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.