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Playing the Age Card? Obama Camp Calls McCain "Confused," Jumps On McCain Comments on Iraq
June 11, 2008 11:55 AM
Poll after poll shows that more voters trust Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on matters of national security than they do Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois. Hoping to bridge that chasm, the Obama campaign and Democrats harped on comments McCain made on the Today show this morning, repeatedly calling the 71-year-old presumptive GOP presidential nominee "confused," seeming to feed into concerns voters might have about the Arizonan's age.
This morning, asked if he has a better estimate of when American forces can come home from Iraq now that the surge is working, McCain said, "No, but that's not too important. What's important is the casualties in Iraq. Americans are in South Korea, Americans are in Japan, American troops are in Germany -- that’s all fine. American casualties and the ability to withdraw."
The Obama campaign pounced. On a hastily-arranged Obama campaign conference call Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Dr. Susan Rice, and former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig, all assailed McCain.
Kerry called the remarks "unbelievably out of touch and inconsistent with the needs and concerns of Americans," particularly the families of troops in Iraq. "We cannot support the level of American troops in Iraq; our military is overstretched, it's reduced our ability to respond to events around the world, and to the situation in Afghanistan. Senator McCain, it is important when they can come home."
Kerry went so far as to say McCain "doesn't seem to know a lot about foreign policy and Iraq itself."
Rice said McCain's comments reveal a "real confusion and lack of understanding of the situation in Iraq" and the larger region. Jumping on gaffes McCain made in the past, Rice said McCain's "repeatedly…confused Sunni and Shi'a," and said he's been "confused about who the leader in Iran with maximum power is." Rice also said McCain "seems very eager" to engage Iran militarily….This is troubling to say the least, and it's reflective of a pattern of lack of understanding and lack of strategic depth."
Mark Salter, a top adviser to McCain, said McCain hasn't been remotely confused on the big picture in Iraq.
"He saw it with unbelievable prescience and unbelievable clarity," Salter said. "He outlined in 2003 precisely what Gen. Petraeus has done so successfully in Iraq. Sen. McCain knows enough about Iraq -- from his many visits there and his career in the U.S military -- to stand up and advocate, when it was a tough thing to do, a counterinsurgency, a policy he was criticized by Democrats and Republicans for advocating, and one that is manifestly, inarguably succeeding. That's a position he had the experience and wisdom to recognize, and one that Sen. Obama and Sen. Kerry -- as has happened so many times in their careers -- were wrong about."
Salter said McCain has had a "level of clarity and understanding on Iraq that obviously Sen. Obama and Sen. Kerry have never achieved on this subject -- or Ms. Rice."
**
Asked if the word "confused" was meant to invoke McCain's age, Rice said, "what I meant by that is very simple -- on critical, factual questions that are fundamental to understanding what's going on in Iraq and the region, Sen. McCain has gotten it wrong. And not just once but repeatedly."
Rice mentioned a recent incident when McCain mistakenly said troop levels had returned to pre-surge levels. "I'm not ascribing it to any particular function, I'm completely unable to do so," Rice said. "I'm simply pointing out a pattern."
She invited a reporter to offer another word to convey what she saw as McCain's "lack of understanding, misunderstanding, ...they all amount to the same thing. There is a gap. Between reality and sen McCain’s characterization of reality and that’s disturbing from somebody who has staked his candidacy on judgment and experience."
Kerry said to a reporter that it was "unfair and even a little bit ridiculous to assume that because you use a word that is used about every day in America life and people’s policies and apply it to John McCain and you jump to the conclusion that is about somebody’s age."
Kerry said there are plenty of senators and congressman older than McCain "who understand the difference sand don’t make the mistakes he’s made with respect to those policies," he said, citing Sen. John Warner, R-Virginia. "They know who the Sunni are and they know who the Shi'a are, and they know exactly who's training who. And they don’t make those kinds of mistakes."
Danzig added, "I don’t think it's a question of age," saying McCain was wrong five years ago when he voted to authorize use of force against Iraq, when he was five years younger.
McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds issued a statement saying the Obama campaign "is embarking on a false attack on John McCain to hide their own candidate’s willingness to disregard facts on the ground in pursuit of withdrawal no matter what the costs. John McCain was asked if he had a ‘better estimate’ for a timeline for withdrawal. As John McCain has always said, that is not as important as conditions on the ground and the recommendations of commanders in the field. Any reasonable person who reads the full transcript would see this and reject the Obama campaign’s attempt to manipulate, twist and distort the truth.”
Democrats on Capitol Hill joined the charges as well.
"When asked this morning about American troops coming home from Iraq, John McCain said 'that's not too important,'" said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Illinois, the House Caucus Chairman. "Senator McCain, to the men and women who are serving their second, third, or even fourth deployment in Iraq, and to their families, it is incredibly important. Once again, John McCain has displayed a fundamental misunderstanding about the situation in Iraq, our strained military, and American troops and their families."
Democrats not surprisingly avoided mentions of other sections of the Today interview, including anchor Matt Lauer's praise of McCain for "courage" for having backed the surge when the rest of the country was opposed to it, McCain pointing out that he was pushing the Bush administration to add more troops early on.
They also shied away from using McCain's complete answer to Lauer's question about withdrawal, which included McCain saying, "we will be able to withdraw. Gen. Petraeus is going to tell us in July when he thinks we are. But the key to it is we don't want any Americans in harm's way. And that way they will be safe. And serve our country, and come home in honor in victory. Not in defeat, which is what Sen. Obama's proposal would have done…We are succeeding and it's fascinating that Sen. Obama still doesn't realize that."
The fuller answer can be seen HERE
- jpt
June 11, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (495)
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Lordy, the general will be the same as the primary -- each side will investigate the "hidden" meaning of every word that the other says. More important than the word "confused" is McCain's viewpoint on Iraq, our continuing presence there, and how we are going to manage to pay for his policy of staying there.
Posted by: M | Jun 11, 2008 9:12:52 PM
Speaking of age the American people would like to see Obama's birth certificate. What's the big secret?
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I have seen evidence to the contrary on many sites. This allegation is quite preposterous! The idea that his actual middle name is "Mohammed" and not Hussein is hillarious. What would be the benefit to claim his name was Hussein? This is patently ludicrous.
Posted by: rhbate | Jun 11, 2008 9:11:23 PM
OK, get this straight: there is no "Age Card."
you CAN be too old to be pres. you can.
you CANNOT be too female to be pres.
you CANNOT be too black to be pres.
but, you CAN be too old.
i hope no further explanation is necessary.
Posted by: JP, milltown, nj | Jun 11, 2008 9:06:38 PM
Speaking of age the American people would like to see Obama's birth certificate. What's the big secret that his campaign doesn't want us to know. Why won't they release it? There's a rumor that he was born in Kenya (questioning his citizenship status to run for President) or that his name is different or his father is different, etc. They should release it to quell these many rumors.
Posted by: Maggie | Jun 11, 2008 8:48:45 PM
The number of states we have is not an issue that concerns most Americans. We do care about this unnecessary war republicans scared up, we care about our country that the republicans don't. The republican administration and republican legislators are doing only what is best for corporations and their lobbying buddies. We need someone who is mentally alert and fit enough to correct the mistakes and corruption that has gone on under the republican control.
Posted by: Vicki | Jun 11, 2008 8:40:05 PM
rhbate,
One of the most idiotic posts I have read today. In large measure, the price of oil, like any other commodity, is determined by the rule of supply and demand. The more oil produced the lower the price and the contrary, the less produced the higher the price.
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So please show me where oil output has decreased in the middle east... whoops, that's right, you can't.
Posted by: Pepsiholic | Jun 11, 2008 7:42:12 PM
The president cannot do anything about the cost of oil. C'mon
Posted by: Anders Scooper | Jun 11, 2008 7:41:30 PM
rhbate,
And what was the price of gas when democrats took power in 2006? I blame it on democrats because they won't let us drill for oil that's in the US.
Posted by: Pepsiholic | Jun 11, 2008 7:39:33 PM
CORRECTION
When Bush came to office the average price of gasoline was $1.29 a gallon, today here in California I just paid $4.65 cents a GALLON.
And you blame this on the Democrats? Wake up!!
Posted by: rhbate | Jun 11, 2008 7:20:26 PM
Yeah, it sure looked like democrats lowered our fuel costs didn't it? How much has gas increased since democrats took over?
Posted by: Pepsiholic | Jun 11, 2008
5:34:17 PM
_________________
When Bush came to office the average price of oil was $29.00 a barrel; today it is over $135. a barrel. When Clinton met with the Saudis in 2002, they wanted to peg a permanent price of oil at $29.00 a barrel. Dumbya refused.
When Bush came to office the average price of gasoline was $1.29 a gallon, today here in California I just paid $4.65 cents a barrel.
And you blame this on the Democrats? Wake up!!
Posted by: rhbate | Jun 11, 2008 7:16:38 PM
Yeah, yeah. Corrupt soldier-cultist Kerry -- Fannie-May Johnson was Kerry's guy -- will be huddled beneath the bus with the Anointed One, both of them parsing, explaining, and apologizing, by the end of the week.
Posted by: Belle Starr | Jun 11, 2008 7:09:32 PM
Actually the high price of oil has nothing to do with the middle east.
Posted by: Pepsiholic | Jun 11, 2008 6:38:14 PM
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One of the most idiotic posts I have read today. In large measure, the price of oil, like any other commodity, is determined by the rule of supply and demand. The more oil produced the lower the price and the contrary, the less produced the higher the price.
Oil is produced in the Mid-East - get it?
Posted by: rhbate | Jun 11, 2008 7:05:58 PM
There have only been 2 sitting Senators who were successfully elected President: Harding and Kennedy.
Both were considered handsome or debonair by their contemporaries. Both were gifted orators. Harding's presidency has been held by historians to have been one of the least effective. Kennedy's was cut short tragically, which makes it more difficult to honestly measure its effectiveness in substantive terms.
Obama shares with Harding and Kennedy the gift for oratory, and is certainly, by contemporary standards, better looking than McCain.
Senator McCain has failed to acheive not only the minimal oratorical skills , but has failed, in my mind, to have matured into what one would consider "distinguished looking" in an older gentleman.
This difference as much as any policy or position on the issues leads me to suspect that Obama will succeed in November. One can only hope that his presidency does not suffer the fates of Harding or Kennedy.
Posted by: nytimer | Jun 11, 2008 7:04:38 PM
John McCain was a prisoner of war...he DOES know about WAR.
Five years as a prisoner of War would improve his knowledge of WAR.
I think we owe him 4 years as president.
Posted by: REMEMBER NOVEMBER | Jun 11,
2008 12:22:0
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If we based our choice of president on who has been a prisoner of war, we would "owe" the presidency to hundreds of Americans who are former POW's. He may know about war, but that doesn't mean he know about foreign policy.
As for one who "knows about war," he has gone both ways on torture, one day it's horrible, the next day it's alright.
Posted by: rhbate | Jun 11, 2008 6:58:45 PM
POW in the case of Mc Cain taught him to learn his limits as a human being, to resist as a soldier, to understand the psychological factor in an ideological war (that's valid during the communist years). Mc Cain's brain went through a lot of ordeals and training to learn how to survive in prison.
I don't know how he feels about north vietnamese people to-day .Ideological wars are the worst kinds. Mc Cain was caught in that kind of war : capitalist versus communist.I would like him to explain more how he can say he hates wars, because he belongs to a military family.
Posted by: jane | Jun 11, 2008 6:58:04 PM
pepsiholic
first you will need to get rid of washington corruption------i believe it was in the seventies we built a new type reactor---it used spent rods to generate power and we have enough to power country for a thousand years----carter shut it down due to pressure from greenpeace---and slick willy had it torn down??????????????
Posted by: rodney | Jun 11, 2008 6:38:41 PM
Does anyone realise that the current high gas price is as a direct result of the war in Iraq and the attendant chaos in the Middle East?
The Russia, Middle East and Africa have the most oil reserves and are using the oil price to hurt us. WHY? They have developed apathy towards us.
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Actually the high price of oil has nothing to do with the middle east. It's the booming economies of India and China. Goodwill will not bring down the price of oil, us using less or, us pumping more will. Saying that Obama's goodwill will lower prices is just idiotic.
Posted by: Pepsiholic | Jun 11, 2008 6:38:14 PM
Going green is a joke. What do you do when there's no wind and it's cloudy out? How do you store the energy for use at night? Even now, environmentalists are demanding damns be taken down so fish can migrate and they complain that wind farms kill migratory birds. Even Senator Kennedy didn't want a wind farm spoiling his view in his back yard. Nuclear power is the only cheap non-polluting reliable energy source. Build 400 more of them and we could use the excess electricity to generate hydrogen for cars and get us off oil.
Posted by: Pepsiholic | Jun 11, 2008 6:33:00 PM
we are told it is a matter of supply and demand---when was the last time you have seen a station out of gas---we had cars in the 50s and 60s getting 40 to 50 miles per gallon----yet today we consider 30 mpg super ---what a crock.
Posted by: rodney | Jun 11, 2008 6:30:37 PM
Does anyone realise that the current high gas price is as a direct result of the war in Iraq and the attendant chaos in the Middle East?
The Russia, Middle East and Africa have the most oil reserves and are using the oil price to hurt us. WHY? They have developed apathy towards us.
We need a president who will bring back our goodwill in the international community. That president is not the one that want to Bomb Bomb Bmob Iran!
Posted by: Jena | Jun 11, 2008 6:27:02 PM
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