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.
He is a useful idiot to them now, and will drop him like a hot potato as soon as a Dim front runner emerges.(AKA Hildebeast)
Wait until the desperation sets in on old John that he can't win, and watch him come sucking up to the base. I promise it will be a disgusting spectacle.
ditto.
Did you see O'Reilly tonight...there was a poll showing Clinton with 41% of the dem vote,now....Edwards was the closest at something like 15%....
SO>...(gag) it sounds like it WILL be Hillary....
But, the poll showed the only Republican that "could" beat her was Guiliani....
If Guiliani would get a very conservative running mate...and the Senate could get MORE conservative members..and the House also...
it MIGHT work....but, danggit---I think WE need to go for broke and start NOW....backing someone we want...not just someone we would "settle for".
Don't you think so? Otherwise...the regular Americans are NOT going to be excited and motivated to vote if we run out a mediocre candidate...
The reality is McCain will NEVER win the Republican party nomination. So talk of voting for McCain instead of Hitlery is just a moot point.
Neither will I!
Straight talking? He hasn't been straight talking since the USS Forrestal days.
He should have ben the first one to back up President Bush today and tell that traitor Kerry to STFU and his little dog, Teddy, too.
But, no. Mr. Straight talk has to blab all about himself.
A small mind is a terrible thing to waste.
How can any Republican who is ridiculed every day by Rush Limbaugh ever expect to lead his Party?
Look at the first full-face Clinton Campaign Poster from '92, or close-ups of Al Gore. Obviously, mental health is no longer considered a prequisite for the job on the democrat side. Equally obvious is the fact that no one is allowed to say these things publicly.
Neither am I a shrink or a Doctor. OTOH, nor am I a chicken. But I do know a rotten egg when I smell one.
Neither will I and he has about as much chance of being the GOP presidential candidate, in '08, as you or I have; so don't worry. ;-)
McCain couldn't even win the 2000 Republican primaries.
...and neither will I!
I would never soil myself with a vote for Hillary. I'd never forgive myself. As for John, I just couldn't. The RP has left the building...
What Harriet Miers was to the supreme court nomination, John McCain would be to the Presidential nomination.
During his last campaign, I contributed the maximum of $2,000. At this point in time...I wish I could demand my money back with interest. McCain may have, at one time, been a hero, now he is a coward in my mind. I will sit out the 2008 election for the first time in 40 years rather than vote for McCain. My GOD bless our country and our President, and may he never allow a man such as McCain to serve as our Commander in Chief.
McCain is more apt to pick a Lindsey Graham or a Colin Powell for Vice President.
And, no, it wouldn't be worth the gamble. As we've witnessed in five years Republicans feel less inclined to behave under a Republican administration with the "partisan" cover gone as an impediment. With Clinton in office they actually sought to block liberal agendas by Bill. Added, we see their unwillingness to challenge McCain on his terrorist bill, Judicial deal, CFR, etc... They won't challange whatever other insanities he comes up with in office either.
He's unstable. For her faults, Hillary isn't unstable. She's a Marxist, but I'm not convinced McCain's true colors are known in that respect. I think he hides behind a mask he thinks will elect him to office, and then only will the real mcCain show himself. But I know this. He's an opportunist. Two faced. Short temper. Out only for himself. And the MSM controls him as their personal puppet. I fear him in office while I believe Hillary can/will cause damage, I also believe we can control her in some respects as we did her husband. We can't control McCain.
Besides, I'm not even convinced Hillary will be the candidate. I'm stilling thinking they'll either go with a Warner type of an Al Gore type. Which end of the spectrum yet unknown.
NO
Ah yes. The straight jacket express.
Please, do yourself a favor:
Don't use such rediculous arguements if you actually want to be taken seriously.
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