The GOP has been in a defensive crouch for too long on the war on terror. But one of the Republicans who hasn’t been afraid to lay the stakes of the current debate about interrogation procedures is Long Island Congressman and possible Senate candidate Peter King. King argues that if the Democrats try to prosecute Bush Administration officials for approving coercive interrogation techniques against 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other high-value Al Qaeda detainees, the GOP should pursue a “scorched earth” policy of shutting down Congress – and make the Democrats take full and complete responsibility for the consequences of pulling punches in the battle against terrorists:

“If we have another 2,000 people killed, I want Nancy Pelosi and [liberal philanthropist] George Soros, John Conyers and Pat Leahy to go to the funeral and say your son was vaporized because we didn’t want to dump some guys head under water for 30 seconds.”

If they aren’t willing to do that…well, maybe they should rethink their position before we get to that point, shouldn’t they?