McCain Seizes On Biden's "Test" Remark

Dem VP Candidate Said World Would "Test" Obama In First 6 Months, McCain Says "We Don't Want A President Who Invites Testing"

(CBS/ AP)  John McCain's criticism that Barack Obama isn't experienced enough to be president got a boost when the Democrat's own running mate, Joe Biden, told donors that he expected his boss to be tested, if elected, by a "generated crisis" shortly after taking office.

"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," McCain, a 72-year-old Vietnam War veteran, told a crowd Monday in Belton, Mo.

"What is more troubling is that Sen. Biden told their campaign donors that when that crisis hits, they would have to stand with them, because it wouldn't be apparent Sen. Obama would have the right response," added the Republican nominee, who was spending Tuesday in Pennsylvania, another battleground. "Forget apparent. Sen. Obama won't have the right response, and we know that because we've seen the wrong response from him over and over during this campaign."

At weekend fundraisers, Biden said of Obama, "Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

Biden, however, drew a far different conclusion than McCain. He compared Obama to President John Kennedy and said, "They're going to find out this guy's got steel in his spine."

On Tuesday, McCain told voters in Pennsylvania about his personal connection to the Cuban Missile Crisis that Biden was referring to.

McCain recalled being ready to launch a bombing run during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

"I was on board the USS Enterprise," McCain, a former naval aviator, said in the capital city of Harrisburg. "I sat in the cockpit, on the flight deck of the USS Enterprise, off of Cuba. I had a target. My friends, you know how close we came to a nuclear war."

As the crowd of several thousand began to swell with cheers and applause, he added with dramatic effect: "America will not have a president who needs to be tested. I've been tested, my friends."

McCain also is criticizing Obama's opposition to President Bush's decision to send tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops to Iraq, as well as his rival's more restrained response to Russia's invasion of Georgia this summer.

In an exclusive interview on CBS' The Early Show, McCain defended his attacks on Obama and addressed the perception that is may be costing him supporters.

"I think that whatever is on peoples' minds is valid, but, the thing that's intriguing about it, Senator Obama has spent more money on negative attack ads than any political presidential campaign in history," McCain told Harry Smith.

In the interview, McCain also dismissed the idea that he can't win the presidency if the top issue is the flagging economy. McCain said "it's absolutely not true" that the economy is a losing issue for Republicans. Earlier this month, the New York Daily News reported that a top McCain strategist said in an interview, "If we keep talking about the economic crisis, we're going to lose."

"We're focusing on the economy," the Arizona senator said. "Listen to me. I'm the candidate, and this campaign is about the economy."

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Read more from the interview, including McCain's response to questions about his health and criticism of Sarah Palin.

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Obama gained a forceful rebuttal to those concerns over the weekend, when former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a retired four-star general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, endorsed Obama and attested to his readiness to be president.

Powell also criticized McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, saying she failed to meet the primary qualification for a vice president: the ability to assume the presidency at any time.

The attacks on Obama are one element in a sharpened stump speech in which McCain also accused his rival of having socialistic tax policies. They come two weeks before Election Day, and as Obama maintains a lead in national polling as well as in surveys conducted in key battleground states.

It was unclear whether McCain might step back from his attacks after Obama's campaign announced that he will suspend campaigning for two days later this week to visit his gravely ill, 85-year-old grandmother in Hawaii.

Amid concern that battleground states were slipping from their grasp, McCain aides scheduled a daylong tour across Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

[crispp1]

"Obama, "Watch, we''re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

Isn''t that what we have now? The economy is an international crisis, so "Joe" the senator is correct. Also we have 2 wars going on that is also a crisis, so not sure why Mccain feels that he will not be tested.

Barrack will be tested as all presidents are. If McCain, by some slim chance, wins he will also be tested. And that is the scary part because he feels that he is above the test. So, out of touch.

[dburfears]

The old wise men of the Republican foreign policy community are either supporting Obama, not taking sides, or supporting McCain out of loyalty or friendship while publicly contradicting him on foreign policy.

* Colin Powell has endorsed Barack Obama.

* Richard Lugar, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has endorsed Obama''s approach to diplomacy over that of McCain.

* Brent Scowcroft refuses to endorse either way. Pretty telling for a former Republican national security advisor, especially since he was opposed to the war in Iraq.

* James Baker continues to support direct talks with Iran and has for the past two years. (Actually just read the entire five secretaries of state even transcript from CNN. It''s one big endorsement of Obama''s foreign policy)

* Kissinger and Schultz are op-eds in the Washington Post and Financial Times calling for a more moderate approach towards Russia.

* Kissinger has also called for direct talks with Iran (At the Secretary of State level).

* Chuck Hagel has traveled to Iraq with Obama and while not publicly endorsing looks to be pretty clearly in favor of Obama.

* Secretary of Defense Bob Gates is giving speeches that sound a lot more like an Obama foreign policy than a McCain foreign policy.

The dirty little secret is that all of these pragmatic conservatives have little in common with McCain and Neoconservatism.

[LFforMcCain]

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!

[bm6005]

dhutch88

Are you for real? I can''t believe your projected stupidity. Using military officers as examples of clear headed thinking? I''ve been out for 41 yrs this month and I still think the main characteristic required to be an officer is gross stupidity!!

[bm6005]

standlee5

Repeat after me. "President Obama"! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,..................

[letreasonwin]

Talk about unfortunate connection:

http://www.huffingtonpost
.com/2008/10/14/mccain-transition-chief-
a_n_134595.html

[jjlcp]

WHAT IS BIDEN NOT TELLING US?

[gully881]

I don''t know why both Palin and McCain think Obama will be tested if he''s become president. They are trying to make the people think that Obama will not be able to handle the international crisis "test" if he does become president. Well in my opion Palin and McCain shouldn''t even step foot on the lawn of the white house. For a person who could not answer simple questions during the vice presidential election she really has a nerve to be getting at Obama the way she has. There have been many statements made by Palin before she was nominated for the VP role that she later flip-flopped on. There is plenty of video footage out there to show this. Go to http://dailysource.org/palinvideos and you can see some of them. They have a lot of video footage of interviews and speeches.

[gully881]

I don''t know why both Palin and McCain think Obama will be tested if he''s become president. They are trying to make the people think that Obama will not be able to handle the international crisis "test" if he does become president. Well in my opion Palin and McCain shouldn''t even step foot on the lawn of the white house. For a person who could not answer simple questions during the vice presidential election she really has a nerve to be getting at Obama the way she has. There have been many statements made by Palin before she was nominated for the VP role that she later flip-flopped on. There is plenty of video footage out there to show this. Go to http://dailysource.org/palinvideos and you can see some of them. They have a lot of video footage of interviews and speeches.

[pandamonium6]

If the next President will be tested in the first six months of office, then I would prefer a President that can remain calm, cool and decisive under stress. We all saw the staggering way McSame handled the economic crisis...Is that who we want leading the nation??? GOBAMA!!!

[armydog2]

I do not know where you guys are getting your statistics about the Military and who they support. My son who is serving in Iraq and 90% of his fellow Soldiers do not like mccain or the fact that he is just like bush.They are fed up with 3 and 4 and some even have 5 deployments.They want out of Iraq just as much as we want them home.
mccain is claiming he has been tested. when? when the VC caught him and set him up at the hanoi hilton? PTSD john, he really should get himself checked out.being a POW does not qualify you to be president.

[hammy06]

Seriously stay off the drugs. Why do you think 70% of our man and woman in our Armed forces are voting for MCCAIN. Experience and leadership, not the kind you find in a community organizer serving soup in the soup kitchen. Which is pretty much all your BOY has done.
______________________________________
_______________

That''s a made up statistic.

[dburfears]

The old wise men of the Republican foreign policy community are either supporting Obama, not taking sides, or supporting McCain out of loyalty or friendship while publicly contradicting him on foreign policy.

* Colin Powell has endorsed Barack Obama.

* Richard Lugar, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has endorsed Obama''s approach to diplomacy over that of McCain.

* Brent Scowcroft refuses to endorse either way. Pretty telling for a former Republican national security advisor, especially since he was opposed to the war in Iraq.

* James Baker continues to support direct talks with Iran and has for the past two years. (Actually just read the entire five secretaries of state even transcript from CNN. It''s one big endorsement of Obama''s foreign policy)

* Kissinger and Schultz are op-eds in the Washington Post and Financial Times calling for a more moderate approach towards Russia.

* Kissinger has also called for direct talks with Iran (At the Secretary of State level).

* Chuck Hagel has traveled to Iraq with Obama and while not publicly endorsing looks to be pretty clearly in favor of Obama. * Secretary of Defense Bob Gates is giving speeches that sound a lot more like an Obama foreign policy than a McCain foreign policy.

The dirty little secret is that all of these pragmatic conservatives have little in common with McCain and Neoconservatism.

[xraydude2000]

How can anyone believe him when he criticizes Bush now? McCain will certainly continue the policies of the last 8 years.

Not only that, Palin will worsen the office of VP that Cheney has perverted.

[xraydude2000]

McCain said that he thinks Bush has done a great job as President and boasted about voting for him 90% of the time and agree with him on most issues. He said this on FOX news to Neil Cavuto.

When O''Reilly accused him of not voting for Bush, he defended himself saying that not only did he vote for Bush in 2000 and 2004 but campaigned vigorously for him.

Thank God for YouTube. Anyone can look it up themselves and not just listen to rumors.

[windmaster12]

Truth Hurts!!!!

The Proof is any Veteran who would vote
for Mccain is a Fool!!!

Research Vietnam Vets against Mccain!!!

Dumbed down Red States
Voted for Dumbya Twice In a Row
Conclusive Proof
That they are totally Inept
Lacking all Judgmental Foresight

Vote for The Traitor Mcsame
Bush 3
Starred in 32 Viet Cong Propaganda Movies
Traded Military Secrets for Preferential treatment
Its all Documented-
Just
Google
Mccain Collaborator

[butterflyxo]

Dutch88,
I think you have been really misinformed. I don''t know where you are getting your information from but that is totally not true. I think you are a victim of Right Wing conspiracy news.

[butterflyxo]

dhutch88,
That''s not true. My brother is a Marine and he is supporting Obama. He''s served in the Middle East twice.
The Vietnam Veterans of America are proud endorsers of Barack Obama as well. Donations to Obama''s campaign have been 6-1 compared to McCain, so I really don''t think that it is fair to say that ALL soldiers are supporting McCain when the truth of the matter is MOST soldiers are supporting Obama.

[butterflyxo]

Fyi ANY new President will be tested! This has been proven in history!

So now, the only question is, who do you want in that position? The world loves Obama/Biden in world polls they win McCain/Palin by a landslide! Foreign leaders look at Palin as inexperienced and McCain as old and out of touch. They see him like another Bush. WHO DO YOU THINK THEY WOULD TAKE ADVANTAGE OF?
Throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America, McCain/Palin are the laughing stock of this country. No one is taking them seriously! Check out the world news.

Obama has the support of the most brilliant and powerful people in America. Collin Powell, Warren Buffet, Eric Schmidt (CEO of Google). McCain is losing the support of his own party! Who does McCain have endorsing him...Joe the Plumber! Who''s not even a plumber and would get a tax break under Obama! lol!!!

[idnnsg]

"We don''t want a president who invites testing from the world at a time when our economy is in crisis," McCain said.

McCain is an id.iot! EVERY president is "tested" by the job. Thank God it won''t be McCain, ''cuz he has already proven himself to be WRONG. "The economy is fundamentally sound", "this is the greatest crisis of all time", "I am suspending my campaign until a solution is found", then no solution, then he resumes his campaign, then a "solution" comes and he takes credit for it despite his best efforts so sabotage it, and then he complains about it again when he finds out the county doesn''t like bailing out the rich guys!

BTW, McCain is good friends with and has praised the unrepentant American Terrorist, G. Gordon Liddy, and recently told him, "congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great."

What are those "principles and philosophies"? Why, killing federal agents! He told the Branch Davidians, "Just remember, they''re wearing flak jackets and you''re better off shooting for the head."

And he''s a BIG FAN OF HITLER! When he listened to Hitler on the radio, Liddy said it "made me feel a strength inside I had never known before." Liddy continued, "Hitler''s sheer animal confidence and power of will [entranced me]. He sent an electric current through my body."

John McCain: Not just stu.pid, Not just wrong for our country, He''s FRIENDS WITH ANTI-AMERICAN TERRORISTS AND NAZIS!