Straight-talking McCain reveals himself as a leader in waiting

[T_i_B]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/12/wus12.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/11/12/ixportal.html

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.

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.

[texpatriot2004]

1. McCain is a SELL OUT! Before he became a Bushie I respected

him, but in the last two years maybe 3...I have lost all respect for him. He lost his backbone. He sucked up to this evil regime. He joined them and when he did he lost his integrity.

[John Q. Citizen]

2. He thinks it's time to collect for services rendered to the dark side.

[lvx35]

3. I would love him to get the republican vote.

Just on the grounds that I saw him go against Cheney Bush for supporting torture...After having been through it himself. Also working with the gang of 14 got some respect from me. Never vote for him, but it would be great to see the republicans make a saner choice for once.

[SomewhereOutThere424]

45. I was thinking that

Elections aren't so hard when they're not literally the proverbial battle of good vs. evil. So long as it's a guy I can respect, even if I won't vote for him, it won't be so bad if we lose. Then again this IS the republicans we're talking about...since when has putting a rational view in america been their agenda? ;)

[depakid]

4. Yep- he's all set.

Just watch him co-opt all of the Dems natural issues with the help of the DINO's. I'm already hearing people talking about him- people who would usually lean towards a Dem (if this were say- the early 1990's).

So long as he remains healthy, I look for him to be an increasingly important rallying point for Republicans. Every time a Biden or Lieberman appears on one of the Sunday "talk" shows and legitimizes Republican policies, his case gets better and better.

[Horse with no Name]

5. My mom is a Dem

and she would vote for McCain.:puke:

[depakid]

11. Hell, after this headline:

Democrats Provided Edge on Detainee Vote

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/12/national/nationalspecial3/12detain.html

Even I might vote for McCain....

Just a joke- I know better than that. I know his whole record- but the vast majority of other people out there don't.

Frankly, I don't see much hope for the Dems in 2006- or in 2008, the way things are going. If the party "leadership" can't instill at least a little discipline among its members and start standing for even the most basic of human rights- much less any other traditional Democratic principle, then I doubt many people are going to see much difference between McCain and the his "newly moderate" Republicans- and Dems.

Except maybe that the Republicans will at least come across as having some courage.

[LiberalVoice]

6. McCain revelead himself as a spineless ass kisser of the Bush Admin.

He proved that no matter how corrupt, party lines are more important then protecting the people of the United States.

[Skittles]

9. more important than his own family

:puke:

[Wabbajack]

12. His family?

[Skittles]

47. bush inc trashed McCain's family during the primary

real Rovian sick tricks

[Skittles]

10. LiberalVoice, what's the story behind that pic?

is it on a subway? Is that Dean?

[Evergreen Emerald]

20. My sentiments exactly LiberalVoice

He has touted courage throughout his career--and we gave him deference because of his history. And when he was given the opportunity during the last election to show America his courage, to unit the extremely divided country made ugly by the neo-con agenda, he tucked in his tail and humped Bush's leg.

It was cowardice and pathetic. He either could not stand up to them, or decided it was better for his career to sell his soul, to sell America and to sell his honor to Bush and Cheney. And I will never vote for him.

[Elidor]

49. He didn't have a soul to sell

It already resides in a little box on Keating's desk.

[the other one]

7. McCain is a great Republican

Of course that would make him a shitty president. But we do know that major sports in this country would get cleaned up, and that Ulitimate Fighting would be banned. Priorities.

[Nostradammit]

8. Straight-talking McCain my ass

God-damned Monkey Hugger

[LibDemAlways]

22. If McCain is the nominee, that photo

ought to be prominently displayed by the Dems on tv, billboards, and as a backdrop at our candidate's campaign stops. The Dems have to make sure that pic is burned into the memory of every voter.

[Olney Blue]

25. Smoking gun evidence of the sell-out.

Bush looks like a fanatical evangelical preacher, and McCain his faithful
lap dog follower.

This is the moment when what shred of respect I had for McCain turned
to dismay, and then disgust.

[lovelaureng]

13. McCain is

Bush's little ass sucker. He is a real piece of work.:grr:

[truthisfreedom]

14. McCain=Dole... the ancient embattled last gasp of the thug party.

no hope. i'd be glad to have any of our candidates run against him.

[expatriot]

15. We need to start framing McCain NOW if we want to have a chance against

in 2008.

[SomewhereOutThere424]

46. framing?

Isn't that a term that goes hand in hand with lying? I'd say getting truths about him is more accurate..

[Orsino]

16. "New approach" to Iraq war?

He's beholden to the same Big Money interests as * is. He'll keep our troops in Iraq, too, won't he? Or is he thinking of a major withdrawal, leaving us guarding only the oil fields?

He's shown a trace of integrity, intermittently, over the years, but I don't think he'll give up PNAC's centerpiece.

[leesa]

17. Don't let them get away with portraying this nutball as a leader...he has

supported every criminal activity out of this White House.

[teryang]

50. He is nuts - this is about a deep seated resentment re: Vietnam

McCain driven by his harrowing and horrible experiences in Vietnam, blames the American public for losing the war and making his sacrifices otherwise senseless.

This war is about "taking the gloves off" and proving the American public was wrong about Vietnam and the so called "best and the brightest of the defense establishment" right. Yet the sunk costs of war, the sacrifices already made are meaningless in terms of defense policy analysis. The only costs that matter are future costs weighed against future benefits. Other than Bush cronies, who has derived a benefit from the war? No one. Therefore, time to get out.

McCain was wrong then, and he's wrong now. But he's a man on horseback in his own mind to set the alleged wrongs of history aright. He will mobilize the deep seated resentments over Vietnam to pursue the Iraq war ultimately to even more diastrous outcomes. Remember, many of McCains colleagues bombed Cambodia. Look at what followed there, a genocide on a scale not seen since WWII. We stood aside and did nothing. Similar plans to bomb Syria and Iran will emerge along with a draft from the mind of McCain, which unfortunately is a deeply biased and troubled mind.

He has my sympathy, he has my compassion, he has my respect as a brave man. However, he will never have my support because he is not mentally fit for the office. Of course, this didn't stop * supporters.

[SF Bay Area Dem]

18. Mclame sell-out will not survive a primary after the Dem's run commercials

in the rural red rethug states telling the fundies how him (and Rudy) are PRO-CHOICE (YIKE!), PRO-GUNCONTROL(EGAAAD!), RINOS!

[DinahMoeHum]

19. AFAIAC, McCain has planted too many big wet sloppy ones on Bush

to be taken for a moderate Republican (are there any such creatures in existence now?)

:evilfrown:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

21. "Straight-talking McCain"??? Good grief.

[deutsey]

23. "Straight-talking"? They're talking about his sexual orientation, right?

Because he sure as shit isn't "straight-talking" in the other sense of the phrase.

[pinniped]

24. Sold to the highest bidder.

.

[callady]

26. McCain Urges More US Forces for Iraq

McCain urges more US forces for Iraq
Correspondents in Washington
November 12, 2005

PROMINENT US senator John McCain has called on the Bush administration to send more troops to Iraq, warning that the stakes for the US are higher than they were in Vietnam.

Republican Senator McCain, a former Vietnam War prisoner, attacked proposals by top Democrats to start bringing troops home, and urged President George W. Bush to adopt a new anti-insurgency strategy.

"We must get Iraq right ... I would submit that the stakes are higher than they were in Vietnam," Senator McCain said in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute, an influential conservative think tank.

"Instead of drawing down, we should be ramping up."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17215156%255E2703,00.html

[ananda]

27. The answer is to get out..

.. and bring the troops home.

It's not a just or legal war.

[still_one]

30. we need to give it over to the U.N. and get out

as far as mccain, Viet Nam was based on a lie, and so is this war in Iraq. Our troops are a catalyst, and we will only cause more violence in the region. It is time to turn it over to the UN. No amount of oil is worth that much, and it isn't our oil anyway

[OldLeftieLawyer]

28. How nuts, exactly, is McCain?

I really think he's taken leave of his senses.

Time for John McCain to go away quietly and make room for someone else. Someone who's not insane.

[asjr]

31. McCain tailors his speeches to whatever

a particular group wants to hear. I think he will run for pres in 2008 and is hedging his bets all around. Just another doublespeak Republican. I trust him no more than I trust the Shrub. He uses his soft voice to make others think he is sincere--and some buy it.

[pinniped]

29. This wannabe preznitwit is a whore for *.

It might be too hot for * to call for an elevation in troop levels right now so they get the whore to do it.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

32. You know what?

I bet you're right.

He will always be that guy desperately hugging Fuckface on the campaign trail - after what Fuckface and Rove did to him with their slime.

Whore.

[babylonsister]

33. I don't understand McCain. With the popularity

for this war going down the tubes along with the repug credibility, why would he do this? If he wants to campaign to be the next prez, this surely won't help him.

[Leilani]

38. Maybe he believes what he's saying?

Even though it's unpopular?

What a concept!

[Sandpiper]

34. Warming up for his run in 2008

Courting the fascist/militarist vote.

[fedupinBushcountry]

35. McCain has not learned

any lessons from Vietnam. That is sad. They tried that in Vietnam, more troops thats the answer, Right. More troops gave us more deaths, it didn't accomplish a thing.

[kskiska]

36. In 1908 McCain will be older than Reagan was when he ran for president

and Reagan was the oldest ever.

[HannibalBarca]

37. .....

..u mean 2008?

[barbaraann]

40. His face has been looking better lately.

I think he's having "work done" to look better for a Presidential run.

[kskiska]

48. Sorry – 2008

I'm not quite that old yet.

[xxqqqzme]

39. '...did not believe

pre-war intelligence had been hyped...'...

All I need 2 know!

[wordpix2]

41. when McCain sends his kids to Iraq, that's when I'll listen to him

[progressivebydesign]

42. I'll never get over that creepy photo of him body hugging Bush.

It was just creepy looking.. not because they hugged, guys do that all the time, but it was so desperate looking.

I'm not being ageist.. but McCain looks too old and sickly to be Prez. Might as well elect Cheney, if that's the case.

You can't trust McCain. He blows in the wind depending upon who can help him. I dislike Bush, but I have zero tolerance for someone that is privately believed to hate the guy, then helps him win the election.

[bluedog]

43. Proof McCain is a FLIP FLOPPING Media HOG

McCain, a former Navy pilot and prisoner of war in Vietnam, joined other Republicans in denouncing what he called the administration's lack of an "exit strategy" in Kosovo and said he opposes deploying U.S. ground troops unless they are peacekeepers as part of a solid pact to end the fighting. "It's terribly frustrating that there's no endgame here," he said in a telephone interview. "If the bombing doesn't work, what then? The administration will not answer that question. There's no Plan B."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/18/161016/461

[oregonindy]

44. yep ass kisser.....