Aug. 15, 2008
McCain Giving Utmost Attention To Georgia
Washington Post: Republican Candidate Has Been Dwelling On Crisis As A President Might
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Play CBS Video Video McCain Plays Hardball Respect takes a back seat to ridicule as Presidential candidate John McCain aims contrasting and negative campaign ads at Barak Obama. Dean Reynolds reports.
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Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks to reporters during a news conference Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008, in Birmingham, Mich. (AP)
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Who's Who Russia And Georgia At Odds Some of the faces and places involved in the tense dispute.
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Interactive Russia Rolls Into Georgia Troops thrust deep into country after Georgia's attempt to reclaim South Ossetia.
Standing behind a lectern in Michigan this week, with two trusted senators ready to do his bidding, John McCain seemed to forget for a moment that he was only running for president.
Asked about his tough rhetoric on the ongoing conflict in Georgia, McCain began: "If I may be so bold, there was another president . . ."
He caught himself and started again: "At one time, there was a president named Ronald Reagan who spoke very strongly about America's advocacy for democracy and freedom."
With his Democratic opponent on vacation in Hawaii, the senator from Arizona has been doing all he can in recent days to look like President McCain, particularly when it comes to the ongoing international crisis in Georgia.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili says he talks to McCain, a personal friend, several times a day. McCain's top foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, was until recently a paid lobbyist for Georgia's government. McCain also announced this week that two of his closest allies, Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), would travel to Georgia's capital of Tbilisi on his behalf, after a similar journey by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The extent of McCain's involvement in the military conflict in Georgia appears remarkable among presidential candidates, who traditionally have kept some distance from unfolding crises out of deference to whoever is occupying the White House. The episode also follows months of sustained GOP criticism of Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, who was accused of acting too presidential for, among other things, briefly adopting a campaign seal and taking a trip abroad that included a huge rally in Berlin.
"We talk about how there's only one president at a time, so the idea that you would send your own emissaries and really interfere with the process is remarkable," said Lawrence Korb, a Reagan Defense Department official who now acts as an informal adviser to the Obama campaign. "It's very risky and can send mixed messages to foreign governments. . . . They accused Obama of being presumptuous, but he didn't do anything close to this."
But McCain and his aides say his tough rhetoric on the Georgia crisis, along with his personal familiarity with the region, underscores the foreign policy expertise he would bring to the White House.
His focus on the dispute has also allowed McCain to distance himself somewhat from President Bush, who has been sharply criticized by many conservatives for moving too slowly to respond to Russia's military incursion into Georgia and South Ossetia, the breakaway province at the heart of the dispute. McCain's first statement on the conflict last Friday came before the White House itself had responded.
In often-lengthy remarks about Georgia this week on the campaign trail, McCain repeatedly talked of how many times he had been to the region, let it be known that he had talked daily with Saakashvili since the crisis began and made it clear that there had been times he thought Bush's response could have been stronger.
He provided a primer for why Americans should care about the "tiny little democracy" and tried to tie the foreign crisis with a domestic one: oil. Georgia is "part of a strategic energy corridor affecting individual lives far beyond" the region, he said.
"His statements have been very presidential," said John R. Bolton, a former U.N. ambassador under Bush who has since become one of the sharpest critics of the administration's recent foreign policy. "These are the kinds of things that the president should have been saying from the beginning."
At the same time, McCain also appears sensitive to going too far. In remarks both Wednesday and yesterday, for example, McCain explicitly ruled out direct military action against Russia, a step advocated by some hard-line conservatives.
"We want to avoid any armed conflict, and we will not have armed conflict," McCain said at a fundraiser yesterday in Edwards, Colo. "That's not the solution to this problem. But we have to stand up for freedom and democracy as we did in the darkest days."
McCain's ties to Saakashvili go back to the 1990s, when the future leader of the "Rose Revolution" was a student at George Washington University. In an interview this week on CNN, Saakashvili said he was "talking to Senator McCain several times a day."
"You know, I think he spends less time on his presidential campaign these days and lots of time on Georgia," Saakashvili said. "And I really appreciate that, because Senator McCain has been fighting for freedom of Georgia for many, many years."
He added a moment later: "And the same for Senator Obama."
The Obama campaign has been generally cautious in its remarks about the Georgia conflict, and the campaign yesterday declined to comment on the appropriateness of McCain's role. But earlier this week, Obama adviser Susan Rice said McCain "may have complicated the situation" with his early tough rhetoric on the dispute.
"John McCain shot from the hip," Rice said on MSNBC, calling his initial statement "very aggressive, very belligerent."
Lieberman, one of McCain's most ardent and vocal supporters, responded by criticizing Obama's more cautious first statement on the Georgia situation an example of "moral neutrality" that showed his "inexperience."
By Wednesday, however, both McCain and Obama had come together to praise the Bush administration's announcement of humanitarian aid and the secretary of state's diplomatic journey. McCain also told reporters that "this isn't the time for partisanship, sniping between campaigns," and declined to comment on Rice's or Lieberman's remarks.
Barnes reported from the campaign trail in Michigan and Colorado.
By Dan Eggen and Robert Barnes
© 2008 The Washington Post Company


Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."





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See all 208 CommentsSee http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/08/17/politics/fromtheroad/entry4356637.shtml
McCain''s appointed representatives to Georgia stayed in the US to campaign with him. Heck of a job Joe and Lindsay.
You mean to tell me that B. Hussein Obama, the cretin who thought there were 57 American states, knows where in tarnation the nation of Georgia can be found? No, Obama thinks Georgia is where the Falcons play, right?
Funny stuff...
HUSSEIN SAYS MUSLIM CALL TO PRAYER IS ONE OF THE PRETTIEST SOUNDS ON EARTH AT SUNSET
%u201CI was a little Jakarta street kid,%u201D Obama said in a wide-ranging interview in his office (excerpts are on Nicholas D. Kristofs''''''''s blog, http://www.nytimes.com/ontheground). He once got in trouble for making faces during Koran study classes in his elementary school, but a president is less likely to stereotype Muslims as fanatics %u2014 and more likely to be aware of their nationalism %u2014 if he once studied the Koran with them.
Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it%u2019ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as %u201Cone of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.%u201D
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/opinion/06kristof.html?_r=2&scp=5&sq=nicholas+kristof%20obama&st=nyt&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
keep you hands off south osetia and abkhazia
American citizen telling the truth about Georgian invade in South Osetia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCwTo9AdT2c&feature=related
The first day war of Georgia against Ossetia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2DncU5FdCU&feature=related
Georgian attack on capital of Ossetia is beaten off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ4NSNtV8Jk&feature=related
Georgian terrorist armies kill inhabitants of South Ossetia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnob0TQDeN8&feature=related
Mc Bush had a nerve to say something about Obama and his European trip and acting like he is president go ahead Mc Bush dig your own grave
There you go folks out of Mc Bush''s mouth another bully that is all we need, do the republicans no anything about diplomacy then after all is tried you talk tough
Posted by tothestars2 at 01:00 PM : Aug 16, 2008
Must be they''re waiting to hear from you.
Didn''t get to bed last night
Oh, the way the paper bag was on my knee
Man, I had a dreadful flight
I''m back in the USSR
You don''t know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the USSR, yeah
Been away so long I early knew the place
Gee, it''s goo to be back home
Leave it till tomorrow to unpack my case
Honey disconnect the phone
I''m back in the USSR
You don''t know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the US
Back in the US
Back in the USSR
Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the west behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia''s always on my my my
my my my my my my mind
Oh, come on
Hu Hey Hu, hey, ah, yeah
yeah, yeah, yeah
I''m back in the USSR
You don''t know how lucky you are, boys
Back in the USSR
Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the west behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia''s always on my my my
my my my my my my mind
Oh, show me round your snow peaked
mountain way down south
Take me to your daddy''s farm
Let me hear your balalaika''s ringing out
Come and keep your comrade warm
I''m back in the USSR
Hey, You don''t know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the USSR
Oh, let me tell you honey
who do you really want answering the phone???
Hillary Clinton 3 am Ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-VFA7L2RcE&feature=related
DEMONIC-RATS LEAD THE CHORUS OF USEFUL IDIOTS,,,
Skit featuring albright, Kim J Ill, and Osama bin laden
The David Zucker Madeleine Albright ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hzH6X8g34Y
HUSSEIN CANNOT EVEN HANDLE HILLARY,,, lol
hahaha
Barack Obama blinks in Hillary face-off
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/08/14/2008-08-14_barack_obama_blinks_in_hillary_faceoff.html
Russi
a rolls over Georgia, Hillary Clinton does the same to Barack Obama. Now we know who''s boss.
Obama blinked and stands guilty of appeasing Clinton by agreeing to a roll call vote for her nomination.
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." Albert Einstein
did not tim kaine tell the world that HUSSEIN has ended the war between georgia and russia,,,
Video - Tim Kaine: Obama Ended The War Between Georgia and Russia
http://beltwayblips.com/video/tim_kaine_obama_ended_the_war_between_georgia_and/
Tim Kaine: Barack Obama Solved The Crisis In Georgia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w43m6vQrEYw
He ventured forth to bring light to the world
The anointed one''s pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article4392846.ece
The One
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mopkn0lPzM8
Tensions between Georgia and Russia were strained over the Pankisi Gorge, a lawless region of Georgia that Russia said had become a haven for Islamic militants and Chechen rebels.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107564.html
GET SOME RUSKIES,,, GET SOME,,,
NEVER FORGET THE RAPES OF BESLAN GIRLS!
Terror at Beslan
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1316935651894423094
RAPES IN BESLAN: IN MUHAMMAD%u2019S FOOTSTEPS
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/News/Trifkovic04/NewsST091304.html
Forget Not the Children of Beslan
http://kenlydell.typepad.com/isl
amic_evil/forget_not_the_children_of_beslan/index.html
Religion of Peace??? More like a cult of death.
http://www.terrorists-suck.org/why_suck/beslan.html
Radical Islamists must be stopped:
comments on the Beslan child slaughter.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/list.htm
Rapes in Beslan: in Muhammed''''s Footsteps
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1214617/posts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCwTo9AdT2c&feature=related
The first day war of Georgia against Ossetia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2DncU5FdCU&feature=related
Georgian attack on capital of Ossetia is beaten off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ4NSNtV8Jk&feature=related
Georgian terrorist armies kill inhabitants of South Ossetia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnob0TQDeN8&feature=related
At least Obama has the cahones to get in front of more than a hundred people at a time.
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