Obama and McCain trade jabs

President Bush’s speech to the Israeli Knesset on Thursday has drawn battle lines between the Republican and Democrat presumptive nominees. What the President said that started this exchange was;

“Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.”

“We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history,” Bush added.

At first, Barak Obama, who wasn’t mentioned by name, but because he’s embarrassed that he’s an appeaser at heart, took offense and shot back at the President;

Barack Obama accused President Bush of “a false political attack” Thursday after Bush warned in Israel against appeasing terrorists — early salvos in a general election campaign that’s already blazing even as the Democratic front-runner tries to sew up his party’s nomination.

John McCain took up the fight yesterday according to the Wall Street Journal;

Sen. McCain picked up the ball and, at every opportunity since then, the likely Republican presidential nominee has raised the issue, saying he cannot understand what Sen. Obama and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would talk about, given Iran’s vow to destroy Israel, its support for militants in Iraq, and its past efforts to acquire nuclear weapons.

On Thursday, he declined to directly label the Illinois senator an appeaser, but said he would pursue the president’s line of reasoning.

“It does bring up an issue we’ll be discussing with the American people,” he told reporters. “Why does Sen. Obama want to sit down with a state sponsor of terrorism?”

Of course, Obama fell back on the standard Democrat line every time they find their collective ass hanging out when it comes to foreign policy (Washington Times link)

Mr. Obama, using his dust-up with the White House to rally Democrats, linked Mr. McCain to the unpopular President Bush, accusing them of “bluster,” and told South Dakota voters, “They are trying to scare you.”

The prohibitive frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination said the Republican campaign line that he would negotiate with terrorist groups is false.

“I have been adamant about not negotiating with Hamas, a terrorist organization that has vowed to destroy Israel and won’t recognize them,” Mr. Obama said, adding: “They are not telling the truth.”

Yeah, Republicans are always trying to scare voters. Iran’s not trying to scare voters. Hugo Chavez isn’t trying to scare voters, but Republicans are.

The Washington Post, while gushing embarrassingly over Obama, reports he continued on telling fans he’s “happy” to debate over foreign policy, while, charateristically avoiding any substantial debate over foreign policy;

An animated Obama, cheered on by a crowd gathered on the floor of a livestock arena, said he would be delighted if the presidential race turned into a conversation about which party is better suited to guide the nation’s foreign policy.

“If George Bush and John McCain want to have a debate about protecting the United States of America, that is a debate that I’m happy to have anytime, anyplace, and that is a debate I will win because George Bush and John McCain have a lot to answer for,” the Democratic front-runner said.

Yeah, while Obama himself only asks questions without providing us with details of his plan to stop terrorism – oh, except sending out minions who hint that just because Obama’s face is brown, terrorists will stop attacking us. John McCain shot back (Washington Times);

“Senator Obama claimed all I had to offer was the ‘naive and irresponsible belief’ that tough talk would cause Iran to give up its nuclear program,” the Arizona Republican said. “I have some news for Senator Obama: Talking, not even with soaring rhetoric, in unconditional meetings with the man who calls Israel a ‘stinking corpse’ and arms terrorist who kill Americans will not convince Iran to give up its nuclear program. It is reckless to suggest that unconditional meetings will advance our interests.”

He continued, “It would be a wonderful thing if we lived in a world where we don’t have enemies. But that is not the world we live in, and until Senator Obama understands that reality, the American people have every reason to doubt whether he has the strength, judgment, and determination to keep us safe.”

Sensing Obama weakness on the national security issue Joe Hairplugs Biden weighed in to defend Obama;

He brushed back on Mr. Gillespie’s assertion, saying the White House “long ago perfected the art of the political misrepresentation and innuendo masquerading as policy and stringing together sentences that seem unobjectionable when read in isolation, but send a very different message when read together.”

The old Democrat “well, you voters aren’t smart enough to understand like we Democrats understand”. That’s the difference between Democrats and Republicans on Foreign Policy and National Security – Republicans actually do stuff about our enemies while Democrats think talk is enough to keep us safe. I think Democrats intentionally do nothing hoping Republicans will fix their mistakes when they get in office.

Category: Foreign Policy, Politics