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McCain, who was him tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, had previously spoken out strongly against the use of torture and added a ban on torture to a defense spending bill in 2005.

Now that he is the presumptive Republican nominee for president, McCain appears eager to shore up his anti-torture credentials. In an appearance on CBS's 60 Minutes, McCain replied, "Sure, yes, without a doubt" when asked if waterboarding is torture.

"We prosecuted Japanese war criminals after World War II," McCain went on, "and one of the charges brought against them, for which they were convicted, was that they waterboarded Americans."

Asked "how did we lose our way," McCain answered, "I don't know the answer to that. I think one of the failures maybe was not to listen more to our military leadership, including people like general Colin Powell on this issue."

McCain appeared less certain when asked about the economy, saying only that "these are very tough times" and that "I would love to tell you that I had an immediate answer" for high gas prices. McCain also stated that he disagrees with Hillary Clinton's description of universal health care as "a moral responsibility" because the government should not "mandate anything to the American people." His own proposals are based on a $2500-per-person, $5000-per-family tax credit to cover a portion of the cost of buying health insurance.

This video is from CBS's 60 Minutes, broadcast March 9, 2008.