Mischaracterizing McCain
The Democrats, Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama, between jabs at each other have been squeezing out shots at John McCain. Today, Charles Krauthammer deals with one of their more disingenuous claims – that McCain wants to fight a war in Iraq for another 100 years;
Asked at a New Hampshire campaign stop about possibly staying in Iraq 50 years, John McCain interrupted — “Make it a hundred” — then offered a precise analogy to what he envisioned: “We’ve been in Japan for 60 years. We’ve been in South Korea for 50 years or so.” Lest anyone think he was talking about prolonged war-fighting rather than maintaining a presence in postwar Iraq, he explained: “That would be fine with me, as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed.”
And lest anyone persist in thinking he was talking about war-fighting, he told his questioner: “It’s fine with me and I hope it would be fine with you if we maintained a presence in a very volatile part of the world.”
There is another analogy to the kind of benign and strategically advantageous “presence” McCain was suggesting for postwar Iraq: Kuwait. The United States (with allies) occupied Kuwait in 1991 and has remained there with a major military presence for 17 years. We debate dozens of foreign policy issues in this country. I’ve yet to hear any serious person of either party call for a pullout from Kuwait.
I’d add something, but, as always with Mr Krauthammer, there’s nothing left to be said. In another part of the Washington Post, Clinton and Obama take turns painting McCain as a heartless Republican;
In an economic speech on Tuesday, McCain (Ariz.) said he supports government assistance for Americans facing home foreclosure because of the turmoil in financial markets. But he declined to embrace the kind of government intervention for individuals and institutions favored by Clinton and Obama, arguing that “it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.”
Obama (Ill.) and Clinton (N.Y.) have pounced on that quote in an effort to paint McCain as indifferent to the problems of ordinary Americans. Speaking in New York yesterday, Obama characterized McCain’s views as amounting to “little more than watching this crisis happen.” Clinton, appearing in Raleigh, N.C., said McCain prefers to ignore the crisis or simply blame families for their problems.
Of course Hillary is stuck on her 3 AM phone call ad;
“Sometimes the phone rings at 3 a.m. in the White House and it’s an economic crisis,” Clinton said, alluding to an ad she ran against Obama weeks ago. “And we need a president who is ready and willing and able to answer that call.” McCain’s plan, she said, does virtually nothing to ease the credit or housing crisis. “It seems like if the phone were ringing, he would just let it ring and ring and ring,” she said.
Yeah, except economic crises aren’t in the job description of president according to the Constitution – like defense which is in the first sentence. It will take nearly six months for the government to accomplish the easiest thing they could have done for the economy. It will be June before everyone gets their tax-rebates. By the time everyone will have gotten their checks and we’ve all gone out and bought our Wii, it, this latest of our crises, will all be over.
Government is never the solution to economic problems – the problems can always be prevented with education and making people responsible for their decisions. Where’s the impetus to make good, reasoned decisions when all you have to do is call some knucklehead Congress person to bail you out?
John McCain realizes this and at least he’s honest with people, not promising impossible visions of lollipops and fruit roll-ups every time the economy hits a bump. Of course, since the media only plays these messages of false hope from the Democrats, anyone offering a dose of reality is perceived as mean and nasty.
Category: Economy, John McCain/Sarah Palin, Legal, Media, Politics
