McCain for President--Part IX

McCain knows where bin Laden is, just as he knows where the WMDs are. Of course, he's shared this information with the current administration and they're acting on it....right?

 

A majority of McCain's recent gaffes have been minor and inconsequential, but this latest "I know where he is, and I'm a-gonna git' him!" crap deserves ridicule. The host should have cracked up right in McCain's face.

 

I agree, non issue. McCain screws up enough that we don't have to split hairs to see him confuse himself.

Are you ready for McCains entire campaign?"

"I was a pilot and torture victim in Vietnam. I have been in Congress ever since. That makes me fit to be President because I know all about war."

"Obama is young and inexperienced and naive."

 

Yes, you are correct. All political discussion in this country should cease because Chris M. has made up his mind.

Frankly, a part of me agrees with what bill said. If he works with the administration and based on the brilliance of John McCain, we dismantle the taliban and capture bin Laden and other top AQ leaders, then yes. I will vote for John McCain.

Clearly though, you have picked up on the idea that. . . I don't believe McCain when he boasts that he knows where he is and that he can get all the bad guys if only we have the wisdom to elect him president.

No. He will likely not change my mind but that is not the point. Someone has to call him out when he makes these big blanket statements about "winning." Whether it is in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan or else where, he simply says "I know what I am doing" and that is supposed to be enough.

You raise an interesting question, however. Is anyone on here still up for grabs? Outside of the dispassionate AM is there anyone in the election boards that has not made up their minds?

 

The difference between McCain and Obama's statements are simple.

1) McCain directly refers to OBL, Obama is more general refering to AQ.

2) McCain has not said he will go into Pakistan with actionable intelligence, Obama has. Guess where these people are? Pakistan. Obama was "nailed" last year when he said he would go after AQ in Pakistan if Pakistan wouldn't. The right was accusing him of saying he'd talk with our enemies and bomb our allies.

 

I'm waiting for Hillary to run as an independent.

 

I think Ben is going to write-in Gephart as well.

 

There's always Ralphie ;-)

 

No, I think he is referring to Potsie's friend.

 

TPM has done an excellent job of cataloguing the lack of any coherent position by McCain regarding Itaq. The man is a living contradiction and a liar.


http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/mccain-iraq-timetable.php

Critic Or Cheerleader: The Definitive McCain Iraq Timeline

July 24, 2008, 10:46AM

3/12/03, New York Times Op-Ed

'[N]o one can plausibly argue that ridding the world of Saddam Hussein will not significantly improve the stability of the region and the security of American interests and values....Isn't it more likely that antipathy toward the United States in the Islamic world might diminish amid the demonstrations of jubilant Iraqis celebrating the end of a regime that has few equals in its ruthlessness?' Didn't those who argued that the war 'would not significantly improve the stability of the region and the security of American interests and values,' and that 'antipathy toward the U. S. in the Islamic world' would skyrocket, have a point?'
​

3/18/03, Fox, "O'Reilly Factor"
O'Reilly: "All right, Senator, if you were president, what would you have done differently in the run-up to this war?"

McCain: "Nothing."

O'Reilly: "Nothing?"
McCain: "The president has handled this, in my view, skillfully."
​

3/24/03, MSNBC, "Hardball"
"There's no doubt in my mind that once these people are gone that we will be welcomed as liberators."

6/11/03, Fox News

Neil Cavuto: ...many argue the conflict isn't over.
McCain: Well, then why was there a banner that said mission accomplished on the aircraft carrier? Look, the -- I have said a long time that reconstruction of Iraq would be a long, long, difficult process, but the conflict -- the major conflict is over, the regime change has been accomplished.
​

8/24/03, NBC, "Meet the Press"
NBC's TIM RUSSERT: "What must be done in Iraq right now?"

SEN. MCCAIN: "SEN. JOHN McCAIN, (R-AZ): First, could I say, Tim, the men and women in the military are doing a superb job. To see these young people in 125-degree heat with body armor and equipment on, they're marvelous and they're well-led and they're doing a great job. The problem is that they don't have enough resources. There's not enough of them, and we are in a very serious situation, in my view, a race against time. We need to spend a whole lot more money to get the services back to the people. We need to get the electricity going, the fuel, the water. And unless we get that done and get it done pretty soon, we could face a very serious situation."
​

11/5/03, Remarks To Council On Foreign Relations
"To win in Iraq, we should increase the number of forces in-country, including Marines and Special Forces, to conduct offensive operations. I believe we must have in place another full division, giving us the necessary manpower to conduct a focused counterinsurgency campaign across the Sunni triangle that seals off enemy operating areas, conducts search and destroy operations and holds territory. Such a strategy would be the kind of new mission General Sanchez agreed would require additional forces. It's a mystery to me why they are not forthcoming. We cannot achieve our political goals as long as a strategic region of Iraq is in a state of fundamental insecurity."

11/30/03, Fox News
"We need more troops.... [W]e have to be much more robust and do and send whatever troops are necessary."

3/7/04, ABC News
"I'm confident we're on the right course. I'm confident that this is a very difficult and imperfect process, bringing democracy to countries that have never known democracy, fraught with secular differences as well as ethnic differences. It's very, very difficult. But I am confident that an imperfect democracy is what we'll get out of Iraq will be vastly superior to what the people of Iraq had prior to this."

4/11/04, Remarks At Media Availability
"I was there in last August and have said since then that we needed more troops, we need them very badly. We may be paying a price for not having had more troops there...."

4/14/04, Fox News, "Hannity and Colmes"
"[W]hen I was there in Iraq in August, I talked to [the] British. I talked to sergeant majors. I talked to colonels and captains. And I came back absolutely convinced that we needed more boots on the ground. These people warned me. They said, 'Look, if you don't have more soldiers here, you're going to lose control of this situation and you're going to face an insurgency some months from now.' I begged and pleaded that we send more troops. Secretary Rumsfeld said, 'Well, our commanders on the ground haven't asked for them.' It's not up to the commanders on the ground. It's up to the leadership of the country to make these decisions. That's why we elect them and have civilian supremacy. We're now facing a terrible insurgency. We can prevail, but we've got to have more people over there to get the job done."

4/22/04, Remarks To Council On Foreign Relations
"I have said since my visit to Iraq last August that our military presence is insufficient to bring stability to the country. We should increase the number of forces, including Marines and Special Forces, to conduct offensive operations. There is also a dire need for other types of forces, including linguists, intelligence officers, and civil affairs officers. We must deploy at least another full division, and probably more."

9/23/04, CNBC, "Capital Report,"
"I think that we need more troops in Iraq. I've thought that for a long time, election or no election. ... 've been asking since a year ago last August. So I'm not sure that the elections have a lot to do with it, but I've been saying since a year ago August that we needed more boots on the ground...."

4/28/04, CNN
"Senator Kerry and the president say we have to stay the course. We have to stay the course."

10/24/04, ABC News, "This Week"
"We've got to stay the course and I believe that's what President Bush is committed to."

12/5/04, Fox News, "Fox News Sunday"
"[T]he problem that we have here is that the Pentagon has been reacting to initiatives of the enemy rather than taking initiatives from which the enemy has to react to. Many of us, as long as a year and a half ago, said, 'You have to have more people there. You have to have more linguists. You have to have more special forces. You have to have' - and the Pentagon has reluctantly, obviously, gradually made some increases. And the problem, when you react, you have to extend people on duty there, which is terrible for morale. There's a terrific strain on Guard and reservists. If you plan ahead, then you don't have to do some of these things. The military is too small. The good news is we went into Fallujah and we dug then out of there. And I'm proud of the work. These men and women are magnificent. Their leadership is magnificent. The bad news is we allowed Fallujah to become a sanctuary to start with. So, yes, we need more troops. Yes, we have to win."

12/13/04, AP

When asked about his confidence in Rumsfeld's leadership on Iraq, McCain said, "I said no. My answer is still no. No confidence...I have strenuously argued for larger troop numbers in Iraq, including the right kind of troops -- linguists, special forces, civil affairs, etc." When asked if Rumsfeld was a liability to the Bush administration, McCain responded: "The president can decide that, not me."
​

2/20/05, NBC, "Meet the Press"
Tim Russert: Do you believe we have enough American troops on the ground right now?

John McCain: I think we have in numbers probably enough.
​

6/28/05, MSNBC, "Hardball"
"I think we need - I think we need more troops there ... because we're not staying once we attack and clear. We've got stay and expand."

6/28/05, Fox News
"And what the president did tonight is the most important thing. He laid out an articulate vision for victory in Iraq and why we need to stay the course."

6/29/05, CNN, "American Morning"
"I've thought for a long, long time, since the very beginning, that we needed more troops, and one of the reasons why we've experienced many of the difficulties we have is we didn't have enough boots on the ground"

8/14/05, Fox News, "Fox News Sunday"
"We not only don't need to withdraw, we need more troops there."

11/10/05, Speech to AEI
"To enhance our chances of success with this strategy and enable our forces to hold as much territory as possible, we need more troops. For this reason, I believe that current ideas to effect a partial drawdown during 2006 are exactly wrong. ... Instead of drawing down, we should be ramping up, with more civil-military soldiers, translators and counterinsurgency operations teams."

12/8/05, The Hill
"Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course."

2/26/06, ABC News
"We have made serious mistakes in Iraq, which have caused us enormous problems and we've paid consequences"

4/15/06, The Arizona Republic
"We've made mistakes, but we can win, and we must win."

5/29/06, New York Observer

"One of the things I would do if I were President would be to sit the Shiites and the Sunnis down and say, 'Stop the bullshit,'" said Mr. McCain, according to Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi, an invitee, and two other guests. McCain also criticized the Bush administration's lack of candor about the current situation there.
​

6/20/06, CBS, "Evening News"
"You know, I've always said that we needed more troops over there. I have said that for years."

6/20/06, Financial Times
McCain criticized the administration for not having enough troops in Iraq, saying it was "like the little Dutch boy with his thumb in the dike."

7/26/06, CNN, "Larry King Live"
"I think one of the biggest mistakes we made that we've paid a very heavy price for was not having enough boots on the ground. I said that three years ago."

9/24/06, CBS, "Face the Nation"
Bush had "laid out recently a pretty cogent argument why we must, quote -- I hate to use the phrase -- 'stay the course'"

11/17/06, New York Times
"In no other time are we more morally obliged to speak the truth to our country, as we best see it, than in a time of war. So let me say this, without additional combat forces we will not win this war."

12/7/06, Chicago Tribune

We must have more troops over there, maybe 20,000 more Marines, and 80,000 Army. We have to have a big enough surge that we can get Baghdad under control."
​

1/14/07, New York Times

Mr. McCain embarked on a high-profile television tour announcing his support for Mr. Bush's move. In an interview, he said he would have preferred that the White House send in even more troops, and noted that he had pressed this position on the White House, unsuccessfully until now, for more than two years.
​

1/24/07, CNN
Speaking in support of the President's State of the Union speech in which he emphasized support of the proposed escalation of 21,000 additional forces in Iraq, McCain said, "I'm sticking with the president."

2/4/07, ABC, This Week
MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Yet you are doubtful that 20,000 troops is enough. Aren't you?

MCCAIN: I'm worried...I would have liked to have seen more, as you know, but apparently, and it's quite a commentary, this is all we got. This is, as I said earlier, all in.

3/3/07, The Salt Lake Tribune
President Bush announced last month a plan to send an additional 21,500 military members to Iraq in an attempt to quell worsening sectarian violence. While expressing some skepticism over whether the recent "surge" is enough, McCain said military leaders have ensured him the new plan is sound.

5/3/07, MSNBC/Politico Republican Presidential Debate
Moderator: Do you need anything beyond what the president has now to win the war?

McCain: Now I think it's on the right track.
​

7/19/07, Boston Globe

"At the Globe yesterday, McCain also talked at length about Iraq, reiterating his support for the president's plan to try to secure Baghdad with an additional 20,000 combat troops."
​

Nov/Dec 2007, Foreign Affairs
"The recent years of mismanagement and failure in Iraq demonstrate that America should go to war only with sufficient troop levels and with a realistic and comprehensive plan for success. We did not do so in Iraq, and our country and the people of Iraq have paid a dear price."

1/6/08, Fox News GOP Presidential Forum
"I know that I have been an agent of change. I'm proud to have been one of those who played a key role in bringing about one of the most important changes in recent years, and that was the change in strategy from a failing strategy in Iraq pursued by Secretary Rumsfeld, which was needlessly causing sacrifice of our most precious American treasure."

4/2/08, Think Progress

"No one has supported President Bush on Iraq more than I have."
​

4/6/08, Fox News, "Fox News Sunday"
"I've always said, Chris, this is long and hard and tough. We're paying a huge penalty for four years of a failed strategy that I fought hard against, and I believe this strategy has succeeded and will succeed and can succeed. But it's long and hard and tough."

4/15/08, MSNBC, "Hardball"
"But the point is that I think we are succeeding. The war was mishandled terribly for nearly four years by Donald Rumsfeld and this administration. I fought against it. I argued against. And I argued for the new strategy, which is succeeding."

3/25/08, AP Worldstream

"I'm offering them the record of having objected strenuously to a failed strategy for nearly four years. That I argued against and fought against and said that the secretary of defense of my own party, and my own president, I had no confidence in. That's how far I went in advocating the new strategy that is succeeding."
​

 

A consistent and perhaps blindly accepted tenet of McCain's campaign is his theme of "I know how to win wars."

From where does that belief stem? He was locked up for most of Vietnam and winning is not exactly what the USA did there. After that as civilian there were a few other bits and pieces like Grenada and Panama where he had no, or at least very little, direct influence; then you throw in Somalia, Kosovo and Gulf War I and he either opposed them (Kosovo, I think, right?) or was one of many backing them, but they were fought by others, politically and literally without his help. His experience there was little more than voting.

Now we move onto Afghanistan and Iraq and his utterances there on both wars have shown himself to be all over the place. It would be difficult to claim that he has provided any type of leadership there, and certainly not consistent leadership.

So, John I-know how-to-win-wars McCain - is he getting a free pass on a claim that doesn't stand scrutiny?

 

Almost the Hillary campaign, isn't it? Except he's a male Rep. I don't think there's enough difference there to make a difference. Him calling another Senator an expert on fixing the economy then tossing the guy asside doesn't inspire too much confidence.

 

I'm still sort of undecided. I mean, there is no way in hell I'm voting for McCain. I liked him better when he railed against government waste and pork-barrel spending, was against torture and ignoring the bill of rights, and didn't hug Bush.

But Obama's domestic spending agenda, and his health care plan, scare me to death.

I don't think it matters much, this country is going down. We owe too much money and dislike work too much now.

I just might throw my vote away with a third-party candidate.

 

It's exactly like Hillary's claim to being ready on day one, and having vastly more experience than Obama.

It's full of truthiness. That's good enough.

 

McCain may "know how to win wars", but he can't campaign for shit. When even Mrs. Alan Greenspan (Andrea Mitchell) is taking McCain to task for making shit up about Obama's visit to Germany, you know it's all going wrong.

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Ben Stein is right - this is the worst GOP presidential campaign in forty+ years.

 

I'm glad she at least brought it up. It drives me crazy that Old Man McCain can get away with crap like that, though. His ad contains a blatant lie. There are no two ways about it; it's a lie. How can that be tolerated?

 

That will be two of us.

 

I think McCain managed to find the tipping point - don't make shit up about an event that 90% of the press was covering. It just shows you how incompetent the McCain team has been these last few weeks.

 

The depth of OMM's desperation is so pathetic. I'm not counting him out quite yet, because in December I thought his candidacy for the Reep nomination was a joke. Yet here we are. So you never know what could happen in the coming months. Still, he's truly in desperation mode right now. The negative shit didn't work for Hillary, and it's not going to work for him.