McCain: "I Know What's Right For America"

GOP Presidential Hopeful Says He Is Happy With His Campaign's Performance

(CBS)  Many of Republican Senator John McCain's positions have not been popular recently, but the presidential hopeful believes he has been making the right calls and doing what's best for the country, he said on Face The Nation.

"I know what's right, and I'm going to do what's right, and at the end of the day, I'm going to sleep well at night, because I know what's right for America," he told Bob Schieffer.

His two most controversial stances are on Iraq and immigration. McCain believes that the United States needs to stay in Iraq to help secure the nation and that the surge in troops needs more time to be tested.

"We have got our opponents wanting to go back to a strategy that failed for four years, and abandon a strategy we have really only been pursuing for about four months, which is succeeding," McCain said. "If you set a date for withdrawal — and that's what the Democrats are going to be proposing in the middle of September — my friend, that's a date for surrender... It's going to be chaos, genocide, not only in Iraq but in the region."

Within the Republican party, McCain said he has been most damaged by his fight for an immigration reform bill. He began this campaign season as the de facto frontrunner, but is now running fourth in some polls.

"As president, I would say, 'I will secure the borders,'" he said. "But I still think we need a comprehensive approach to this immigration issue, including a temporary worker program. So, I think that was — that was harmful to me."

Current frontrunner former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani says he believes illegal immigration can be completely stopped. McCain says it can be brought under control by using things like a tamper-proof biometric identification documents. If an employer hires someone without one, McCain said, the employer would be prosecuted.

"Then you dry up the magnet from south of the border, because if they know even if they get across our border that they can't get a job here, then I think that has a very big effect," McCain said. "But I believe we have to have a temporary worker program, and I mean temporary. If you're an agriculture worker, come for 10 months, go back for two months."

Even though former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Giuliani are proving to be formidable foes, McCain said his campaign is in good shape.

"My theme of my campaign and the basis of it – the reason why I'm running – is because I'm the most qualified to take on the transcendent issue of the 21st century: radical Islamic extremism," he said. "I am fully prepared. My life has fully prepared me for that, and I'm prepared to lead. And I know that that sounds egotistical. But the fact is that I'll match my vision and my qualifications to lead in this transcendent evil that we are going to have to surmount over anybody else who's running on either side of the aisle."

[toldyouso21]

do believe McCain know what''''s best for the military and probably what''''s best for the war in Iraq.
Posted by standlee5 at 06:45 PM : Aug 20, 2007

Where and when did McCain get the experience to know what is best in the military and for the war?

That is not likely something a grunt learns while being told what to do during a battle, since those who fight are usually not the same as those who plan.

That knowledge is certainly not the kind of thing one learns while sitting in a bamboo cage or hole in the Jungle, though he COULD probably tell us all a thing or two about suffering, misery, hunger and how to understand the body language of a captor.

But the fact is, very FEW soldiers are qualified to lead, direct, manage or even fight a war. Soldier jobs are usually very focused and directed. A gunner could tell you how he was told to do his job and how he does it, but that does not EVER mean he can tell anyone how to plan a war, where to send troops, how to outsmart an enemy, etc.

Also, try to have a bit of respect for the human condition. No matter what experience McCain got back from the Vietnam war, the soldiers now are not fighting in a jungle, the collaborators are not Vietnamese and the fighters are not Vietnamese. Contrary to many Americans'' assumption, all people all over the world do not think, look, or act alike or have the same agenda or mindset. So his experiences, such as they are--are fodder for memory lane and empathy--but little more than that.

[kansas1946]

Go home, John. You had your chance to do what is right for America. You could have kept GWB out of the Whitehouse in 2000. You just needed to run as an independent. You may not have won, but you would have built a life-long fan base amoung those of us who are sick of both parties, and you would have assured a Bush loss.
Just think of how much better off America would be right now with Bush a footnote in history, instead of an American plague.

[red164]

If he really cared about this country, he would''ve taken the offer to become John Kerry''s VP and there no way in the world that those two could have screwed up America and the world as Bush and Cheney have. Here the man had the opportunity to be part of something unique in politics but he chose is own selfish ambitions. Now he''s too old and suppressed to make a difference in the world.

McCain: "I Know What''s Right For America

He didn''t know what was right then either.

[red164]

I do believe McCain know what''''s best for the military and probably what''''s best for the war in Iraq. It''''s the immigration thing that''''s troubling.
Posted by standlee5 at 06:45 PM : Aug 20, 2007If


If he really cared about this country, he would''ve taken the offer to become John Kerry''s VP and there no way in the world that those two could have screwed any worse than Bush and Cheney. Here the man had the opportunity to be part of something unique in politics but he chose is own selfish ambitions. Now he''s too old and suppressed to make a difference in the world.

[standlee5]

I do believe McCain know what''s best for the military and probably what''s best for the war in Iraq. It''s the immigration thing that''s troubling.

[infidel_us]

Your support for the amnesty bill proves that you are WRONG! Retire....while you still have some dignity.

[sabestu]

McCain is past news... not only does he looks tired and old, he is. His time has gone by and it is time that that he retire... This does not mean that the Romney and company from the GOP are any better off than McCain as it is said, "none of the above." Vote

[bricko]

I see Schieffer and the media are still trying to push the canard that McCain is low in the pole due to his support of the War.

Not gonna do that...nope.

He will never be President due to his stance on IMMIGRATION...period.

In fact, he may not even be a Senator again for this reason...if he runs.

War support does not bother his supporters. Heck folks, your love - Hillary supported it and HAS NOT apologized like the other cut-run-redeploy to Okinawa Dems.

And she will be the Dem candidate...

[adventurepa]

McCain doesn''t have a clue what''s best for America.
What an idiot.
Hey Johnny, why don''t you try meeting with regular folks to find out what''s right in their opinion?
Not the republican goons you surround yourself with.
Walk down the street in any neighborhood where the cost of housing is less than 500,000 bucks.
You might actually rethink your position, and find out what''s right for america.

[enoughsaid19]

If this guy things he''s right for America, we are all in trouble; again. For eight years we have tollerated this Bush fella, and really nothing has happened too much, except he has brought us into a war that we can''t get out of, our economy is worth ***( Milk is the same price per gallon as gas). And so many more things that can''t be listed. McCain is no better than Bush. They came out of the same egg, and still really believe in the same thing; "everything will be alright in time". I hope it happens in my lifetime.

[brianbwb-2009]

"I''m the most qualified to take on the transcendent issue of the 21st century: radical Islamic extremism,"

Wrong, the "transcendent issue of the 21st century" is US government corruption, it is the catalyst for all the extremism existing today.

Because Mr. McCain chooses not to see and recognize this, he is only more of the problem...

[clestes-2009]

Continuing the war in Iraq is right for America??? I don''t think so and neither do most Americans either.

[lochlan-2009]

If McCaine knows what is best for this country than why is he running as a Republican. The whole party is the main source of the problem, not that the Democratric representatives fair much better in the free for all corruption in D.C., but they don''t seem to look at the American people and family as cattle.

[brianbwb-2009]

Hey CBS, why does our apostrophe ('') become quote (")? or is this just my computer?

It tends to diminish the clarity of our posts...

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by toldyouso21,

Not only has USAisdway not answered, but more importantly the big boys responsible for getting us into this mess have not answered it.

In fact this question wasn''t answered before we got into it. Bush''s reasons were, and I quote "to disarm Iraq" (they had no WMDs) "to free its'' people" (by kidnapping, torturing, murdering, and otherwise occupying the country and stifling dissent) and finally, "to protect the world from grave danger (from an Iraq that Bush Sr. had bombed back to the middle ages)

There was no other reasoning given, contrary to what the "religious war" proponents now advocate.

That is why our effort cannot succeed, there was no actual goal that would stand legal scrutiny.

[abbe91]

"We have got our opponents wanting to go back to a strategy that failed for four years, and abandon a strategy we have really only been pursuing for about four months, which is succeeding,"

... a strategy which failed for four years ? Strange, who chose that strategy ? I wonder ...
Go for a walk downtown Bagdad without having the army cleaning the place a few miles away just before, if you want to prove your point.

[toldyouso21]

. The surge unfortunately for them is working. Posted by USAisdway189

No, I''''m much worse dude. When you say it is working, what do you mean? Do you mean that the Iraqis are finally accepting an American puppet government, and given up their power struggle? Do you mean that they have stopped killing each other, or killing American soldiers?

Just what do you mean by working, that they won''''t just wait until the right time and then throw out the sham government we installed? Or do you mean that they have agreed to let us kill their brethren and steal their oil without resistance? Just what do you mean by "working"?
Posted by brianbwb at 07:34 AM : Aug 20, 2007
********************************

this bears repeating, and USAisdway still has never answered it. Just WHAT IS MEANT BY IT IS WORKING? The surge is working just like a finger in a ****. It does not stop the water, it diverts it and builds up pressure elsewhere--and if the true hole is never fixed--as soon as that finger is gone, or maybe even despite that finger, the pressure and power of that water means the flood is coming, inexorably, the finger just buys time, but it is time wasted if the problems are not fixed. Google the GAO in Iraq, lost money and arms, poor utilities, loss of food, gas and power and still mayhem in Iraq. Bagdhad is just a part of Iraq just like a hole in a **** does not mean other places can''t spring a leak and still do the same damage.

[brianbwb-2009]

"But since Dems want to being troops home, they don''''t have to deal with the "never served" argument. Is it clear to you now?
Posted by Rafterman1"


chrrrp...chrrrp,........chrrrp, (crickets getting tired)

I think he (or she) blew a gasket trying to figure how to answer my questions.

[toldyouso21]

Posted by briannorwood at 08:20 AM : Aug 20, 2007

McCain was always a pandering schmuck. When he was deemed a maverick and a refreshing voice of change and truth, he was pandering to the American need for that, even then, it was not who he was --he just had handlers who helped him give us what they figured we wanted. And judging by your almost vote--some of us were fooled. When Bush won, McCain and his handlers rethought what we wanted and tried to give us a Bush clone, they kept the parts that challenged just enough, but blended them with parts that pandered to the base. so what did we get? A man who ostensibly opposed torture, but then caved in to endorsing torture. A man who claimed to care about POW rights, then parroted and endorsed the view that Gitmo detainees were not POWs, even the immigration stance is based on the realization of the need for cheap, underrepresented labor pool and the demographics of a lot of former illegals in his home state.

He always pandered, and I doubt he was ever really honest. No man who spends time in a POW camp, comes home to a faithful wife with health problems and decides to dump her for a moneyed and supposedly prettier wife is honest. Like Rudy and Gingrich his true colors showed in how he treated his family. Even then, he did what was best for him, scrrrr.ew everything and everyone else. Just say it right and the suckers will overlook what a person actually does, right?

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by starleo146

nah, I couldn''t be president, I inhaled, and I liked it, and I don''t believe that the current war will make anything better, so the war profiteers would have me killed.

And I am a Black man from Detroit...