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McCain Camp Pounces on Obama Comments From ABC News Interview
June 16, 2008 10:18 PM
The campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., tonight pounced on comments Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., made in an interview today with ABC News.
**
This was the exchange in question.
TAPPER: Speaking of the Supreme Court, you applauded the decision that the Supreme Court made last week. The Bush administration says, no matter what people think about other programs, other policies they've initiated, there has not been a terrorist attack within the U.S. since 9/11. And they say the reason that is, is because of the domestic programs, many of which you opposed, the NSA surveillance program, Guantanamo Bay, and other programs. How do you know that they're wrong? It's not possible that they're right?
OBAMA: Well, keep in mind I haven't opposed, for example, the national security surveillance program, the NSA program. What I've said that we can do it within the constraints of our civil liberties and our Constitution.
TAPPER: They disagree, though.
OBAMA: Well, but the fact that they disagree does not mean that they're right on this. What it means is, is that they have been willing to skirt basic protections that are in our Constitution, that our founders put in place.
And it is my firm belief that we can track terrorists, we can crack down on threats against the United States, but we can do so within the constraints of our Constitution. And there has been no evidence on their part that we can't.
And, you know, let's take the example of Guantanamo. What we know is that, in previous terrorist attacks -- for example, the first attack against the World Trade Center, we were able to arrest those responsible, put them on trial. They are currently in U.S. prisons, incapacitated.
And the fact that the administration has not tried to do that has created a situation where not only have we never actually put many of these folks on trial, but we have destroyed our credibility when it comes to rule of law all around the world, and given a huge boost to terrorist recruitment in countries that say, "Look, this is how the United States treats Muslims."
So that, I think, is an example of something that was unnecessary. We could have done the exact same thing, but done it in a way that was consistent with our laws.
**
McCain campaign Foreign Policy Advisor Randy Scheunemann said in response: "Barack Obama's belief that we should treat terrorists as nothing more than common criminals demonstrates a stunning and alarming misunderstanding of the threat we face from radical Islamic extremism. Obama holds up the prosecution of the terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993 as a model for his administration, when in fact this failed approach of treating terrorism simply as a matter of law enforcement rather than a clear and present danger to the United States contributed to the tragedy of September 11th. This is change that will take us back to the failed policies of the past and every American should find this mindset troubling."
- jpt
June 16, 2008 in Obama, Barack | Permalink | Share | User Comments (171)
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"throwing out liberty and the values that our forefathers built this country on for the sake of temporary safety...is not the right thing...nor courageous."
Telling people that a rattlesnake has the right to live under your front door step protected by the same rights as your children is simply stupid. The rattlesnakes will proliferate but your children will have to protect themselves.
Our forefathers killed the rattlesnakes. More snakes were born but they killed those too.
Posted by: len | Jun 17, 2008 10:09:09 AM
petee:
Obama's top three accomplishments that determine that he's qualified to be president...
Well, he hasn't crossed the Delaware and defeated the British. It's an interesting thought experiment to apply to all presidents before they were elected, not just Obama.
Probably it'd be:
- Winning his US senate seat in a landslide.
- Being right on Iraq and making speeches about it when it was politically unpopular.
- Coming from a broken home to where he is now.
Feel free to post your list for your favorite president, whether Bill Clinton or George W. Bush.
John McCain would be:
- Winning re-election three times
- Refusing early release from being a POW
- (Not sure)
But frankly, I wouldn't support him if he'd won 14 major golf titles, because as the NYT said today, he's very similar to Bush on policy.
Posted by: Rocky | Jun 17, 2008 9:59:49 AM
Prisoners have been taken in all wars. The Geneva Convention details the rights and treatment that these prisoners of war should be afforded. However, the Geneva Convention ALSO provides a very specific definition of a "prisoner of war." These Islamic terrorists do NOT fall within that definition of a "prisoner of war" therefore they are not CALLED "prisoners of war." However, they are in fact individuals who have been taken prisoners DURING A WAR. They are NOT criminal defendants. They are wartime prisoners.
When a common combatant is taken prisoner during war, there is NO expectation of a trial. They are usually held until the war is over, at which time they are released and allowed to return home to their families. Trials are traditionally held for only the masterminds and leaders when these individuals have committed crimes beyond just fighting on the battlefield. Once the war is over, these individuals who remain detained pending their trial are then recognized as "defendants" and are THEN afforded defendant's rights.
From the moment that the detention of these Islamic extremists began, it was known that only the "worst of the worst" would be held for trial. All of the others were, and are, just wartime prisoners. Now then over 400 of the original detainees have already been released for many different reasons. Some were determined to have been mis-identified; some were determined to have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time; and some were released because the authorities determined they no longer posed a serious threat (many of these were transferred to the authorities within their home country).
As for the U. S. Supreme Court's ruling, it now gives the same rights that are afforded to criminal defendants to these wartime prisoners. Rights above that afforded to "prisoners of war" according to the Geneva Convention. THAT is a terrible precedent. Next we may have to give the Miranda warnings to future detainees -- in their own language.
Posted by: James Danley | Jun 17, 2008 9:57:19 AM
Len like I said...
courage comes from doing the right thing...whether someone tells you it is the wrong thing or not...
throwing out liberty and the values that our forefathers built this country on for the sake of temporary safety...is not the right thing...nor courageous.
Posted by: dl | Jun 17, 2008 9:34:05 AM
"courage comes from doing the right thing..."
No, courage comes from knowing what the right thing is and doing it when all about you tell you it is the wrong thing.
Pretty speeches without actions are the common resort of those who embezzle our interests to serve their own.
Posted by: len | Jun 17, 2008 9:31:34 AM
Len
courage comes from doing the right thing...
we have the ability to hold these people...kill them torutre them...
and yes...they will never attack us...
they will never move next door to you and I
they will never breathe another word of anti-American sentiment...
but the ten more that are suddenly open to the words they said because we are not the country we said we were...
and the ten countries whose leaders and their people's who fought for such a great country...suddenly don't think we are as great as we werre... so they are not pressured to fight with us and those values...(because we know longer stand for those values)
is a very very bad direction for our safety...our existence...our economy our children's adult lives...
We have seen this already. The past 8 years has shown what happens to the size and validity of al quaeda, the taliban, the new terrorist groups growing in southeast asia exponentially now and Ahmadenijad's reach and invitations... by the policies we have implemented.
They get stronger.
so you worry about them moving next door to you...all the while...their mothership feeds on that...
The terrorists bank on the fear you speak of.
Posted by: dl | Jun 17, 2008 9:23:31 AM
Don't worry Democrats. McCain will serve you proudly as commander in chief. Not like Obama who will only serve the interest of foreign countries by first creating an environment of forcing more companies out of the country with his ELOQUENT tax program
Posted by: scar head | Jun 17, 2008 9:20:54 AM
Hooser...Obama is NOT standing with the terrorists, he is saying that we need to stand by the Geneva convention. We need to treat prisoners we are holding, with descensy no matter what they did, that is our law. I personllay think McCain LOVES to torture these guys( he totally believes in waterboarding and other torture). Maybe he wants to return what he got. Remember, we need to be careful, because this country HAS taken Muslim into prison who are actually innocent. They were arrested ONLY because they were Muslim. Wer cannot kill and torture people. That makes us just as bad as the terrorists.
Posted by: militarymom | Jun 17, 2008 9:20:16 AM
"Liberty and that all people are created equal... is all powerful and what made us who we are."
Nice sound bite. Vacuous though. And so wrong.
Liberty is the right obtained by having the strength and wisdom to defend us from our enemies. A judge that put's our enemies on our streets to attack us is neither strong nor wise. Those that celebrate such decisions shall soon have no liberties by which to claim the rights of equality.
The left will sacrifice all to claim a principle. The right protect all so that principles may be claimed.
Posted by: len | Jun 17, 2008 9:15:53 AM
I usually resort to lies and pulling out the race card. NO one has been able to beat the RACE CARD yet.
Posted by: jmc663 | Jun 17, 2008 9:12:32 AM
********
Unless you use to mentally impaired card, which McCain has a whole deck of, LOL!
Posted by: Fired UP!! | Jun 17, 2008 9:15:06 AM
The real "dl" actually knows what seems to feel good for those who are afraid in the short term but is not courageous for our kids and grandkids.
If we lose the ability to hold fast to the right for people to have a fair trial...that ALL people are created equal...that kiberty and JUSTICE for ALL is our driving mantras...
then our children's America and or our grandchildren's America ...loses.
because then we are no longer the America our fathers. mothers, ancestors and founders fought for.
again
McCain's response shows how either slick or dumb they are and how they are banking on the same idea as the Bush when it comes to the American people's ability to make decisions based through smarts rather than impulsive fear.
Dumb countries or countries that fall prey to politicians and administrations that use fear to get support for their reactive and aggressive stances ...who react without level thought...are the countries that ultimately over and over ...fail.
what McCain's campaign shows with this reaction is they have learned nothing from the mistakes of the past 8 years. They have not learned that America lead because it was not an indescriminate reactionary... it lead by always holding up what was "right" first...
Liberty and that all people are created equal... is all powerful and what made us who we are.
It is sad that we are being tested by another politician who wants to use that for their own gain again...and has lost sight of what will inevitably destroy us ...if we are not fighting for those values ...then we are only fighting for our own liberties...that is not the same as fighting for "liberty and justice for all"...and he as a past American prisoner of war should be ashamed of that mistake he is presently making.
Not again John...not again.
Posted by: dl | Jun 17, 2008 9:03:41 AM
Lets give the TERROIST welfare and a section 8 housing until their fair and honest trial starts.
Posted by: gregory | Jun 17, 2008 9:02:12 AM
Be aware that someone is using dl as a name that is not dl.
Posted by: dl | Jun 17, 2008 8:59:10 AM
To all those who rage against giving "rights" to terrorists:
it's not about their rights that we care, it's about America as a country of a transparent law and justice that we care, about our nation's ethical standards, about the moral examples we set to the world, about the power and universal appeal of our Constitution and the Human Rights Act etc etc. Don't forget that; it's patriotism in the name of our Constitution that makes us despise Gunatanamo Bay and the torture of prisoners, it is our American Christo-Judean conscience and morality that speaks when we call for JUSTICE being done.
Posted by: gregory | Jun 17, 2008 8:55:31 AM
Is anyone noting that Obama is standing with the Muslims? He wants to give every detainee (POW) a trial in the U.S. Courts. You can all kiss your tax breaks, free college, health care, etc. etc. etc. goodbye. Those trials are going to cost more than all of Obama's promised social programs combined.
Posted by: HoosierSue | Jun 17, 2008 8:55:16 AM
The world would be a much better place with out computers allowing TERRORIST access to the rest of the worlds KNOWLEDGE to design bombs and organize mass terror strikes against America.
Posted by: gregory | Jun 17, 2008 8:53:33 AM
McCain's response shows how either slick or dumb they are and how they are banking on the same idea as the Bush when it comes to the American people's ability to make decisions based through smarts rather than impulsive fear.
Dumb countries or countries that fall prey to politicians and administrations that use fear to get support for their reactive and aggressive stances ...who react without level thought...are the countries that ultimately over and over ...fail.
what McCain's campaign shows with this reaction is they have learned nothing from the mistakes of the past 8 years. They have not learned that America lead because it was not an indescriminate reactionary... it lead by always holding up what was "right" first...
Liberty and that all people are created equal... is all powerful and what made us who we are.
It is sad that we are being tested by another politician who wants to use that for their own gain again...and has lost sight of what will inevitably destroy us ...if we are not fighting for those values ...then we are only fighting for our own liberties...that is not the same as fighting for "liberty and justice for all"...and he as a past American prisoner of war should be ashamed of that mistake he is presently making.
Not again John...not again.
Posted by: dl | Jun 17, 2008 8:53:12 AM
The TERRORIST captured and detained fall under this rule. The rules are meant to keep Terrorists from committing further acts of terrorism until the threat ends.
So what i am saying these TERRORIST are welcome to move into my home town and design bombs that you can wrap around peoples waist and start TERRORIST training camps in my back yard.
Posted by: False? | Jun 17, 2008 8:51:22 AM
*******************************
Actually, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Supreme Court just say that is True?
That the non-citizens too have rights?
****************************************no - unfortunately you are correct, that is exactly what they have done.
Posted by: meoky | Jun 17, 2008 8:50:23 AM
We recently learned that McCain doesn't know anything about the use of computers and the Internet.
It amazes me that that confession hasn't become a serious topic; to me it proves that he is truly out of touch with life in the 21st century.
He doesn't even know that "computers" and "the Internet" DETERMINE a large part of life, society and polics in these times.
Having McCain for President would be a very cynical joke in these trying times.
Btw: modern terrorists would LOVE to fight an administration whose President knows NOTHING about computers and the Internet. For they know ALL about it... They'd be more clever than the POTUS!
Posted by: gregory | Jun 17, 2008 8:49:09 AM
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