McCain Talks Iraq, Economy To National Guard
(BALTIMORE) – After a week of turmoil in the financial markets, John McCain tried to change the subject back to Iraq today.
"Both candidates in this election pledge to end this war and bring our troops home," McCain said. "The great difference is that I intend to win it first."
McCain's reference to Iraq is understandable, given he was addressing the annual conference of the National Guard. He did make a couple of remarks on the economy, before segueing into a criticism on Barack Obama over Iraq.
"Last Friday, I proposed a plan for comprehensive reform of the broken institutions that allowed this crisis to become a grave threat to our economy. At the center of the plan is the principle that we must keep people in their homes and safeguard the life savings of all Americans by protecting our financial system and capital markets," McCain said.
"Sen. Obama has declined to put forth a plan of his own. At a time of crisis, when leadership is needed, Sen. Obama has simply not provided it. We saw this same lack of leadership on Iraq."
Obama kept up his attacks on McCain today as well, calling McCain's "economic philosophy" one of the causes for current financial meltdown.
"Senator McCain, who candidly admitted not long ago that he doesn't know as much about economics as he should, wants to keep going down the same, disastrous path," Obama said. "He calls himself 'fundamentally a deregulator,' when reckless deregulation and lack of oversight is a big part of the problem."