McCain, Adding Autobiographical Touch, Continues Criticizing Biden

By: John Bentley
Topics: John McCain

(CBS)

From CBS News' John Bentley:

(HARRISBURG, PA.) - While John McCain has been hammering Barack Obama in recent days for Joe Biden's comments about how Obama will be tested by a foreign crisis when he becomes president, McCain added a personal detail to the story today.

"We don't want a president who invites testing from the world at a time when our economy is in crisis and Americans are already fighting in two wars. Sen. Biden referred to how Jack Kennedy was tested in the Cuban missile crisis. My friends, I had a little personal experience in that," McCain said.

"I sat in the cockpit of a flight deck on the USS Enterprise off of Cuba. I had a target. My friends, do you know how close we came to nuclear war? America will not have a president who needs to be tested. I've been tested my friends."

Biden was referring to the showdown in 1962 between the United States and Soviet Union over Soviet missile bases in Cuba when he said last week, "Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy."

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by benfromnyc October 23, 2008 1:02 AM EDT: McCain isn''t a Jack Kennedy but Obama just might be? Wow! I mean WOW! I don''t remember reading about Kennedy pushing for more government control. I don''t remember Kennedy saying let''s "spread the wealth". I must have missed that chapter in history class?

Irea - you love Obama because he''s a great orator? That''s why he should be President. He used the state senate to get into the US Senate and he used that to get into the Presidential race. All the while that REALLY getting involved in anything. Voting PRESENT all the time. Oh yeah Irea, great man. Because he so smooth when he talks and he connects to people. He connects to lazy people who want hand outs. It so sad that his campaign is no more than a father promising his children he will buy them ice cream when they get home if they are good at grandma''s. So be good at grandma''s Irea, pull the lever and get your ice cream!; Reply to this comment


by joanne600 October 22, 2008 11:59 PM EDT: rickway wrote:
In "Faith of My Fathers," John McCain said that he was "excited as hell" about his potential mission during the Cuban Missile Crisis. That doesn''''t show leadership; that shows psychosis.
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The actual quote from the book is: "Pilots and crewmen alike adopted a cool headed , business-as-usual attitude toward the mission. Inwardly, of course, we were excited as hell, but we kept our composure and aped the standard image of a laconic, reserved, and fearless American at war." LOL - you think that shows psychosis? Good God, what do you want the military to do? Perhaps wet their collective pants in the face of a confrontation?; Reply to this comment


by democratdad1 October 22, 2008 4:12 PM EDT: McCain is right when he says "My friends, do you know how close we came to nuclear war?".

Thank God we had a Democrat in the White House during the Cuban Missile Crisis.; Reply to this comment


by rickway October 22, 2008 3:29 PM EDT: In "Faith of My Fathers," John McCain said that he was "excited as hell" about his potential mission during the Cuban Missile Crisis. That doesn''t show leadership; that shows psychosis.; Reply to this comment


by irea October 22, 2008 8:40 AM EDT: Sorry, Mr. McCain. You just pulled the plug on my vote for sure. If Senator Obama ... with his greater intellect and with the ease that he reaches out for involvement by experienced leaders (think Buffett and Powell), in your estimation can''t handle a problem, where would Sarah the pitbull be?; Reply to this comment


by LFforMcCain October 22, 2008 12:26 AM EDT: This story about Biden telling the truth should be the main story on CBS but is it? Of course not! Because Katie Couric & her band of radical left-wing Obama-loving liberals don''t want people to know the truth about that one! Good heaven! Wake up kool-aide drinkers! NOBAMA!!! He''s not safe for America with his radical left liberal socialist ideals. Obama isn''t afraid of terrorists! Hey, they''re his friends!; Reply to this comment


by mlr_08 October 21, 2008 8:32 PM EDT: More "VOTE FOR US OR DIE!!!" fear-mongering tactics.

With the economy the way it is, playing the fear and hate and race cards are just deplorable.

Enough already. We''re looking at the potential collapse of our country''s economic system. A strong economy will keep us strong in the world. We want to cast our votes not on fear but on hope.; Reply to this comment


by javalation October 21, 2008 8:29 PM EDT: A simple minded person might believe that being ready to fight is all that was involved in the "Cuban Missile Crisis", however it was the intelligent decision making and negotiating that averted a nuclear exchange. Senator McCain, you certainly aren''t a Jack Kennedy, but Obama just might be.; Reply to this comment


by cacatua08 October 21, 2008 8:21 PM EDT: McCain may have been there with his finger on the trigger but he was not the one making the decision to fire! He was not "The Decider"!

What Joe Biden was saying is that it is hard for a new president to not over-react in the old hardline way to prove he is tough enough, in order to silence his critics when an international crisis comes along. It will take courage and resolve for Obama to turn the Ship of State onto a new course.

There seems to always be an international incident festering somewhere in the world, like the recent confrontation between Russia and Georgia.; Reply to this comment


by wolfi101 October 21, 2008 8:05 PM EDT: Next, we''ll be hearing how McCain single-handedly freed us from British rule during the Revolutionary War.; Reply to this comment