WASHINGTON, March 14, 2008
McCain: A Life Entwined In Foreign Affairs
Presumptive GOP Nominee's Views Stem From First-Hand Experiences
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Arizona Senator John McCain, left, spoke to "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley in Baghdad, Iraq, during a 2007 visit. (CBS)
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Photo Essay John McCain Some call him a hero, some a maverick. Will Americans call him Mr. President?
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Timeline McCain's Quest Mileposts in the Arizona senator's race for the GOP nomination and the presidency.
McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, became famous as a Vietnam prisoner of war and has spent his long Senate career traveling to more foreign countries than most people could even name.
He makes his eighth trip to Iraq this weekend, a visit sure to get a lot of attention. But his weeklong overseas trip also includes Israel, Britain and France - all countries where he's made many visits.
A defiant supporter of the 2003 invasion and President Bush's troop increase last year, McCain is likely to focus in Iraq on the drop in sectarian violence and U.S. and civilian casualties since last summer.
His own situation has changed strikingly, too, since then. Now he's the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting.
Last April, as McCain's chances for winning the nomination seemed uncertain, the four-term Arizona senator toured a Baghdad marketplace, hailing the progress even though he was protected by three Black Hawk helicopters, two Apache gunships and 100 U.S. troops.
He was widely ridiculed as being out of touch.
As he returns, a new Pentagon study shows sectarian violence down 90 percent and U.S. and civilian casualties down 70 percent since last July.
Last December, nearly two-thirds of Americans said they opposed the war, including nearly a third of Republicans and nearly all Democrats, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll. Opinions on the war have remained basically steady.
However, a poll released Friday by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal said about 35 percent of those questioned think McCain has the right approach for Iraq, compared with 30 percent for Hillary Rodham Clinton and 27 percent for Barack Obama.
McCain calls the fight against Islamic extremism the "transcendent challenge of the 21st century."
"I've made it abundantly clear that I would much rather lose a campaign than a war," he said this week in New Hampshire.
The one may be tied to the other.
Says Michael O'Hanlon, a foreign policy analyst at the Brookings Institution: "I have a hard time seeing how he wins if Iraq falls apart between now and November, and I have a hard time seeing how the Democrats use Iraq against him over that time if things continue to improve."
As Democrats Clinton and Obama fight over which of them has the credentials to be the next commander in chief, McCain offers a much lengthier foreign policy and military resume.
Now 71, he was born in the Canal Zone, where his father, a naval officer, was stationed. A graduate of the Naval Academy, McCain flew in Vietnam and was a prisoner of war for more than five years. In the Senate, he is the senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee.
He has visited every region of the world, including Antarctica and the Arctic Circle, and frequently meets with leaders of the countries to which he's traveled, both when he visits their countries and when they visit the United States.
McCain has been across the world so many times that aides named off the tops of their heads some 69 countries he's visited - including Azerbaijan, Estonia, Laos and Palau - and warned the list was far from exhaustive.
Aides say he keeps up to speed on the politics and policies of many nations - a passion he regularly displays to reporters traveling with him - and understands the long-term ramifications of having well-established personal relationships with foreign leaders.
He makes it a point to meet with up-and-comers, too. Aides say he met Angela Merkel at a Munich conference several years ago before she became German chancellor. In summer 2004, McCain met at a restaurant with Viktor Yushchenko before the Orange Revolution when he was elected Ukrainian president.
Next week, McCain is expected to meet with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the first time, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy for the third time. He met and corresponded with Sarkozy both before and after he was elected. The two last saw each other last summer.
McCain has relationships with every leader in Israel he plans to see, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and hawkish opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
The senator last met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki last Thanksgiving, and he's also gotten to know other members of the Iraqi government.
He returns with two of his chief presidential supporters, Sens. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, but he insists it is a fact-finding venture, not a campaign photo opportunity.
"There's nothing like being on the ground," he said. Mentioning a mountainous area in northwestern Pakistan, he added, "I went to Waziristan once and it gave me a much better understanding of how difficult it is to get Osama bin Laden."
O'Hanlon, the Brookings analyst who says he's a Democrat, says McCain has shown a more realistic vision than Bush about the number of troops needed to succeed in Iraq, as well as the problems that were likely to be encountered after the invasion.
"What that tells me in terms of future policy is McCain may be willing to stay the course, so to speak, in terms of future difficulties, but also assess if the strategy is really working or not," O'Hanlon said.
Jon Alterman, a former Bush administration aide who now runs the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, notes that Bush's father spoke of "the vision thing."
"This president has always been strong on the vision thing, even when the implementation is lacking. I don't think John McCain is enamored with the vision thing. He talks about the task and focuses on the task. It's just a different orientation," Alterman said.
"The straight talk express is not often associated with diplomacy," he said. "But the advantage of it is you know what you're getting. And it may be that he's able to form quite valuable relationships precisely because of his bluntness."
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See all 63 CommentsObama = no pandering to special interests
McCain = politics of influence and fear
Obama = politics of dialogue and change
McCain = popular votes received in primaries in OH [636,256], TX [709,477] & WI [224,226]
Obama = popular votes received in primaries in OH [979,025], TX [1,358,785] & WI [646,007]
McCain = other than Bush%u2019s plans, no plan for the economy
Obama = stimulate economy via targeted domestic investment and middle-class tax cuts
McCain = war
Obama = no war
McCain = permanent military bases in Iraq
Obama = no permanent military bases in Iraq
McCain = tax dollars go to military and war
Obama = tax dollars go to health, education & infrastructure
McCain = continue with Bush%u2019s tax breaks for the wealthy
Obama = ensure tax cuts for the working middle class
McCain = What, NAFTA rewards slave labor? Oh well, get over it, Michigan!!
Obama = renegotiate NAFTA to include enforceable labor and environmental standards.
McCain = pathway to citizenship
Obama = pathway to citizenship
McCain = %u201CBomb, bomb, bomb . . . bomb, bomb Iran.%u201D
Obama = diplomacy, reason and sanity . . . not war, death and destruction [see above].
McCain = viewed internationally as an extension of Bush, Cheney and the disgraced neocons
Obama = a natural born diplomat
McCain = lame duck from the start
Obama = living history
McCain = last-ditch candidate of a terminally corrupted party
Obama = the future
Gulf central banks urged to sever links with tumbling US dollar...
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article3564014.ece
OIL: $111.38
A great Performance by the Repukons, Another performance by the McCane to come soon to a theatre near you, if Americans let it be... Lets *** together!
CBS News: ''Cheney Visits Iraq To Push Political Unity
Vice President''s Unannounced Visit Comes Days Before 5th Anniversary Of Invasion''
Cheney and McCane have guns pointed at Gulf banks'' governors holding them from cutting the link to US$. Wonder why?
Gulf central banks urged to sever links with tumbling US dollar...
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article3564014.ece
OIL: $111.38
A great Performance by the Repukons, Another performance by the McCane to come soon to a theatre near you, if Americans let it be... Lets *** together!
CBS News: ''Cheney Visits Iraq To Push Political Unity
Vice President''s Unannounced Visit Comes Days Before 5th Anniversary Of Invasion''
Cheney and McCane have guns pointed at Gulf banks'' governors holding them from cutting the link to US$. Wonder why?
Gulf central banks urged to sever links with tumbling US dollar...
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article3564014.ece
OIL: $111.38
A great Performance by the Repukons, Another performance by the McCane to come soon to a theatre near you, if Americans let it be... Lets *** together!
CBS News: ''Cheney Visits Iraq To Push Political Unity
Vice President''s Unannounced Visit Comes Days Before 5th Anniversary Of Invasion''
Cheney and McCane have guns pointed at Gulf banks'' governors holding them from cutting the link to US$. Wonder why?
Gulf central banks urged to sever links with tumbling US dollar...
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article3564014.ece
OIL: $111.38
A great Performance by the Repukons, Another performance by the McCane to come soon to a theatre near you, if Americans let it be... Lets *** together!
CBS News: ''Cheney Visits Iraq To Push Political Unity
Vice President''s Unannounced Visit Comes Days Before 5th Anniversary Of Invasion''
Cheney and McCane have guns pointed at Gulf banks'' governors holding them from cutting the link to US$. Wonder why?
Gulf central banks urged to sever links with tumbling US dollar...
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article3564014.ece
OIL: $111.38
A great Performance by the Repukons, Another performance by the McCane to come soon to a theatre near you, if Americans let it be... Lets *** together!
CBS News: ''Cheney Visits Iraq To Push Political Unity
Vice President''s Unannounced Visit Comes Days Before 5th Anniversary Of Invasion''
Cheney and McCane have guns pointed at Gulf banks'' governors holding them from cutting the link to US$. Wonder why?
Gulf central banks urged to sever links with tumbling US dollar...
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article3564014.ece
OIL: $111.38
A great Performance by the Repukons, Another performance by the McCane to come soon to a theatre near you, if Americans let it be... Lets *** together!
CBS News: ''Cheney Visits Iraq To Push Political Unity
Vice President''s Unannounced Visit Comes Days Before 5th Anniversary Of Invasion''
Cheney and McCane have guns pointed at Gulf banks'' governors holding them from cutting the link to US$. Wonder why?
Gulf central banks urged to sever links with tumbling US dollar...
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article3564014.ece
OIL: $111.38
A great Performance by the Repukons, Another performance by the McCane to come soon to a theatre near you, if Americans let it be... Lets *** together!
CBS News: ''Cheney Visits Iraq To Push Political Unity
Vice President''s Unannounced Visit Comes Days Before 5th Anniversary Of Invasion''
Cheney and McCane have guns pointed at Gulf banks'' governors holding them from cutting the link to US$. Wonder why?
Gulf central banks urged to sever links with tumbling US dollar...
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article3564014.ece
OIL: $111.38
A great Performance by the Repukons, Another performance by the McCane to come soon to a theatre near you, if Americans let it be... Lets *** together!
CBS News: ''Cheney Visits Iraq To Push Political Unity
Vice President''s Unannounced Visit Comes Days Before 5th Anniversary Of Invasion''
Cheney and McCane have guns pointed at Gulf banks'' governors holding them from cutting the link to US$. Wonder why?
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I don''t get how anyone can say this - have you been tracking the flip flopping of McCain so he can get Bush''s money roladex? taxes, torture, the conduct of the Iraq war, newly admiration for conservative judges and borderline lunatic preachers.
And about looking like a fool, we cannot possibly look any more foolish than we do now.
If you are going to suport/not support someone at least base it on reality.
Hillary''s apron, hmmm.... now THERE''S an image I can''t quite see... maybe if it were made of Kevlar ;-)
Obama''s just too scary, he flip-flops too much and seems REALLY naive as compared to some of the battle hardened characters who will just be looking for a crack in his rhetoric to exploit. I''m sorry, but he''d/we''d basically made to look a fool by Kim Jong-Il or Hugo Chavez or someone.
Clinton would probably be OK, she''s got sense and access to some good people who will look out for their boss where the bazillion customs and body language subtleties are concerned. Just as long as she doesn''t say things like "Putin has no soul" again :-) at least not without a good reason!
McCain''s the guy though, say what you will about Iraq, when they did things his way they did get better as compared to the death by a thousand cuts we''ve been suffering under Bush.
Obama''s just too scary, he flip-flops too much and seems REALLY naive as compared to some of the battle hardened characters who will just be looking for a crack in his rhetoric to exploit. I''m sorry, but he''d/we''d basically made to look a fool by Kim Jong-Il or Hugo Chavez or someone.
Clinton would probably be OK, she''s got sense and access to some good people who will look out for their boss where the bazillion customs and body language subtleties are concerned. Just as long as she doesn''t say things like "Putin has no soul" again :-) at least not without a good reason!
McCain''s the guy though, say what you will about Iraq, when they did things his way they did get better as compared to the death by a thousand cuts we''ve been suffering under Bush.
This old geezer just keeps on going and going and going!
With a little help from Halliburton and Via*gra!
NO MORE GOP
NO MORE GOP NO MORE GOP
Iraq Policies in a war lasting over 5 years with little progress & no end in sight ??
Isral Policies that march protressively out of control ??
No Progress in South or Central America ??
Afhaganistan Policies that are not working & criminally under funded ??
Selling out our nation against the advice of our Secretary of Air Force ????
The ECONOMY is DROPPING faster than the Twin Towers that GEORGE IGNORED ALL WARNINGS about until it was TOO LATE. HE WAS PRESIDENT LONG before it happened and HE DID IGNORE the WARNINGS - irrefutably stated in SEVERAL DOCUMENTS.
ALL BUSH AND MCSAME seem to be doing is to "work Hard" to CARRY OUT OSAMA BIN LADEN''S STATED GOAL of DESTROYING THE US ECONOMY!!
Wonder what perverted logic George uses to JUSTIFY his TREASON and what Idiocy McSame uses to AGREE with such TREASON.
DIVERTING AWAY FROM OSAMA BIN LADEN (helloooo - he''s in AFGHANISTAN) to ENRICH THE ARAB OIL COUNTRIES where OSAMA CAME FROM through ENDANGERING AND PROFITEERING ON OIL sure sounds like TREASON AGAINST the US to me!
McCain is just lining the American people up for the killing of our way of life through the FURTHER DEVASTATION of our ECONOMY also.
I call that either "brain-dead" or insidiously TREASONOUS.
The American Citizen will soon be the NEW Slave-labor PEASANT that''s ALREADY fallen into being EXPLOITED an DUMBED DOWN.
As a previous campaign slogan once stated - "IT''S the ECONOMY"!
Finally, Mr. Bush%u2019s focus on the size of the federal budget deficit ignores that annual government borrowing comes on top of existing debt. Publicly held federal debt will be up by a stunning 76 percent by the end of his presidency. Paying back the money means less to spend on everything else for a very long time.
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