Republican presidential contender Herman Cain, who, along with other GOP candidates, has defended  the use of waterboarding as a means of gathering intelligence, should agree to be waterboarded to clear his own name of allegations of sexual harrassment of former employees or work colleagues. It would show a man of courage who practices what he preaches, and open the door to using waterboarding on other GOP candidates who support the practice as a means of proving their integrity and commitment to their beliefs.

I’m opposed to waterboarding, and the death penalty. However, if I had to live in a country where both were accepted by the political majority, then I’d support expanding their use into the investigation and punishment of white collar crime. I wonder would the GOP candidates? If the option to execute some of the Enron people, or indeed to waterboard Karl Rove during the Valerie Plame affair to get to the truth had been on the table, would the GOP still be as comfortable, or is it just OK as long as it doesn’t happen to people like them? If a captured US soldier, or one of the candidate’s children was kidnapped and waterboarded, are they honestly saying that they are not being tortured? Seriously?

The president is right. Waterboarding is unAmerican.