Why does John McCain hate America?

John McCain tells ABC's This Week that - shockingly! - torture is " a very important issue to me" and consequently that he can't guarantee that he will vote to confirm Michael Mukasey as Attorney General if the nominee continues to fudge on the question of whether or not he believes waterboarding constitutes torture. McCain, noting yet again that it was a favourite method of Pol Pot's happy warriors, would, one senses like to vote No but there's the problem that... well, let's go and see what the GOP blogs are saying.

Here's Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, confirming that supporting the use of waterboarding would indeed seem to be a prerequisite for anyone hoping to win the Republican nomination. This (cheese-eating?) equivocation shows that:

The senator sure knows how to court conservatives

Question: how tainted is any victory that depends upon winning the votes of people who think like this?