McCain Attacks Obama on Foreign Policy Calling Ending the War: “Surrender”

(8 am – promoted by ek hornbeck)

The General Election is on!

Obama, speaking in Las Vegas this afternoon, slammed McCain on a number of issues, including the Bush-McCain fundraiser, noting McCain’s position on Iraq.

Earlier today, McCain had attacked Obama on foreign policy. Interupted four times by protestors, chanting, “End this War,” John McCain continued his attacks on Obama as being “naive” during his speech on Nuclear Security Policy.  

Mr. McCain took an oblique but direct swipe at Mr. Obama in his speech and his stated willingness to meet with the leaders of America’s greatest enemies, including North Korea and Iran. “Many believe all we need to do to end the nuclear programs of hostile governments is have our president talk with leaders in Pyongyang and Tehran, as if we haven’t tried talking to these governments repeatedly over the past two decades,” Mr. McCain said.

Protestors Chant, “End this War” during McCain Speech

In the lead up to today’s Nuclear Security Policy speech, McCain accused Obama “surrending” in Iraq by discussing withdrawal dates:

For him to talk about dates for withdrawal, which basically is surrender in Iraq, after we’re succeeding so well, is really inexcusable,” said Senator McCain.

While McCain attempted to distance himself from the Bush NeoCon policies during his Nuclear Policy Speech, invoking a John F. Kennedy quote and injecting the term, “mulitlateralism,” his hardlined approach remains evident. In an Op-Ed published today which McCain he co-authored with Joe Lieberman, McCain denounced diplomatic engagement:

McCain Calls for a Harder Line on North Korea

By Elisabeth Bumiller

DENVER-Senator John McCain kept up his attacks on Senator Barack Obama on Tuesday as naïve in foreign policy and appeared critical of the Bush administration’s diplomatic engagement in North Korea. Both positions were precursors of a speech on nuclear security policy that Mr. McCain was set to give today at the University of Denver.

In a Tuesday opinion article in the Wall Street Journal Asia written with his good friend, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, Mr. McCain took an oblique but sharp swipe at Mr. Obama, who has said he would meet with the leaders of some of the United States’ greatest enemies, including North Korea.

“We must never squander the trust of our allies and the respect for our highest office by promising that the president will embark on an open-ended, unconditional personal negotiation with a dictator responsible for running an international criminal enterprise, a covert nuclear weapons program and a massive system of gulags,” Mr. McCain and Mr. Lieberman said in the article.

Despite attempts to cloak his hard lined (ie pro-war, fear mongering approach) and distance himself from Bush (see McCain’s not so secret fundraiser with Bush), McCain’s foreign policy approach starkly differs from that of Obama.

Video by JedReport: John McCain has got his own Iraq deadline too

As the general election gears up, we can expect McCain to continue with his double talk and attacks on Obama’s “lack of foreign policy” approach. Further, McCain will attempt to differentiate himself from Bush on foreign policy. But the fact is, McCain really isn’t any different than Bush.

9 comments

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  1. Referring to McCain’s offer to take Obama to Iraq and “educate” him.  

  2. a word we’ll be hearing (too) often. It’s the new “cut and run”, ya know. I caught this speech on CSPAN and it appears that this guy plans to run on a platform of fear and hate just like his boss did. Sad, some will still buy this crap.  

    • Edger on May 28, 2008 at 16:14

    The ones he has are going to bury him.

    McJoan at DKos May 1, 2007…

    [B]y his own logic, McCain and the party that forced the withdrawal of troops from Somalia are partly responsible for 9/11. Sounds pretty preposterous, no? Of course McCain isn’t responsible. Bin Laden and al Qaeda are responsible. Terrorists like bin Laden do not need emboldening.

    . . . But if McCain wants to live by the McCarthyite sword, he should die by it. His attacks and smears of those of us who want to see this war brought to a responsible end as soon as humanly possible are reprehensible, as would be any effort to put the blame for 9/11 on him.

    Here’s McCain in 1993, demanding immediate withdrawal from Somalia:

    As mcjoan asks, did John McCain cause 9/11?

    ………………………..

    On a side note…. Just got this a few minutes ago so I haven’t had a look at the images, but apparently in case anyone needs “McSame” pictures (pics of Bush and McCain together), Progressive Media USA is assembling a Flickr set for general use. In other words, feel free to use these pics in posts tying Bush to McCain: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27080283@N03/

  3. how do you surrender to a people who have been invaded and occupied?  It’s hard to believe that this delusional damaged fear monger is doing as well as he is in the polls. I guess he is counting on the 28% stupid vote, along with the disgruntled HRC, Reagan Dem votes. The creepy part was he kept winking while he waxed on insanely.

    It’s hard to laugh him off as all, including the Dems, never cease to point out what a hero he is. Perhaps he feels that he surrendered in the other war the one he got captured in? Or is he confused as to who the aggressors are in this one? Who would we surrender to? The puppet regime or the the ever popular villain of the day, Ahmadinejad. Since he seems to have no idea of who the enemy is it how could we surrender?

    The contrast of McCain’s delusion and Obama’s  sanity and intelligence was stark. I hope that people do not want to have a beer with him, or decide that his version of reality is better then ‘surrendering’. Winning or surrendering are both impossible, all he can offer is more of the same.          

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