He's a McCain-i-ac!

John McCain has attacked the Supreme Court's ruling on the rights of detainees at Gitmo, calling it 'one of the worst in this country's history.'

Well, my first reaction to this news is, 'so what?' My second reaction is that it's a bit rich coming from McCain, given how much he and the President have clashed over the administration's stance on torture, especially. Plus, to me (even though I'm not in any way, shape or form a lawyer) it just seems like dodgy legality to begin with. I don't want terrorists given some made up, special status just because some Conservatives have a problem giving them access to the justice system. That's what the big deal is for a lot of Republicans. They don't think they should have the same rights as 'US Citizens.' The ideal response to that, is, well, I just want to treat them like the potential criminals they are. If you give them special status (even if it is a made up status) you give them a victory. You set these people apart and make them special. And I don't want terrorists (accused or not, actual or not, or even if they're just some poor bastards the Army scooped up in Afghanistan) given special status.

Treat them like the criminals they are.

The French didn't make Carlos the Jackal an 'enemy combatant', they didn't torture him- they shoved him through their judicial system, got a verdict, locked him up and threw away the key. Now the guy who was one of the most feared terrorists in the world is rotting in a jail cell somewhere. And I think that's a horrible thing to do to a fanatical terrorist- don't give 'em special status, don't kill 'em because that's what they want. If you don't cater to their fanaticism and just treat them like any other p.o.s. criminal then you deny them a psychological victory of sorts, at least in my mind.

Besides, if Senator McCain wants to be Commander in Chief, he shouldn't have blown off steam at the Supreme Court. For one thing, it re-attaches him at the hip to President Bush and for another, it ties him with the 'shoot from the hip', 'let's just make some shit up' school of legal philosophy that the current administration seems to be a part of. The President didn't want them as POWs, he didn't want to 'give them rights' (because that'd be downright civilized of us, wouldn't it?) He wanted to have his cake and eat it too. And as with most things in life, that just isn't possible.