Posted on 01/27/2008 4:25:54 PM PST by factmart
McCain considers setting benchmarks for Iraqis {or else withdraw from Iraq?}
Arizona Daily Star ^ | 01.26.2007 | Margaret Talev
Posted on 01/27/2008 9:57:08 AM PST by TeleStraightShooter
McCain considers setting benchmarks for Iraqis
By Margaret Talev
McClatchy-Tribune
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.26.2007
WASHINGTON — Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., one of the most stalwart supporters of the war in Iraq, said Thursday that he might propose that the Iraqi government meet certain benchmarks for the United States to continue its engagement. Fellow senators and independent political scientists said McCain’s thinking reflected growing concerns within the Republican Party about the course of the war, and also might mark a turning point for the likely 2008 presidential contender, whose previous unconditional backing of the war may have hurt his prospects.
McCain said Thursday that he hadn’t yet decided on precise benchmarks. “They’d have to be specific, and they (Iraqi government officials) would have to meet them,” he said. Asked what penalty would be imposed if Iraq failed to meet his benchmarks, he said: “I think everybody knows the consequences. Haven’t met the benchmarks? Obviously, then, we’re not able to complete the mission. Then you have to examine your options.”
(Excerpt) Read more at azstarnet.com ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1960374/posts
McCain is stretching the truth and you’re a propagandist.
The Low Blow
Captain’s Quarters ^ | Jan. 27, 2008 | Ed Morrissey
Posted on 01/27/2008 11:38:10 AM PST by jdm
For the most part, the Republican primary campaign has seen tough but honest debate over the issues, as opposed to the racially inflammatory hardball being played between the Democrats. The GOP candidates have done their best to keep negativity to a minimum — or at least they did until now. John McCain told a Florida crowd that Mitt Romney at one point backed withdrawal from Iraq — and Romney cried foul, for good reason, according to Time’s Swampland:
McCain wants the Florida primary to be an election about national security, his best issue. But until Saturday, the contest was humming along as an election more about the economy, Mitt Romney’s best issue. So McCain went on the attack Saturday, lashing out at Romney by accusing him of having once wanted to set a deadline for withdrawing troops from Iraq.
‘’Now, one of my opponents wanted to set a date for withdrawal that would have meant disaster,’’ McCain said about Romney, at a stop in Fort Myers. Then McCain added, “If we surrender and wave a white flag, like Senator Clinton wants to do, and withdraw, as Governor Romney wanted to do, then there will be chaos, genocide, and the cost of American blood and treasure would be dramatically higher.”
When told of the comments, Romney got visibly testy. ‘’That’s dishonest, to say that I have a specific date. That’s simply wrong,’’ Romney said at a stop outside Tampa. “To say something that’s not accurate is simply wrong, and he knows better.”
Romney demanded an apology from McCain, which seemed to simply delight McCain, since he used it to escalate the war of words even higher. “I think the apology is owed to the young men and women serving this nation in uniform,” McCain said. Then his campaign started sending out a blizzard of emails, including comments from former CIA director James Woolsey knocking Romney’s support for the war.
Most of us got a few of these e-mails yesterday as well, and if the blogospheric response gives any indicator, McCain didn’t convince anyone. The quotes used to support McCain’s contention don’t demand a withdrawal at all. Romney did say in an interview that George Bush and Nouri al-Maliki probably have benchmarks in mind for a point in which American troops would be reduced, but in those interviews he never said that a failure to meet those benchmarks would result in an American retreat. Instead, he described the common-sense idea that the two allies would and should discuss what victory should look like — and that they should keep that formula to themselves.
As Power Line noted yesterday, McCain certainly has room to claim that his support for the surge ran deeper than the other candidates. He demanded a change in strategy as early as 2004, and when Bush and Petraeus launched the “surge”, he was its biggest booster in Congress. Romney and Rudy Giuliani took a more cautious approach, preferring to see its success before proclaiming it to be the correct position — but neither of them demanded or even suggested a retreat as the alternative. Both underscored the necessity of victory.
Scherer points out that in the very interview McCain and his team cites, Romney explicitly said he would veto any bill from Congress that demanded withdrawal deadlines:
QUESTION: So, private. You wouldn’t do it publicly? Because the president has said flat out that he will veto anything the Congress passes about a timetable for troop withdrawals. As president, would you do the same?
MR. ROMNEY: Well, of course. Can you imagine a setting where during the Second World War we said to the Germans, gee, if we haven’t reached the Rhine by this date, why, we’ll go home, or if we haven’t gotten this accomplished we’ll pull up and leave? You don’t publish that to your enemy, or they just simply lie in wait until that time. So, of course, you have to work together to create timetables and milestones, but you don’t do that with the opposition.
This is a fundamentally dishonest attack. One of the reasons why some Republicans who have opposed McCain over issues like the BCRA and immigration have tried to keep a civil tongue in discussing McCain is because of the respect he has earned as a stalwart on the war. He deserves that respect; he has been an indispensable voice for the effort and has the right to hold himself up as that. However, he should be showing that respect to others who have supported the war and the troops.
McCain has promised to take a new, respectful tone with Democrats. If he wants to impress us in the primaries, maybe he should try that with Republicans.
UPDATE: Oh, wait. Here’s the quote that McCain may have meant:
[He] said Thursday that he hadn’t yet decided on precise benchmarks. “They’d have to be specific, and they (Iraqi government officials) would have to meet them,” he said.
Asked what penalty would be imposed if Iraq failed to meet his benchmarks, he said: “I think everybody knows the consequences. Haven’t met the benchmarks? Obviously, then, we’re not able to complete the mission. Then you have to examine your options.”
Well, except for the fact that it was John McCain who said this — a year and a day ago.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1960408/posts
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/253149.php
McCain Stretches Romney’s Words
TheAtlantic.com ^ | January 27, 2008 | Marc Ambinder
Did Mitt Call for Withdrawal in Iraq?
Political Machine ^ | Jan 26th 2008 | Eric Schulzke
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1960141/posts
At Least McCain didn’t give us Cattle futures, Madison G., Whitewater, travelgate, filegate, Juanita Broderick, Paula, Monica, Chinagate, Lincolnbedroomgate, Pardongate, Fostergate, Ronbrowngate, Arlingtongate, or NormanShuegate.
DO NOT LET THE CRIMINAL CLINTONS BACK IN THE WHITEOUSE!
That having been said, I despise McCain. He is a liar and a Lib on most every issue.
VOTE ROMNEY! He is the Reagan coalition’s last hope folks.
Understood.
Picking judges is one thing. Getting them confirmed in a demoncrat-controlled Senate is another. McCain will not only not nominate conservatives for USSC, he'd never get one through the nomination process if he wanted to.
Why don’t you go back and read all of my comments going back 8 years.
I don’t like McCain, if he wins goodbye party. He&srsquo; a traitor. Hillary my enemy, She has more honor.
Yes, and I’m sure you and your fellow trolls are getting applause at DU.
You read this?
OK. Lets all just give up then; vote for Hillary and live happily ever after in a world where if we can’t have everything, we will be satisfied with nothing.
Doesn't sound like it, does it.,
I'm trying to figure out which ones are DU sleepers, having been in here for years just to be ready to "activate" for their handlers at this time versus those that are terminally brain dead.
McCain represents, lives,breathes, Communism?
And you people call HIM nuts?
I think you've tipped your hand - I think you're a sleeper - a spoiler. No one can be that innocently ignorant
Glad I’m not the only one on troll patrol. I see sleeper accounts all over FR today:
factmart
Grunthor
societygirl
I’m sure there are more. And, of course, the “brain dead” thing is a possibility also...:)
Hillary won’t get any laws passed. McCain will with Dem’s and Rino’s Help.
Which is bad?
I prefer to call him John Mexicain.
LOL
You posted that to yourself???
What ARE you smoking?
You're blowing your cover...
Don’t vote Hillary OR McCain. This is a troll-inspired false choice.
Romney is now UP in Florida, and UP in the latest National GOP poll. The guy who “can’t” win is gaining momentum. time to coalesce Fredheads.
Amazing, isn't it? And stomach turning =
and I'm beginning to think it's not that they're brain dead but that they are card carrying sleepers of the Hitlery's Socialist Party - been treading water as FR's only to be ready to activate for this election
Just calm down and take a deep breath, ok? This is not what I implied in my post.
Jeez, people on this board are wound tight!
I’m not surprised if they are getting high fives at DU...
Keep sniffing around, I know it stinks but some of our fellow FReepers are falling for this transparent game.
? here, Diana.Where are the Viking Kitties?
“If McCain gets the nod it will be an easy year for me. I’ve been pounding the pavement for Republicans since 1993. I won’t waste the hours or the shoes for someone who has been poking me in the eyr for nearly a decade.”
I won’t either. But I will vote in the election. If it is McCain VS Hillary or Obama, I will vote DEM. McCain is a DEM anyway and would cause a mess in the country just like the DEMS. Might as well have the damage blamed on the DEMS rather than a so called Republican RINO!
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