In response to questions from Congressional Quarterly about whether he would support Sen. Arlen Specter's (R-PA) bill to counter the President's use of "signing statements," McCain said this:

“I think the president will enforce the law."

That sounds pretty faint -- but if you consider the context, it just sounds lame.

The point of the signing statement, of which Bush has made unprecedented use, is for the President to declare that he will not enforce part or all of a law.

McCain knows this -- Bush used the gambit to gut the Vietnam War veteran's own torture ban legislation. As one law professor described Bush's move to the Boston Globe:

"[Bush's] signing statement is saying 'I will only comply with this law when I want to, and if something arises in the war on terrorism where I think it's important to torture or engage in cruel, inhuman, and degrading conduct, I have the authority to do so and nothing in this law is going to stop me.... 'They don't want to come out and say it directly because it doesn't sound very nice, but it's unmistakable to anyone who has been following what's going on."

McCain -- himself a former torture victim -- worked hard to assemble veto-proof majorities in both houses of Congress to pass a torture ban only to see the president undermine it in an instant.

So how can he say he doesn't think the President's abuse of signing statements is a problem?

What would happen if Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) let his talented investigative team loose on the DoD?

As part of our continuing series of guest posts from muckrakers, here's Laura Rozen of the muckraking blog War & Piece on what we might have to look forward to:

The Democrats may not pick up the House or the Senate come November, but there’s likely to be some penetrating investigations emanating from the Hill come January anyway. That’s when Sen. John McCain is scheduled to assume the chair of the Senate Armed Services committee – and he’s bringing his chief Indian Affairs Committee investigator Pablo Carrillo with him; Carillo, you will remember, led the investigation that helped methodically take down the house built by Jack Abramoff (See their final report here).

Over at Armed Services, what’s there that McCain might want to investigate? Not clear, but the committee oversees the Department of Defense, the organization with the single largest budget in the world. McCain’s Senate website publicizes his recent support for an independent review of Army Corps projects, and for more transparency in federal funding, including a searchable database that would list each entity receiving federal funding.

And the former POW in Vietnam and prospective 2008 GOP presidential candidate has led Senate opposition to fuzzy Bush administration guidelines on detainee treatment issues, and in that regard, has held his ground pushing back against the Vice President office’s expansive view of executive power. Interesting revelations may await, and more healthy tensions between the executive and the Congress.