I say let the Republicans become the torture party. This is the rope that they need to tie a nice noose right before the elections. Argue against it but always take the opportunity to tie the Republicans on to the issue. They think it is a balloon but I think it is a lead weight.
This administration and this Republican Congress have the fatal flaw, they have some screwed-up male pride gene that rarely allows them to second-guess any decisive decision that Cheney makes (social security privatizing was a rare exception). And this is what can happen when you surround yourself with bleachers full of partisans cheering your every burp and fart, and a willing and able mainstream media who never questions and only promotes.
Bush and Cheney and the whole crew thinks that their shit doesn't stink, but I think they might grow to regret this lack of self-examination. Here on the ground in middle America, I am hearing from a lot of everyday people from both sides of the political spectrum speaking out against torture as being unAmerican. Torture is just far more akin to Nazi Germany than it is to the USA.