McCain: Opposition to Iraq Withdrawal ‘Seminal Event’ in History
John McCain, shown here talking with reporters after a campaign stop in Exeter, N.H., Wednesday, defended his conservative credentials in an interview with FOX News. (AP Photo)
John McCain cast his opposition to a troop withdrawal date in Iraq in historic terms Thursday during a FOX News interview, saying he would continue to fight anybody trying to end the war prematurely “every step of the way.”
“I think one of seminal events historians will look at in this whole struggle against radical extremism was our ability to beat back the Democrats’ effort to set a date for withdrawal, which I believe would have been chaos,” McCain said.
In the hour-long interview with FOX News’ Sean Hannity, the GOP nominee-in-waiting also firmly defended his conservative credentials and attempted to close the book on a long-standing story that he flirted with joining the Democratic Party years ago.
Though he’s come under fire from some in his party for sometimes siding with Democrats on immigration, campaign finance and taxes, McCain defended his votes and said his campaign in the November general election against Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will be a pitched battle of right vs. left.
“This is a fundamental clash between a liberal Democrat and a conservative Republican,” McCain said, declining to respond to Democratic quips that he’s running for a third Bush term. “I relish the combat. … I do not underestimate the challenge.”
McCain dismissed reports that he flirted with leaving his party in 2001, when he met with Senate Democratic leaders.
“They asked to meet with me, and I met with them, and I said categorically, ‘Absolutely not,’” McCain said in the FOX News interview. “No one arranged it that I know of. The fact is I thought it was incredible. I am a proud Republican conservative and I made that very clear.”
Such reports seem a sore subject for McCain. The Arizona senator snapped at a New York Times reporter last week who asked him about his 2004 conversation with Sen. John Kerry on becoming Kerry’s running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket.
McCain has been dogged throughout the campaign by conservative leaders and talk show hosts who question his faith in conservative principles, and the clamor rose the closer McCain got to winning enough delegates to lock down the nomination.
On his initial opposition to President Bush’s tax cut initiatives, McCain told FOX News he wouldn’t recant his vote, explaining the Bush fiscal packages didn’t show enough spending restraint. Yet he lamented the continued growth of government and said he’d reject new taxes if he is elected president. He said the current Bush tax cuts should be made permanent.
He wouldn’t say whether he’d endorse another version of the immigration reform bill he and Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy backed, a bill decried as amnesty by many conservatives.
“It’s not gonna be there,” he said when asked if he’d sign the legislation as president. “The lesson is they want the borders secured first. … My friend, we failed.”
McCain emerged the victor of the GOP primary season after a heated and bitter race with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. McCain pointed to the support of his former rivals, including Romney, as evidence the party is rallying behind him, but McCain declined to give any clear indication whom he favors as a running mate.
“(Romney) was very gracious to me. … He’s earned a place in the Republican Party that’s very important. Rudy (Giuliani) I’ve loved for years and I mean it. … and Governor (Mike) Huckabee has really earned himself — so we’re just starting a process, but obviously there are people who are highly qualified.”
Romney said Tuesday on FOX News that he would feel honored if asked to be McCain’s running mate.
It isn’t clear yet how much the Iraq war will become an issue in the general election, but McCain spoke confidently about his role in the war effort.
“I am proud of the effort some of us were involved in that stopped this effort to set a date for withdrawal,” McCain said. “It came very close, it came very close, and a lot of us put everything on the line, because we knew that if there’s a date for withdrawal, that’s surrender, Al Qaeda wins and there’s chaos and genocide, and we’re back and they follow us home.”
McCain also responded to criticism from the Democratic presidential candidates that he intends to stay in Iraq for “100 years.” McCain said he’s only talking about “American presence.”
“This war will be won if we stay with it, and then it’s a question of American presence. We have troops in South Korea as a result of the Korean War, we have troops in Germany and Japan … so that’s an agreement. We have troops in Kuwait as a result of the first Gulf War,” he said, adding that nobody is protesting the U.S. troop presence in those countries.
we need to start drilling for oil in ANWR and offshore now. Mccain does not understand this problem .
McCain - Romney - Yes - We get the best of both worlds. One to fight the wars around the globe and one to fight the war on the economic front. Hey! McCain can even fly his own fighter and take the war right to the front lines.
What’s Up?
WITH ALL THE DEMOCRATIC HOOPLA ABOUT THE RACE CARD BEING PLAYED BY
OBAMA AND THE CLINTON CAMPAIGN, THINKS THIS RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE
IS IN THE BAG? THEY WILL BE SADLY MISTAKEN.
THERE ARE REAL ISSUES BEING DECIDED THAT WILL MAKE THEM
THE FOIL FOR THE SPOILERS.
THEIR ANTICS AND TACTICS WILL BACKFIRE ON THEM COME NOVEMBER.
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE NOT STUPID, NOR IGNORANT OF THE CHARGES
BEING LEVELED AT THE DEMOCRATS, AND, THE REPUBLICANS, ADMINISTRATION.
THEIR OWN TACTICS AND OBSTRUCTIONISM IN THE SENATE AND THE CONGRESS,
HAVE MADE THEM AND BACKED THEM INTO A CORNER.
NOW THE REPUBLICANS, ALSO HAVE THEIR FAIR SHARE OF BLAME,
BUT THIS IS NOT ABOUT THAT. IT IS ABOUT WHATS BEST FOR THE COUNTRY
AND THE NATION AS A WHOLE, NOT AS SEPERATISTS AND DEVISIVENESS OF;
THE, PARTY LINE. NOT, WITHSTANDING THE BACKLASH OF THEIR NEGATIVITY AND
CONDENSATION TO THE FAR LEFT WING AND ADAMENT POLITICAL RETORIC.
THAT WILL AFFECT NOTHING BUT, MOORE AND MOVE-ON, THEM TO DEFEAT
AND MORE GRIDLOCK IN THE CONGRESS AND THE SENATE!
WITH VETO AFTER VETO FROM THE WHITE HOUSE FOR THEIR
OBNOXIOUS AND ARRAGANT CONDUCT; OF THE COUNTRIES BUSINESS AND OUR,
INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY, INTERESTS AROUNT THE WORLD.
DON’T EVER FORGET, AND NEVER COMPLAIN ABOUT THIS ADMINISTRATION WHEN THE
PARTY POLITIC OF THE (DEMOCRATS) ARE THE INSTIGATOR OF THE CURRENT CRISIS
IN THE ECONOMIC SECTORS. AS WELL AS,
“THE DEFENSE! OF THIS NATION, AND THE BORDERS.”
AND THE ILLEGAL IMIGRATION, ISSUES ALL ARE THE DECIDING FACTORS!
THEY MUST ADDRESS THESE ISSUES BEFOR THEY GET TO THE NOVEMBER GENERAL ELECTION.
AND MR. McCAIN; IS OUT DOING THE JOB OF THE COUNTRY WITH HIS UPCOMMING
OVERSEAS VISITS THAT, WILL HAVE THE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW TO
STRENGTHEN OUR DEFENSE AND INTERNATIONAL ALLIES SUPPORT FOR THE WAR ON TERROR.
IN OTHER WORDS, BEING THE RIGHT CANDIDATE TO DATE; FOR AS HE IS CONSENTRATING ON; THE WORLD VIEW, AND THE BIG PICTURE, THE DEMOCRATS HAVE IGNORED AND ARE BLIND TO, WITH THEIR HATE OF BUSH AND BASHING THIS COUNTRY WITH THEIR, SOCIALIST DOGMA AND AGENDA.
THEIR CONVENTION AND THE SUPER DELEGATS, WILL NOT GET EITHER ONE OF THEM ELECTED, IN NOVEMBER. FOR THE REPUBLICANS AND THE PEOPLE WILL TAKE ALL THIS INTO CONSIDERATION; FOR THEIR SELECTION IN THE NOVEMBER ELECTION.
END TRANS: MARV!
Every logical mind should be able to work out that 911 was planned years ahead and brilliantly executed. If you don’t know that, don’t even bother to read any further.
Many have said Senator Obama possesses a rare combination of skills, in fact so rare, no single other politician comes even close. What is not realized is the Senator also possesses a brilliant political mind. He knows everything he does, he does it with finesse, when he is not sure, he tests the waters to verify his plan. If he finds the test results satisfactory, his plan goes in.
This man knows full well he cannot win in November, so for now he goes in as the Peace Messiah. Nobody even knows or suspects he is testing the waters.
The Iran hate Bush plan was executed with perfection. After that Ferraro and the race conflict. Nobody can point a finger at him. He rides across the screens hands clean, the Grand Uniter, Peace Messiah. Inside he knows he is closer to his goal than the day before. He knows it perfectly well.
You don’t believe this? Let me tell you his next big step[test] is Denver. If he fails in Denver he knows he will have to withdraw. But don’t think you know his private definitions of fail or win.
Herein lies the point. Senator Obama will win August if Denver erupts in flames. That is the grand and final test for him, inside him. So either way he wins. He simply cannot loose, whichever way it goes. …. Superbly confident, because everything has worked according to plan so far. He is the “Yes, I Can” man.
Another comment somewhere said: “don’t afterwards say you did not know I was a snake when you took me in.”
The more I hear and watch Senator John McCain the more I trust him as man that sticks by his word, which is a rare commodity in todays political world. He has my vote.
McCain makes NO sense here at all. He says “This war will be won if we stay with it, and then it’s a question of American presence. We have troops in South Korea as a result of the Korean War, we have troops in Germany and Japan … so that’s an agreement.” Well, we’d all agree we HAVE troops in these places but do we agree that it’s still (or in some cases, ever was) a good idea? NOT!