

ABC cited a top official as saying that Ashcroft asked aloud after one meeting: “Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly.”

Top Bush aides approved interrogation tactics: report - Yahoo! News.

Check out the accompanying news story at: White House Officials Approved Torture