“I join my voice with Joshua and the thousands around the country who are calling for Sen. McCain to go back and to clarify, and to speak as he spoke at one time simply to say that torture cannot be justified,” said former torture victim and Purple Heart Recipient Father Roy Bourgeois. He, and others spoke in a teleconference to discuss what they see as Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) policy shift on the use of torture as interrogation techniques.

Joshua Casteel, a former U.S. military interrogator who served at the Abu Ghraib prison camp said that he was initially very proud to hear from Captain Ian Fishback, who publicized the views of McCain against torture techniques. He said these views contrasted those of Vice President Dick Cheney. Casteel went on to say that McCain seems to have changed his tune. He concluded by saying, “As a former interrogator myself, and with friends of interrogators and torturers, we are simply saying we want old Senator McCain back.”

USAction Program Director Alan Charney also stated that Sen. McCain is the only US senator to have changed his position on the issue, referencing McCain’s decision to negotiate with President Bush over habeas corpus legislation, and his decision to vote against legislation containing provisions that would have prevented the CIA from waterboarding prisoners. This past month, McCain also blasted the Supreme Court for its ruling in Boumediene v. Bush, holding that the executive branch must respect habeas corpus rights even when dealing with enemy combatants.

“At a time that President Bush is spending up to $11 billion a month in Iraq, and sometimes more, he is ignoring an economy right here at home” said Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) at a news conference to release a new economic agenda from USAction. Woolsey and other representatives gathered to discuss what they called failed economic policies from the Bush administration, and looked forward to new policies reflecting USAction’s agenda they have named ‘Invest in America’s Future’.

William McNary, President of USAction stated that among other things, the program’s agenda emphasized reform for healthcare, education and energy policy in order to create a future for America’s working class that that provides equal opportunity and is prosperous. In addition, McNary stated that the program would be beneficial to all Americans, including business, and referred to his organization’s plan as the next ‘New Deal’.

According to USAction’s program director Alan Charney, when a poll was taken by Americans in swing-voting states, 69 percent of respondents said they approved of the ‘Invest in America’s Future” agenda. McNary closed by stating that Congress can no longer afford to continue patchwork policies, but should turn its attention to a comprehensive reform policy in 2009 that reflects his program’s agenda.