McCain and Obama on the Iraq War (video & roundup)
Roundup: McCain and Obama on the Iraq War — by Catherine Morgan (cross posted at The Care2 Election Blog)
Today’s political blog roundup will take a look at the Obama and McCain positions on the Iraq war. We will start with this video clip by Keith Olbemann.
Keith Olbermann really gives the context, with a comprehensive look at McCain’s views on the war and why he has been wrong. Keith Olbermann’s Special Comments on John McCain’s Views on Iraq…
The Nation: Obama, McCain & Iraq…
It’s a tradition in American presidential politics that once the primaries are over, both the Democratic and Republican candidates move to the center in search of that all-important centrist swing voter. Let’s hope that this year, at least, Barack Obama resists that impulse when it comes to what is likely to be one of the most contentious issues in this fall’s campaign: Iraq.
In fact, we need to do more than hope. Progressives, antiwar activists and, yes, even swing voters–who long ago realized that Iraq is what Obama, in 2002, called a “dumb war”–should demand that the senator from Illinois draw as stark a contrast as possible between himself and John McCain over Iraq.
READ FULL POST AT THE CARE2 ELECTION BLOG
Iraq war could cost taxpayers $2.7 trillion.
As the Iraq war continues with no clear end in sight, the cost to taxpayers may balloon to $2.7 trillion by the time the conflict comes to an end, according to Congressional testimony.
In a hearing held by the Joint Economic Committee Thursday, members of Congress heard testimony about the current costs of the war and the future economic fallout from returning soldiers.
At the beginning of the conflict in 2003, the Bush administration gave Congress a cost estimate of $60 billion to $100 billion for the entirety of the war. But the battle has been dragging on much longer than most in the government expected, and costs have ballooned to nearly ten times the original estimate.
Washington Post: Op-ed by Charles Krauthammer…
The disconnect between what Democrats are saying about Iraq and what is actually happening there has reached grotesque proportions. Democrats won an exhilarating electoral victory in 2006 pledging withdrawal at a time when conditions in Iraq were dire and we were indeed losing the war. Two years later, when everything is changed, they continue to reflexively repeat their “narrative of defeat and retreat” (as Joe Lieberman so memorably called it) as if nothing has changed.
It is a position so utterly untenable that John McCain must seize the opportunity and, contrary to conventional wisdom, make the Iraq war the central winning plank of his campaign. Yes, Americans are war-weary. Yes, most think we should not have engaged in the first place. Yes, Obama will keep pulling out his 2002 speech opposing the war.
But McCain’s case is simple. Is not Obama’s central mantra that this election is about the future, not the past? It is about 2009, not 2002. Obama promises that upon his inauguration, he will order the Joint Chiefs to bring him a plan for withdrawal from Iraq within 16 months. McCain says that upon his inauguration, he’ll ask the Joint Chiefs for a plan for continued and ultimate success.
Reaction to the Krauthammer Op-ed…
It takes a certain amount of audacity to argue that a war that nearly seventy percent of the country disapproves of could possibly be used by a candidate to win a major national election. But Krauthammer’s delusions over the American public’s reception of “progress” on the ground is indicative of mainstream neocon frustrations over the war. Indeed, Krauthammer never even attempts to cite polls or reports that may suggest that Americans are more receptive to a pro-war message. To him, the case for our continued presence in Iraq is so blatantly clear, so obviously self-evident, that pushing the war issue must work!
He is appalled that Obama would want to withdraw within 16 months of entering the White House. The American people will never go for that, he seems to be implying. Unfortunately for Krauthammer, and despite his diligent attempts over the past few years to convince Americans that withdrawal would be devastating to American interests, over sixty percent of Americans (according to the most recent CBS News Poll) want American troops out of Iraq in less than two years.
Obama Hits McCain on Iraq Comments and Tax Cuts…
McCain responded to a question from Matt Lauer asking if he had an estimate of when American forces can come home from Iraq.
“No, but that’s not too important,” McCain replied, “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; we will be able to withdraw. General Petraeus is going to tell us in July when he thinks we are. But the key to it is that we don’t want any more Americans in harm’s way.”
Senator Obama referenced McCain’s response today before the Wisconsin town hall – countering that McCain is not thinking of the burden on soldiers and their families.
“I agree that obviously the most important thing is making sure that our young men and women aren’t killed, but the notion that if they are not being killed that we can leave them there in perpetuity, 100 years John McCain says, “Obama said, “First of all, that means he’s not thinking about the extraordinary burden that families are under on two or three or four tours of duty. But he’s also not thinking about tax payers who are spending $10-12 billion a month in Iraq. And that’s money that could go to rebuilding Wisconsin and putting people back to work right here in the United States of America.”
From The Huffington Post: Obama, McCain To Meet With Iraqi Foreign Minister…
Presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain are expected to meet individually with Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari in the coming days, sources told ABC News on the condition of anonymity because the meetings have not yet been announced.
McCain is expected to meet with Zebari on Sunday in Washington, D.C., and Obama is expected to speak with him over the phone on Monday.
Media Matters: Scarborough Repeatedly Accused Obama Campaign of Highlighting McCain’s Age…
On the June 12 edition of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, co-host Joe Scarborough claimed despite their denials that recent comments by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and Susan Rice, both surrogates of Sen. Barack Obama, reflected a strategy by the Obama campaign to highlight Sen. John McCain’s age. Kerry and Rice, a foreign policy adviser to Obama, asserted during a June 11 conference call that McCain had “confuse[d]” several facts about Iraq. Referring to Kerry’s and Rice’s comments, Scarborough — in eight different segments of the program — claimed Obama campaign representatives were drawing attention to McCain’s age, at one point saying that they “seem to be trying to paint him as an old man.” But at no point did Scarborough note that during the conference call, both Kerry and Rice reportedly said that “confuse[d]” referred not to McCain’s age but to numerous misstatements that McCain has made about Iraq.
The GOP Nation: Why a McCain Win May Be Bad for the GOP
Republicans and conservatives are rallying behind Sen. John McCain’s White House bid, but not because they are so enamored with him or his agenda. Instead, their loyalty is based on their perception that Illinois Sen. Barack Obama as president, particularly with large Democratic majorities in both chambers of Congress, would be utterly disastrous.
Regardless of whether you agree with them about the results of a Democratic presidential victory later this year, a McCain victory might produce its own series of domino-like events that ultimately might hurt the Grand Old Party.
Illinois political columnist Russ Stewart has argued that the 2008 winner, regardless of party, will face such intractable problems that he will be a one-termer, damaging his party over the next four years and turning the White House over to the opposition in 2012.
I don’t necessarily agree with Stewart that a McCain victory in November would lead to the “eradication” of the GOP, but it’s easy to see how a McCain presidency could end up being a nightmare for Republicans.
John McCain’s Shameful Lack of Support For Our Troops…
Let’s KEEP talking about it, please, because I honestly believe that people on both sides of the aisle have the best intentions in mind when it comes to supporting the men and women who go into the world’s most dangerous places to defend us. They ask so little in return.
Let’s recap:
— Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave McCain a grade of D for his record of voting against veterans. (By contrast, Obama got a B+.)
– Disabled Veterans of America noted McCain’s dismal 20 percent voting record on veterans’ issues. (Obama had an 80 percent.)
– In a list of “Key Votes,” Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) notes McCain “Voted Against Us” 15 times and “Voted For Us” only 8. (Obama voted for VVA 12 times, and against only once.)
As Think Progress notes, McCain’s “record belies his rhetoric.” The conflict of record vs. rhetoric is particularly striking as regards the Veterans’ Administration:
Not only has he refused to support the 21st Century GI Bill, which the Veterans of Foreign Wars endorsed last June, he has consistently voted against increasing funding for the Veterans’ Administration, which oversees all medical care for veterans:
– Voted AGAINST an amendment providing $20 billion to the VA’s medical facilities. [5/4/06]
– Voted AGAINST providing $430 million to the VA for outpatient care “and treatment for veterans,” one of only 13 senators to do so. [4/26/06]
– Voted AGAINST increasing VA funding by $1.5 billion by closing corporate loopholes. [3/14/06]
– Voted AGAINST increasing VA funding by $1.8 billion by ending “abusive tax loopholes.” [3/10/04]
Look, I understand that there are differences of opinion in this country, when it comes to matters of big government vs. small, fiscal responsibility, and the like. However, I don’t believe that, to most Americans, this argument extends to taking care of our veterans.
From CNN Political Ticker…
Barack Obama seized on rival John McCain’s recent comment that it’s “not too important” when troops start being withdrawn from Iraq, reminding voters Thursday that the Arizona senator has also said he would keep troops in the country for 100 years.
“I agree that obviously the most important thing is making sure that our young men and women aren’t killed,” Obama said at a town hall event in Wisconsin. “But the notion that if they are not being killed that we can leave them there in perpetuity, 100 years John McCain says,” would be insensitive to the ‘burden’ the troops families face while having their loved ones over seas Obama said.
