Today's Washington Post praised John McCain's "ironclad refusal to issue signing statements." While his Democratic rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton defended using "signing statements in very rare instances," the Post lauded McCain's "sharp break" from the unprecedented practice of the Bush administration.
But what the Washington Post neglected to mention was why John McCain has such a visceral dislike for presidential signing statements. The answer, as it turns out, dates back to December 30, 2005, when President Bush betrayed his would-be Republican successor with a signing statement on McCain's amendment to the Detainee Treatment Act that made waterboarding and other acts of torture the continuing policy of the United States.
Last week, McCain promised that as president he would never issue a signing statement:

"Never, never, never, never. If I disagree with a law that passed, I'll veto it."

That commitment echoed his November pledge not to follow in President Bush's footsteps, a man whose use of the signing statement to nullify laws passed by Congress differs both in kind and degree from his predecessors:

"I would never issue a signing statement. It is wrong, and it should not be done."

With his signing statement attached to the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act, Bush himself sought to create a legal basis for his administration's past and future criminality. In a nutshell, Bush signed into law a bill he had every intention of continuing to violate.

Bush, of course, had opposed John McCain's torture bill throughout the fall of 2005. But when the House and Senate passed McCain's amendment to the defense authorization bill by veto proof margins, Bush held a press conference on December 15 with McCain, announcing his support for the language explicitly saying that that the cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees in US custody is illegal regardless of where they are held. For his part, McCain praised the compromise he reached with President Bush:

"Thank you, Mr. President. I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the effort that you made to resolve this very difficult issue...This agreement basically does two things: One, puts into the Army Field Manual the specific procedures for interrogations. And two, it prohibits cruel, inhumane [treatment]-- or torture."

As the Boston Globe reported, that supposed compromise lasted just as long as it took for President Bush to issue his signing statement two weeks later on December 30. When it comes to what constitutes "cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees," the President proclaimed that he indeed would be the decider:

The executive branch shall construe Title X in Division A of the Act, relating to detainees, in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in Chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the judicial power, which will assist in achieving the shared objective of the Congress and the President, evidenced in Title X, of protecting the American people from further terrorist attacks.

That shocking presidential power grab, along with Alberto Gonzales' 2005 lies to Congress about the administration's torture policy, served to emasculate John McCain's amendment. It's no wonder he's vowed of future legislation in a McCain presidency that he "would only sign it or veto."
That much said, Bush's betrayal over the administration's torture policy in 2005 has proven to be no barrier to McCain supporting the White House now. Desperately seeking to solidify his support among conservative GOP primary voters, John McCain just two weeks ago voted against a Senate intelligence bill that would restrict the CIA in its interrogation techniques, banning waterboarding and limiting the agency to 19 less aggressive tactics outlined in the U.S. Army Field Manual. (Four days later, McCain pompously proclaimed, "I'd be honored to be anywhere with him under any circumstances.") As the Washington Post reported, McCain "said current laws already forbid waterboarding, and he urged the administration to declare it illegal."
Of course, George W. Bush already declared it's not illegal. John McCain just needs to read the signing statement.