The War In Iraq
It was at a
town hall meeting in Derry, New
Hampshire back in January of 2008 that
John McCain first uttered his
willingness for the United States
military to stay in Iraq for “maybe a
hundred years” and that such a scenario
“would be fine with me.” When asked to
clarify his statement afterward by
reporter David Corn, McCain not only
repeated his comment but added that U.S.
troops could stay in Iraq for “a
thousand years” or “a million years,” as
far as he was concerned, comparing the
scenario with the presence of American
troops in South Korea, Japan, Europe and
elsewhere. Lest one think that these
comments were taken out of context or in
one of the Senator’s “senior moments”,
it should be pointed out that Senator
McCain was accompanied on the stage
throughout this presentation by his
coach and political sidekick, Senator
Joseph Lieberman. No corrections were
whispered into his ear.
Of course, all of this is elementary,
since McCain later suggested, in a May
2008 town hall event in Colorado, that
his administration’s energy policy will
eliminate our dependence on foreign oil
and make it unnecessary to ever invade
the Middle East again. That’s right, he
(perhaps accidentally) admitted that our
sons and daughters were dying in Iraq
because of oil. His words were, “My
friends, I will have an energy policy
that we will be talking about, which
will eliminate our dependence on oil
from the Middle East that will - that
will then prevent us - that will prevent
us from having ever to send our young
men and women into conflict again in the
Middle East.”
Later in the day, McCain clarified his
comments with a reporter from the
Associated Press. He said, “We didn’t
want him (Saddam Hussein) to have
control over the oil, and that part of
the world is critical to us because of
our dependency on foreign oil, and it’s
more important than any other part of
the world.” McCain continued, “By
eliminating our dependency on foreign
oil, we will not have to have our
national security threatened by a cut
off of that oil. Because we will be
dependent, because we won’t be
dependent, we will no longer be
dependent on foreign oil.” All that
said, McCain reiterated that he
supported the War in Iraq because he
“believed that Saddam Hussein had
weapons of mass destruction and he was
going to use them.”
Why are we really in Iraq, Senator
McCain?
I guess this is what you call the
“Straight Talk Express”.
http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/01/6735_mccain_in_nh_wo.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/02/mccain-implies-iraq-war-i_n_99866.html
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On Foreign Policy & Diplomacy
In a
statement made in Israel back in March,
McCain said that said it was “common
knowledge and has been reported in the
media that al-Qaeda is going back into
Iran and receiving training and are
coming back into Iraq from Iran, that’s
well known. And it’s unfortunate.”
Luckily for McCain, his sidekick and
foreign policy czar, Senator Joseph
Lieberman, was on hand to correct
McCain, whispering in McCain’s ear that
it was Shiite extremists, not Sunni
al-Qaeda, that was going to
predominantly Shiite Iran. Never one to
admit a mistake, in an official
statement from the McCain campaign on
the 5th anniversary of the invasion of
Iraq, McCain wrote: “Today in Iraq,
America and our allies stand on the
precipice of winning a major victory
against radical Islamic extremism. The
security gains over the past year have
been dramatic and undeniable. Al Qaeda
and Shia extremists -- with support from
external powers such as Iran -- are on
the run but not defeated.”
This is the same man who sings his
“Bomb, bomb, bomb ... bomb, bomb Iran”
policy to the tune of The Beach Boys’
“Barbara Ann”, and, in reference to
Russian Prime Minister (and former
President) Vladimir Putin, likes to say,
“When I look into Putin’s eyes, I see
only three things -- a K, a G and a B.”
”In
the words of fellow Republican Senator
Thad Cochran of Mississippi, who has
known Senator John McCain for more than
three decades but who endorsed Mitt
Romney for president during the 2008
primaries, “The thought of his
(McCain’s) being president sends a cold
chill down my spine. He is erratic. He
is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he
worries me.” Another Republican Senator,
Charles Grassley of Iowa, said in an
interview that he was so upset by a
McCain tirade that he didn’t speak to
him for two years. If McCain’s
colleagues from within his own party
question his temperament, how can we
expect him to negotiate with world
leaders with whom he does not agree?
Hopefully the American electorate will
see John McCain as just a bit too
trigger-happy for the twenty-first
century.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/19/mccain-repeats-iranal-qa_n_92349.html
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/27/famed_mccain_temper_is_tamed/
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On the Economy
John McCain
said it best himself in an interview
with the Wall Street Journal on November
25, 2005: “I’m going to be honest: I
know a lot less about economics than I
do about military and foreign policy
issues. I still need to be educated.”
When later questioned about this
statement on Meet the Press, McCain told
the late
Tim Russert, “Actually, I don't know
where you got that quote from. I’m very
well-versed in economics.” Then, on
December 18, 2007, McCain told
reporters, “The issue of economics is
something that I’ve really never
understood as well as I should. I
understand the basics, the fundamentals,
the vision, all that kind of stuff.”
Perhaps the best summation of John
McCain’s understanding of the economy is
when he said, in April 2008, that “a lot
of our [economic] problems are, as you
know, psychological.”
Although one of the richest members of a
Senate filled with millionaires, John
McCain says the solution to the housing
crisis is for people facing foreclosure
to get a “second job” and skip their
vacations. Easy for him to suggest. He
can vacation at any of the 10 homes,
ranches, condominiums, and lofts owned
with wife, Cindy, at a total estimated
value of a tidy $13,823,269.00. In fact,
in an interview with Politico on August
20, 2008, McCain said that he “was
uncertain how many houses (he) and (his)
wife, Cindy, own.” In fact, Politico
reports that the McCains increased their
budget for household employees from
$184,000 in 2006 to $273,000 in 2007,
according to John McCain’s tax returns.
No, that is not a misprint. John and
Cindy McCain spend more on hired hands
to maintain their houses than the
current median home sales prices in 41
out of 50 (predominantly “red”) states.
Isn’t that special for hard-working
middle-class Americans who are
struggling to make their mortgage
payments?
Running mate Mitt Romney, on the other
hand, is obviously a man of more
“modest” means, only owning three homes.
One is located in Belmont, MA (his door
to elected office in Massachusetts);
another on Lake Winnipesaukee in
Wolfeboro, NH (his door to the New
Hampshire primary); and the third a ski
house in Deer Valley, UT (his door to
both the Winter Olympics and Mormonism).
Romney’s servants are less expensive
than McCain’s, perhaps because he was
more effective at hiring the least
expensive illegal aliens.
In a meeting with reporters in Denver on
August 26th, Romney stated, “Because
John McCain and his wife own four homes
that they use for their personal living
quarters, that that somehow means he’s
detached from America, is simply wrong
and — I think — offensive.” Asked how
many homes he owns, Romney avoided a
direct answer to the question by saying,
“I have one less than John Kerry has.”
Let’s see what we’ve learned from Mitt:
First, when counting the number of
McCain homes, we should not include
condominiums or properties that the
McCains lease out to others or that
house family members. Second, Mitt
thinks that the current election has
something to do with John Kerry. Third,
Mitt is way too easily offended. Fourth,
both John McCain and Mitt Romney are
obviously just “regular guys”.
(Regular guys in the Multimillionaires
Club.)
Critics have pointed out that Senator
McCain is obviously no more of a
psychologist or human resources
executive than he is an economist.
Romney is simply shrewd.
http://www.ontheissues.org/Economic/John_McCain_Budget_+_Economy.htm
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12685.html
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12700.html
http://www.trulia.com/home_prices/
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12868.html
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On Energy and the Environment
John McCain,
in a speech delivered in “the oil
capital of America”, Houston, Texas, has
called for an end to the 27-year ban on
offshore oil drilling. He presented this
pandering proposal as part of his
solution for energy independence and to
combat gasoline prices of over $4.00 per
gallon by “breaking our strategic
dependence on oil.” He added that it is
time to exploit the “21 billion barrels
of proven oil reserves” that are off the
coast of America, even if lifting the
ban would be in opposition to the
positions of the Republican governors of
the two states (California and Florida)
that would be the most directly
affected* … and even if the drilling ran
the risk of environmental destruction
and destroying the tourism industries in
the two states. (After all, there will
be no tourism industry if nobody can
afford to drive or fly because of the
high price of fuel.)
“It’s safe enough these days that not
even Hurricanes Katrina and Rita could
cause significant spillage from the
battered rigs off the coasts of New
Orleans and Houston,” said Mr. McCain.
“Yet, for reasons that become less
convincing with every rise in the price
of foreign oil, the federal government
discourages offshore production. I
believe it is time to lift these
restrictions and to put our own reserves
to use.” McCain’s opponent, Senator
Barack Obama responded, “His decision to
completely change his position and tell
a group of Houston oil executives
exactly what they wanted to hear today
was the same Washington politics that
has prevented us from achieving energy
independence for decades.”
The proposal is consistent with Senator
McCain’s voting record, where he has
missed votes on toughening fuel economy
standards and has opposed tax breaks
intended to encourage alternative
energy. Although McCain likes to say
that he opposes drilling in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge, he has even
voted to support drilling in the ANWR as
recently as in 2005. Like Bush, McCain
favors the development of more nuclear
power and has voted against taxes on
windfall oil profits, but says that he
is “angry at the oil companies” … very
tough language to be used in reference
to his friends and contributors. On June
18, 2008, McCain called for the
construction of 45 new nuclear power
plants in the United States by the year
2030. As a slight departure from Bush,
at least McCain knows how to pronounce
the word "nuclear", although he did
refer to the plants as "planets" in his
speech.
No, Senator McCain, drilling for more
oil will feed, not break, our
dependence. Would you present that same
logic to drug addicts, suggesting that
one more fix would cure their
addictions?
Is it any surprise that the highly
respected League of Conservation Voters
gave John McCain a rating of zero for
2007’s First Session of the 110th
Congress after he was absent for all 15
votes on critical environmental
legislation.
* Update: On June 18,
2008, Florida Governor Bill Crist caved
in to political pressure and is now in
favor of drilling off the Gulf coast of
Florida. Way to go, Bill!
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2008/2008-06-18-01.asp
http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20080618/cm_thenation/1330848
http://capwiz.com/lcv_stage/bio/keyvotes/?id=192&congress=1102&lvl=C
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The “Age” Issue
Let’s
address the age issue. Many people
express concern over John McCain’s age.
This is utter nonsense. Ronald Reagan
and Gerald Ford, both fine Republican
presidents, were 93 years old at their
times of death. Even Senator McCain’s
economic role model (and another fine
Republican president), Herbert Hoover,
was 90 years old at his time of death.
If those facts do not put to rest any
concerns over John McCain’s age, keep in
mind that all Republican candidates are
divinely chosen (not just Mike Huckabee
and George Bush). Moses did not receive
the Ten Commandments and part the Red
Sea until he embarked upon a new career
at the age of 80 (8 years older than
Senator McCain’s current age), and Moses lived until
the age of 120 ... although the last 12
years were spent in a rest home in what
is now Florida.
“Usually, people watch my performance to
see if I need a drool cup, or stumble
around, or anything like that,” McCain
told a rally of seniors in Palm Beach,
Florida. “Usually, people just come and
watch me, and I try to show them the
energy and vigor that I’m capable of.”
Isn’t that reassuring?
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