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Daschle: America Focused on Iraq, Could Have 'Avoided' Georgia Violence
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ShareAugust 17, 2008 12:20 PM
ABC News' Ayana Harry Reports: Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., represented the Obama campaign, discussing the Russia-Georgia conflict on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."
In a debate with Republican Mitt Romney, Daschle maintained, "If we would have preemptively worked with Russia, with Georgia, making sure that NATO had the kind of ability and the presence and the engagement, we could have perhaps avoided this.
"We need to engage around the world. What we've done is focused so much on Iraq that a lot of these other issues have slipped. They've not had the priority they deserve. They've not had the kind of attention that an Obama administration would provide."
Speaking on behalf of Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., Daschle was firm about the need for Russia to end its occupation in Georgia. He said, "They've got to withdraw their troops. They've got to show that they can be responsible citizens again."
(Click here to see video from "This Week" of Daschle debating Republican Mitt Romney.)
When Stephanopoulos pointed out McCain’s repeated warnings about Russian aggression and his calls for removing Russia from the G8, Daschle pushed back, saying, "We need to work with them on climate and on energy. So, simply to exclude them and completely eliminate them from any real engagement with us is a process that I think we have to be very concerned about."
Daschle also spoke about the vice presidential sweepstakes, calling Obama’s decision a "question of experience versus judgment," saying Obama "wants somebody with good judgment."
When asked if Obama has called to offer him the VP spot, Daschle quickly answered, "He hasn't. No." And when asked if Obama will offer him the slot this week, Dashcle told George, "Well, he won't."
August 17, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (23)
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john, it's the people that are awake that realize why this happened the way that it did. It's not an isolated incident that came from out of nowhere. The US built up the Georgians and they got power-drunk. Most would argue that that Georgia used us. We gave them the arms and advice and when we aren't looking the go and attack Ossetia. So it does stand to argue that if more American resources were dedicated to Georgia that they would not have attacked Ossetia.
Posted by: rgreen | Aug 18, 2008 12:33:24 PM
So where was the U.S. Senate's Subcommittee on European Affairs on this predictable situation? Oops, on the campaign trail. Nevermind. It's Bush's fault. Yep, that's it.
Posted by: Candice | Aug 18, 2008 1:41:21 PM
The Truth hurts - Daschle did good to point out that the Bush Admin screwed up again.
McCain and Rove screwed up advising the Georgians to provoke Russian. Dumb move.
Sorry, we are not all Georgians, and John McCain does not speak for America.
Bottomline: US can not afford the billions McCain is lobbying for Georgia.
Posted by: Paul | Aug 18, 2008 11:50:32 PM
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