Free Republic

McCain has got an 80 - 55 % advantage over Obama regarding his ability to be Commander in Chief. Hmmm. Interesting.

[snip] ....The sales job is a myth. In reality, a McCain presidency would promise an entirely conventional, center-left, multilateralism. If you liked the second Bush term, if you liked Clintonian foreign policy, you will find much to admire in a Commander-in-Chief McCain. There would be the same agonizing over European and Islamic perceptions of America; the same doctrinaire commitment to the alchemy of democracy promotion; and the same fondness for heaping more unaccountable bureaucratic sprawl atop the already counter-productive agencies and multinational institutions that frustrate the United States at every turn. Don’t take my word for it. Read McCain’s own...

The collapse of the George W. Bush-era Republican Party is a multifaceted story, but no chapter stands out as clearly as the war in Iraq. As the occupation has dragged on and the U.S. casualties have mounted, Bush has watched his public approval ratings spiral downward. By the time the contested GOP primaries came around, even a healthy proportion of Republican voters were saying that they strongly or somewhat disapproved of the war in Iraq. Under the circumstances, it's not surprising that the GOP is poised to nominate a presidential candidate who will appeal to its anti-war base. What is...

On April 11, 2007, Arizona Senator John McCain gave a major speech on the Iraq War at the Virginia Military Institute. When he took the stage at VMI, the Iraq troop surge had yet to be fully implemented. Some questioned whether McCain's strong and early support for President Bush's surge policy – labeled by some the "McCain Surge" as result of the senator's early advocacy of the tactic – when the American people were becoming dissatisfied with the country's involvement in Iraq would doom his presidential campaign. During the speech, McCain addressed this criticism head on. "Will this nation's elected...

Jerusalem - US Republican presidential hopeful John McCain Tuesday expressed concern about Iran's possible nuclear armament during his two-day visit to Israel. McCain told Israeli President Shimon Peres that his concern had grown during his current week-long trip through the Middle East which has taken him to Iraq and Jordan, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz online. "Iran is funding, training, and aiding extremist groups," McCain was quoted as saying. McCain, who is travelling with fellow Senators Joseph Liberman and Lindsay Graham, said his trip was a fact-finding mission, not a campaign trip. Peres noted that Iran was a threat...

Some bloggers are jumping all over Senator John McCain for his supposed "gaffe" today. According to The Trail, a blog over at the Washington Post, McCain said that Iranian operatives were "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back." He elaborated by saying 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." Senator John Lieberman apparently then whispered something in McCain’s ear, prompting McCain to take it back: "I'm sorry, the Iranians...

Speaking on behalf of the Democratic Party, an Iraq combat veteran said Saturday that apparent GOP nominee John McCain should not win the presidential election because he would continue the war in Iraq. Roger Martinez, who served as an Army ranger in Afghanistan and Iraq, noted in the Democrats' weekly radio address that President Bush endorsed McCain this week. Bush said McCain "won't flinch in the face of danger" and McCain strongly supports the U.S. efforts in Iraq. Electing a leader who would continue Bush's policies in Iraq would be a mistake, Martinez said. "Our country and our armed services...

Hothead McCain by ROBERT DREYFUSS If you've followed Senator John McCain at all, you've heard about his tendency to, well, explode. He's erupted at numerous Senate colleagues, including many Republicans, at the slightest provocation. "The thought of his being President sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper, and he worries me," wrote Republican Senator Thad Cochran, shortly before endorsing McCain. You've heard about his penchant for bellicose rhetoric, whether appropriating a Beach Boys song in threatening to bomb Iran or telling Russian President Vladimir Putin that he doesn't care what...

The commercial was credited as one factor enabling Clinton to turn her campaign around in Texas last week. But, 42% of all voters said the person they’d most want to answer the phone was John McCain. Among all voters, 25% picked Clinton and another 25% named Obama as the person they’d want in the White House when a foreign policy crisis call arrived. Among Democrats, 46% said they’d like Clinton to take that call while 36% named Obama. Among Republicans, 79% named McCain while neither Democrat reached double digits. Among unaffiliated voters, 39% said McCain would be their top choice...

On a just-finished conference call in which retired military leaders endorsed Hillary Clinton to be commander in chief, retired General Wesley Clark said John McCain's military experience is not the right kind of experience to command the nation's armed forces:

On a just-finished conference call in which retired military leaders endorsed Hillary Clinton to be commander in chief, retired General Wesley Clark said John McCain's military experience is not the right kind of experience to command the nation's armed forces: In the national security business, the question is, do you have — when you have served in uniform, do you really have the relevant experience for making the decisions at the top that have to be made? Everybody admires John McCain's service as a fighter pilot, his courage as a prisoner of war. There's no issue there. He's a great...