McCain Mocks "Audacity Of Hopelessness"

Republican Says Obama's Policies Could Have Engulfed Entire Middle East In War

(CBS/ AP)  Republican presidential candidate John McCain, ridiculing Barack Obama for "the audacity of hopelessness" in his policies on Iraq, said Friday that the entire Middle East could have plunged into war had U.S. troops been withdrawn as his rival advocated.

Speaking to an audience of Hispanic military veterans, McCain stepped up his criticism of Obama while the Illinois senator continued his headline-grabbing tour of the Middle East and Europe. The Arizona Republican contended that Obama's policies - he opposed sending more troops to Iraq in the "surge" that McCain supported would have led to defeat there and in Afghanistan.

"We rejected the audacity of hopelessness, and we were right," McCain said, a play on the title of Obama's book "The Audacity of Hope."

McCain laid out a near-apocalyptic chain of events he said could have resulted had Obama managed to stop the troop buildup ordered by President Bush: U.S. forces retreating under fire, the Iraqi army collapsing, civilian casualties increasing dramatically, al Qaeda killing cooperative Sunni sheiks and finding safe havens to train fighters and launch attacks on Americans, and civil war, genocide and a wider conflict.

"Above all, America would have been humiliated and weakened," he said. "Terrorists would have seen our defeat as evidence America lacked the resolve to defeat them. As Iraq descended into chaos, other countries in the Middle East would have come to the aid of their favored factions, and the entire region might have erupted in war."

Noting that the buildup was unpopular with most Americans, McCain said: "Sen. Obama told the American people what he thought you wanted to hear. I told you the truth."

“Sen. Obama said this week that even knowing what he knows today that he still would have opposed the surge. In retrospect, given the opportunity to choose between failure and success, he chooses failure. I cannot conceive of a Commander in Chief making that choice.”

The Obama campaign said McCain’s “false accusations” would not add to the debate over the Iraq war.

“Barack Obama and John McCain may differ over our strategy in Iraq, but they are united in their support for our brave troops and their desire to protect this nation,” said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. “Sen. McCain's constant suggestion otherwise is not worthy of the campaign he claimed he would run or the magnitude of the challenges this nation faces.”

Obama has called for a withdrawal over 16 months. McCain again criticized him for advocating "a politically expedient timetable" and for voting against funding for troops. McCain had raised eyebrows earlier this week by charging that Obama "would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign."

With once exception, Obama has voted for every spending bill for troops at war. In 2007, Bush vetoed a bill that provided funding on condition of troop withdrawals, and Obama joined 13 other senators who opposed the measure that took its place.

McCain's speech in Denver came at the conclusion of a week in which he struggled against Obama's overseas tour de force. Yet amid the awkward moments, McCain managed to campaign busily in key battleground states and to raise millions of dollars at fundraisers.

Polls in many swing states are close, and some are tightening. The Arizona Republican sought to turn this to his advantage in what was clearly a difficult week to be a stay-at-home candidate.

McCain repeatedly emphasized his long military and congressional background, scolded Obama from afar on foreign policy, and kept playfully fueling speculation that he was close to picking a running mate. His address to the group of Hispanic veterans also gave him a chance to court the valued Hispanic vote.

Veterans care has been an issue that has come up numerous times at recent town halls McCain has held, reports CBS News' John Bentley, and the Arizona senator reaffirmed his commitment to getting soldiers appropriate treatment.

McCain was to visit the Dalai Lama in Aspen, Colo., his first meeting with the Tibetan spiritual leader and a chance to express criticism of Chinese treatment of those who live in Tibet just weeks before the Olympics in Beijing.

McCain also was to spend the weekend in Arizona and make a round of television news shows on Sunday.

Everywhere he went in recent days - in New Hampshire, Maine, Pennsylvania, Ohio and here in Colorado - the Arizona senator drew warm and appreciative crowds. No matter that many, if not most, of those in the audiences were senior citizens. Seniors vote in big numbers.

For the most part, the side-by-side images weren't pretty:

Obama meeting with leaders in Iraq, McCain on a golf cart in Kennebunkport, Maine, with the first President Bush.

Obama before a sweeping Mideast landscape, McCain holding a news conference in a supermarket in Bethlehem - Pennsylvania, that is - and narrowly escaping an attack from a tumbling stack of apple sauce jars.

Obama delivering his trip's keynote speech at Berlin's Victory Column, McCain eating bratwurst and chatting with reporters at a German restaurant in Columbus, Ohio.

McCain responds philosophically when asked about being overshadowed by his rival's overseas trip and outsize attention: "It is what it is."

McCain has inched ahead of Obama in Colorado, come within inches in Minnesota and narrowed the gap in Michigan and Wisconsin, according to Quinnipiac University polls of likely voters in these battleground states. The polls, taken for The Wall Street Journal and washingtonpost.com, showed voters in each state saying energy policy is more important than the war in Iraq.

[realpatriot1]

The Audacity of Hopelessness is the most apt description of the McCain Campagn imaginable and explains the recent tone of his desparate supporters
and Mcdirty himself.

[eddynewhope]

I preached in my day that NOW is the time for CHANGE. NOW is the time to BELIEVE in our cause. Yes WE can through my election! Now Barack Obama is preaching the same message 70 years later! I am proud to have the audacity to have hope without truth in voting for him!
.............Your loving and kind friend A. Hitler!

Posted by Hitler-Obama at 01:03 PM

Holy cow! These people are friggen nuts! What is wrong with you? Wow. That''s all I can say. "Obama is Hitler!" Are you serious? I wish I had a better understanding of what could possibly make people act so badly in the interest of subverting a political candidate. Is there some policy position that makes you so angry that you''ll stoop to calling a candidate "Hitler"? LOL You guys are funny.

[eddynewhope]

"Then HOWARD STERN SAYS DEMOCRATS ARE COMMUNIST. I think its Time to Re-Think...%u201D

Posted by obama8years at 04:58 PM

Yeah, if Howard Stern is your guiding light, then you have bigger problems that presidential politics. No offense to Mr. Stern - I think he can be funny, but he also advocates midgets mud wrestling prostitutes. Should we rethink our position on that too?

[firststate]

Bush and his McClone are a lot alike. W got into Yale and John got into the naval academy as legacies. Both graduated as most legacies do, nowhere near the top of their respective classes. The Iraq war is a blunder that is typical of these favored sons. Bush wanted it and his clone helped him get it. Like W''s businesses, once he got the war he drove it into a ditch. McBush did come up with a way to get out of the ditch he had helped steer into. It would have been smart to avoid the ditch, his surge idea demonstrated only guile in trying to get out of the ditch while calling it a dip.

We''ve had years of the class clown who made noises with body parts on demand. We don''t need four more years. Let''s try having a president smarter than most people for a change. If the war in Iraq had been avoided as obama recommended, there would have been no need for a surge. Who''s brighter, the guy who can avoid an unnecessary problem or the guy who tries to get out of the problem after he helped cause it?

[obama8years]

When HOWARD STERN SAYS DEMOCRATS ARE COMMUNIST. I think its Time to Re-Think wether we want Obama the Marxist in as our EU president.

%u201CI go, %u2018That%u2019s it!%u2019%u201D Stern said. %u201C[I] go, %u2018You know what Don, I%u2019ve voted Republican and I%u2019ve voted Democrat. I have vowed I will never vote for a Democrat again. I don%u2019t give a [expletive] %u2013 no matter who they are. I don%u2019t care if God becomes a Democrat.%u2019 I said, %u2018I backed Hillary Clinton, I backed Al Gore, I backed John Kerry. I am done with them.%u2019%u201D



Stern took it a step even further and called Democrats on the FCC %u201Ccommunists%u201D and referred to their tactics as %u201Cgangsterism.%u201D



%u201CThe fact that these Democrats on the FCC are communists,%u201D Stern said. %u201CThey%u2019re for communism. They don%u2019t want to see companies %u2013 this is gangsterism. I said, %u2018This is crazy.%u2019%u201D

[chika6]

I thought Americans are proud, intelligent and elegant people, how come McCain is being considered a Presidential material? I have watched him and he doesnt look and sound intelligent and this idea of being too critical of your opponent is a game of the lowly minded.

[jon2012-2009]

McCain has shown that he is devoid of honesty, integrity and truthfullness in this attack ad , shows that McCain is a whining,despicable, lying, dishonest, vicious, angry Old Man!
Posted by jld1959 at 11:42 AM : Jul 27, 2008

Might be the company he keeps. Those trailing adjectives in your post describe Bush and Cheney just as accurately.

[jon2012-2009]

Some are just rabid racist *** and should not be given the light of day. I believe Obamanation''''s fall into that category (all of them) and that s/he shouldn''''t be allowed to comment, since it fails to meet CBS criteria under your terms.
Posted by nobush3rd at 01:34 AM : Jul 27, 2008

I''ve seen some of those extremely nasty personal attacks. If there were some basis, you''d shrug them off and perhaps accept it as perhaps well-deserved. But it''s total fabrication.

These are not people you''d like to have anything to do with that requires any level of understanding. If Obama is elected, good luck to him because the portrait I have painted describes many typical Republicans. Of course, we''ve seen that with Bill Clinton. How bad do you think it would get with Obama?

[pakaal]

"Republican Says Obama''s Policies Could Have Engulfed Entire Middle East In War"

Right, as opposed to John "I vote with Bush 98% of the time" McCain, who has not only ALREADY engulfed a number of Middle East countries in war by voting with Bush these past two terms, has risked bringing other countries in by continuing to vote for Bush policies that have made the situation worse and worse.

McCain really should talk a little less about foreign policy, the fact that he doesn''t know where Iraq and Afghanistan are on a map and that he''s still talking about Czechoslovakia indicates he needs more than a few geography lessons. Maybe he can just Google them and.... Oh wait, that''s right, he''s still learning about Teh Internetz Tubez. Good luck with that.

[hitler-obama]

I preached in my day that NOW is the time for CHANGE. NOW is the time to BELIEVE in our cause. Yes WE can through my election! Now Barack Obama is preaching the same message 70 years later! I am proud to have the audacity to have hope without truth in voting for him!
.............Your loving and kind friend A. Hitler!