Taking their Cues from Jack Bauer

Rosa Brooks has written an intriguing op-ed piece for today's LA Times on torture. Apparently the question posed to the candidates was rooted in that great dramatic piece -- "24". Now I don't watch this hit show myself, but apparently the chief character, CIA agent Jack Bauer is a big fan of torture as the way to take down the terrorists.

So, what do the GOP candidates have to say? Well with the exception of John McCain (who knows something about torture, having been tortured) and Ron Paul (that GOP Libertarian gadfly that apparently isn't reading the GOP script), everyone to some degree said -- in an extreme do what needs to be done! Torture, well maybe not, just "enhanced measures." Water boarding -- well -- let's not name the name.

Brooks writes:

In Tuesday's debate, only John McCain and Ron Paul bucked the collective swooning over enhanced interrogation. Paul mused about the way that torture has become "enhanced interrogation technique. It sounds like newspeak," he noted, referring to George Orwell's term for totalitarian doubletalk in his novel "1984." Paul obviously never got the memo. For most of the Republican primary candidates, "1984" isn't a cautionary tale, it's a how-to manual.

Only McCain reminded the audience that "it's not about the terrorists, it's about us. It's about what kind of country we are."

Everyone wants to protect the US from attack because we're the last bastion of Western Civilization, but by choosing the weapons of barbarism do we not undermine what we seek to stand for? What say ye?