Posted on 08/15/2010 5:47:36 AM PDT by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — After Republican Gov. Jan Brewer and Arizona’s senior Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain spoke Friday to nearly 200 people at the Winde-mere Hotel, they gave short interviews to the Herald/Review.
Expanding on what McCain said is the importance of Fort Huachuca, he noted that without the intelligence training provided on the post, the nation would be more in the way of harm from Islamic radicals who want to hurt Americans.
He criticized President Barack Obama for publicly stating that U.S. forces will begin to leave Afghanistan in mid-2011. McCain said this gives the Taliban a timetable.
Even though America’s senior general in Afghanistan has said there’s potential wiggle room in the timetable, McCain said the president is the commander-in-chief, and it will be his decision. McCain said it unfortunately appears Obama is not willing to change the timetable.
A message the Taliban have already sent to the U.S. is succinct: They are willing to wait. “You have the clock but we have the time,” the senator said is the Taliban message.
If the Taliban continue creating problems and American and coalition forces leave, the Afghans will be the ultimate victims, the senator said.
“And most Afghans don’t want the Taliban to return” to power, the senator said.
There are many issues to address in Afghanistan, and this can only be done through the U.S. forcing corrections, he said. One such issue is widespread corruption, he said.
Saying Americans are the most frustrated he has ever seen, McCain said incumbents of other parties are not trusted, but the voters are trying to come to grips on how to handle the issues.
For the Republicans to achieve success in November, GOP candidates must “return to fiscal conservatism,” the senator said.
Brewer said her Democratic opponent — Terry Goddard, currently Arizona’s attorney general — has yet to outline a plan on what he would do for the state.
Brewer faces some opposition in the GOP primary but by most accounts seems to have her party’s nomination.
As for Goddard, “he seems to have a finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing,” Brewer said.
Taking over from former Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano about 500 days ago, Brewer, who was secretary of state before becoming governor, said the economic problems facing Arizona are part of a national downturn. Napolitano was tapped by the president to be the secretary of homeland security.
Many state programs suffered, but Brewer said she has tried to protect education.
With voter approval of a 1-cent state sales tax hike for three years, there is some additional protection for public schools, she said.
However, care must be taken to ensure public education goes to those in the country legally, she said.
On border issues, she said there’s real potential for the spillover of violence from Mexico.
Even the Mexican president has recently said many small towns in his country are run by drug cartels, which are “the only functioning government” there, Brewer remarked.
One of the Sierra Vista residents who listened to Brewer and McCain was Casey Jones, a former city councilman.
Of the two candidates, he said McCain spoke more in “boilerplate” terms, meaning usual rhetoric, Jones said.
Brewer did a good job, said Jones, who after retiring from the Army became a registered Republican because he sees the GOP as the best avenue for America to achieve success.
why only 200 people? How about a crowd
Who is the second Republican?
It’s beyond me why anyone in Arizona would trust what McCain says at this point. What he says on the campaign trail is not what he does in Washington. What fools!
Last time he Ran for his Senate seat I wrote my name in.
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