At a New Hampshire campaign event yesterday, John McCain said that as president he would end the practice of issuing signing statements — a tactic used often by President Bush to declare certain aspects of laws unconstitutional and that he does not have to follow them, even as he signs them into law.

"It is wrong, and it should not be done," McCain said, when asked whether signing statements are themselves constitutional. This would seem to be avoiding the actual question, though, of whether Bush has routinely violated the Constitution. One of the signing statements has particularly stung McCain, too — it had to do with the McCain Amendment, which banned torture.