Posted on 11/11/2005 5:49:06 PM PST by blam
Straight-talking McCain reveals himself as a leader in waiting
By Alec Russell
(Filed: 12/11/2005)
Senator John McCain has all but launched a campaign to succeed President George W Bush, calling for a new approach to the war in Iraq and savaging the Pentagon's record there.
With the White House struggling to regain the initiative after a series of damaging blows and the Democrats lacking a leader, the maverick Republican has effectively taken charge of the political debate.
Sen John McCain: 'We should be ramping up'
In a hard-hitting speech, reminiscent of his 2000 bid for the White House when he ran as a candidate of candour and integrity, he criticised the administration for its trademark "happy talk" about Iraq. He also called on the Bush administration to level with the nation about the war's difficulties.
It was a terrible mistake to repeat the error of the Vietnam War, when officials kept saying there was "light at the end of the tunnel" when, in fact, "there was a train".
He was careful to defuse potential charges of disloyalty by focusing his fire on the Pentagon, not Mr Bush.
He also tore into the Democrats, making clear he was fully behind the war and did not believe pre-war intelligence had been hyped.
He called for the immediate dispatch of 10,000 more troops, even though, he conceded, that would lead to more casualties. With more than 2,000 Americans killed in Iraq, he accepted public opinion was turning against the war. But he argued that the Pentagon had sent too few troops.
"Instead of drawing down we should be ramping up," he told the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. "The stakes are higher than they were in Vietnam."
The Pentagon should focus on winning over communities rather than targeted raids on insurgents, he said, also criticising it for rotating out successful generals.
The speech was his second high profile move in as many weeks. Bolstered by his Vietnam vet past - he was imprisoned and tortured in Hanoi - he is leading a Senate campaign for more humane rules on interrogating prisoners, a move opposed by Vice- President Dick Cheney.
To stake out such discordant positions a year into a presidency would traditionally be foolhardy for an ambitious party man.
But with Mr Bush's fortunes at a low ebb and Republicans in Congress divided and mutinous, Washington feels leaderless and Mr McCain has decided to move centre stage.
He will be 72 on election day in 2008, three years older than Ronald Reagan was when he won the White House in 1980. He has repeatedly said he has not decided whether to stand for president.
But there is little doubt in Washington that the "Straight Talk" express, as his 2000 battle bus was known, is preparing to hit the road again. In that classic trick of presidential aspirants, he has just co-written a book called Character is Destiny, allowing him to tour the country ostensibly to market it, but in reality to market himself.
In 2000 he was the outsider. This time, however, he hopes to be both outsider and insider, "straight talking" while rallying the party's establishment with his reputation as a fiscal and foreign policy hawk.
We have to keep the pressure up against him. He may be touring the country and giving speeches to sell himself as a presidential candidate, but he's also taking the pulse of the the populace.
We have to keep pointing out he ain't no "heart throb".
Leni
I would rather learn Arabic and see Hitlery in the White House than help this backstabbing, conniving Judas, Quisling, and Benedict Arnold in any way, manner, or form.
He doesn't deserve to be Ambassador to Fiji.
It might help you be taken seriously if your spelling was better than that of an eleven year old.
"The guy is NOT a well man, mentally unstable, and I am not a shrink or a doctor and I did not stay at that supposed express."
He reminds me of that guy in the movie, "Network" who sticks his head out the window and yells, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." I can picture him doing that in the White House.
If it's McCain and Hillary in '08 she's got my vote. I prefer the enemy that everyone recognizes to the one so many are to blind to see.
Sen McCain endured a living Hell for year in prison. I just can't understand why he continues to spit on the GOP. People of Arizona.................what gives???????????
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
I just pray he will not be the actual candidate.
"Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech."
If the dumb ba***rd cannot comprehend that, he is of no use to anybody.
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