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CAMPAIGN 2008

McCain's Brain Trust

A new series from the Council on Foreign Relations profiles the main foreign policy advisers for John McCain

Jun 3, 2008 | Updated: 7:23  p.m. ET Jun 3, 2008

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  • Posted By: Mwalimu @ 09/03/2008 1:02:52 AM

    Comment: McCain's foreign policy is simple. It's the same as Bush's.

    When Clinton was president we couldn't have too many friends. When Bush was president we couldnt have enough enemies. McCain echoes this philosophy with the addenda that we need to create enemies faster than we can kill them.

    Check any foreign opinion poll and you'll see that anti-Americanism is running at an all time high. It is not because "they hate us for our freedom." as McCain and his fanatical supporters would have use believe.It's bebecause of our arrogant policies.

    Consider the famous interview with Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church. Obama warned that before confronting evil we need to approach our problems with humility and make sure that we were not fighting evil with evil. McCain insisted that we are good and they are evil and we need to defeat evil. This attitude is reckless and irresponsible. Rather than acting as a maverick, McCain offers us the same old, same old.

    McCain's touted experience is simply a repetition of disasters. Only Obama can offer us the change we need and only Obama can retore our tattered image throughout the world.

  • Posted By: repub4obama @ 08/19/2008 5:02:03 PM

    Comment: Yeah ok lets see how his foreign policy experience has played out so far.... He wants to ignore the will of the democratic people of Iraq and ignore their wishes for our troop withdrawl. This is a blatant disregard of democracy, he wants to be a fascist and impose the will of the right wing conservative war machine. And then there is him and the rest of the right wing McBush clan condeming Russia for invading Georgia. Talk about the kettle calling the pot black, just take a look at what we are doing in Iraq and soon in Iran, if McBush gets his third term. Sorry but McBush's foreign policy is fascism.

  • Posted By: sigasak @ 06/30/2008 4:15:47 PM

    Comment: What is Senator John McCain's Foreign Policy experience? At first I took it on faith that he had more experience than Clinton and Obama because that was how every media source was portraying it. Here's what I know about Sen. McCain's Foreign Policy experience. He was born in Panama? Was a Naval Officer and a POW. He has visited many countries including Iraq and had visits with a lot of foreign leaders. (Other than Iraq I don't remember the last such visit or the outcome) It's probably unfair to expect someone who has negotiated their way through a missile crisis, however when all you can show is lunch with friendly foreign leaders and a stroll through a Baghdad market in a flak jacket with military escort then you shouldn't be able to (with a straight face) call yourself a foreign policy expert. And those who, in the media portray you as such should be required to retake Journalism 101.

  • Posted By: lovejusticepeace @ 06/13/2008 2:23:10 AM

    Comment: THE US CAN WIN THE WAR ON TERROR BY LAUNCHING STRIKES IN PAKISTAN AND INVADING PAKISTAN , THE TERRORISTS NERVE CENTRE.
    THE PAKISTAN ARMY AND ISI HAVE ALWAYS ACTIVELY ABETTED TERRORISTS , STARTING FROM ITS INCEPTION , BY SUPPORTING THE MAuRADING TERRORIST INVADERS OF SRINAGAR VALLEY IN 1948.

  • Posted By: sharenews @ 06/11/2008 7:24:00 AM

    Comment: Posted By: sharenews @ 06/11/2008 6:46:41 AM
    Comment: IMPORTANT BULLETIN FOR ALL BLOGGERS ON THIS SITE:

    TO NEWSWEEK STAFF:

    This is to report that there is a FRAUD going on, on this site, in which bloggers are using the names of various bloggers (Obama supporters are most likely the culprits) who are fraudulently writing blogs that are deplorable and tagging them under other bloggers names (non-Obama supporters names). I officially reported such a fraudulent abusive use of fake postings that I just viewed on this site today that affected me personally. This is what it said in which the blogger fraudulently used my name as the poster:

    IT SAID THIS. I NEVER WROTE THIS. SO ALL OTHER POSTERS, ESPECIALLY FORMER HILLARY SUPPORTERS, BEWARE:

    Posted By: sharenews @ 06/11/2008 03:05:43

    Comment: I agree. So why do so many Obama supporters make him out to be a Messiah?

    I NEVER wrote the above comment or ANY mention of Obama being a Messiah. At this point I am ready to bring this abusive process that you are using on your site to FOX NEWS as I have done this before and they are very responsive. I have copied this report to send onto the media if I dont see a stop to the smearing of my name or others on this site moving forward!

  • Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 06/07/2008 5:59:35 AM

    Comment: raddave:You only say this because you are not a Serb. Besides,you are in error. The United Nations,The North Atlantic Treaty Organization[NATO],The US Depts.of State and Defense,both houses of the Congress of the United States, the European Union,The Russian and Chinese governments,WIKIPEDIA,the BBC,The Associated Press,The BBC,REUTERS,PBS,NPR,BROOKINGS,CATO, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH,AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL,TIME,NEWSWEEK for this matter,all refer to the Kosovo War as a war. Further,

    38,000 bombing sorties were flown between March and June 1999. A period of ten weeks.[www.dod.gov The US Dept.of Defense].While we are on this subject,this bombing campaign included,for the first time since WWII,the German LUFTWAFFE.

    Less than 11,000 bombing sorties were flown between July and Sept. 1943 in the WWII Italian Campaign .A period of ten weeks.[The US Strategic Bombing Survey,Appendix X,1947].

    Human Rights Watch,one of the world leading human rights organizations called Kosovo in its 2000 report ''the largest use of guided munitions in history''. So much for ''peacekeeping''.Indeed,cluster munitions which remain unexploded, abound in this region,nearly ten years after the war.

    Nonsense on the No-Windfall By Obama. In fact,according to the Associated Press on May 02,2008,Obama envisioned and demanded precisely such a tax to be placed on oil companies.[Quote: Barack Obama, May 01,2008:''And at the same time, go after a windfall tax'' .End quote].

    Yet the poor and working class would suffer the most under cap and trade which attaches a minimum,according to the Congressional Budget Office [May 2007], 3% savings decrease with gas at the pump under the Lieberman-Warner Bill[Cap and Trade]exceeding another 35 cents more per gallon on average without even taking into consideration the expectant rise to 150$ per barrel by July 04 of this year. Google ''Cap and Trade''and you will instantly find that it truly is ''most''economists beginning with the economic giant,the late Milt Friedman,who are dead set against government regulatory schemes in a free market system deriving from carbon taxes and most particularly, upon failed windfall tax schemes punishing selected American industries due only to ideology. Not common economic sense.

  • Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 06/05/2008 7:05:33 PM

    Comment: raddave: Oh yes they are. Specifically,Susan Rice,Obamas top foreign policy adviser demanding that US military forces be used a la Kosovo [which is why it was called a ''War''],to intervene in Sudan.''Peacekeepers''do not launch WWII -scale air bombing campaigns,complete with cluster munitions and uranium-tipped ordinance as was utilized in Kosovo by the US against the Serbs. Obama can most certainly worsen it by placing windfall taxes on oil companies which was the precise reason,and not the Iranian revolution,that gas prices went higher in 1980-early 1981 before they were removed by a Democrat-dominated Congress and a Republican president.Further,he backs something not even seen under Carter. Cap and Trade,which most economists agree will have long-term negative consequences for this economy,particularly small business,the poor,and the working/middle class.

    • Posted By: raddave @ 06/05/2008 7:49:33 PM

      Comment: Kosovo was never a "war," yes there was a bomging campaign, but again it was not a WWII scale bombing campaign. We did not invade Serbia. Even if the energy crisis was caused by windfall taxes. Obama has not proposed such a tax. McCain also supports a Cap and Trade policy. Some economists, not most economists think that cap and trade will have a negative impact on the economy. And finally small businesses, the poor and working class do not cause much of the carbon emissions in the country, that is done by Large corperations.

  • Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 06/05/2008 11:40:30 AM

    Comment: Moderate Viewer merely proves Menckens Maxim. What the poster patently ignores is that members of Obamas foreign policy team are fully prepared to involve the US in another,unilaterally-arrived at war in another Moslem nation.[''making hypocrites of us all'']. Further,at a time when the energy crisis is actually worse than what we had under Carter,that they worsen the misery. Not alleviate it,with economists across the ideological board from George Soros ,who appeared two days ago before the Senate,to NEWSWEAKS Samuelson,researchers from MIT,Harvard,and Stanford who appeared in yesterdays liberatarian REASON Magazine[www.reason.com],demanding to know why at such a time when the economy is so unstable as a result of high energy prices,Democrats [including Obama],want to play with fire. Obviously,Obama is having more problems with ''radical evangelicals'' than Bush ever had to contend with,thus this is a specious observation on its face. I do not see McCain or Bush quitting any churches that they attended for decades. A Vote For Obama Is A Vote For Jimmy Carter. [Two can play at this game Nins].

    • Posted By: raddave @ 06/05/2008 4:22:56 PM

      Comment: Lee Holmes, no one is talking about going to war with Sudan. No one is talking of invading Sudan and changing the regimes. The talk is about stopping the violence by using peacekeepers, just as we did in Bosnia and Kosovo. The energy crisis in the 70s was not caused by any policy of Carter's, rather because we supported Israel in their war in 1973 and OPEC began an Embago, this was 4 years before Carter became President. The gas crisis of 1979 was created by the iranian revolution.

      How exactly would Obama worsen the misery of the current crisis?

  • Posted By: Nins @ 06/04/2008 11:18:33 PM

    Comment: A vote for McCain is NOT a vote for Hillary. A vote for McCain is a vote for Geo. W Bush.

    There are many McCain supporters on this blog posing as Clintonites, urging you to vote for McCain. There are other McCain supporters trying hard to stir up resentment between the pro-Clinton and the pro-Obama Democrats. All of them are trying to manipulate your mind. Don;t forget that your mind belongs to you.

    Clintonites everywhere have to ask themselves some hard questions. I know that Obama has been your rival in the Democratic primary, but it pays to know who your real allies are. If you voted for Clinton because you believe in her policies, you would NEVER vote for McCain, whose political stand is OPPOSITE to Clinton's. Even if your don't like Obama or you are ticked off at the fact that Hillary didn't get the nomination, remember, it is not about who you like as much as it is about WHAT they will do in office. Obama's plans and politics are almost identical to Hillary's. Voting for McCain because you are upset that Clinton lost is like shooting yourself in the foot. Do your REALLY want four more years of a failed economy? Do you REALLY want the recession to become another Great Depression?

    I am a Republican who decided to vote for Obama, partly because I think he is a great candidate, but even more so because I am very concerned about the economy. Early in the race when it wasn't certain who was going to win the Dem nomination, I used to say that if Obama lost I would vote for McCain. My reason for that was that I'm a Republican, but also because I hated the Bill Clinton drama years, and I just couldn't warm up to Hilary's personality. But two months ago I realized that if Clinton gets the nomination, I would have to vote for her, even though I really don't like her, because voting for McCain would be so dangerous for our economy, which is on the brink of ruin.

    I really respected Huckabee's morals and loved his personality, but when I thought it through, I couldn't see him as President, he just wasn't strong enough to tackle the problems facing us today. McCain is in the same boat. You may not like Obama, but you have to admit he ran a great campaign and has some serious chops as a politician. He can get the job done. Hillary could have too. And who knows, she may be the next VP, and in 2016 the first woman President.

  • Posted By: Moderate Viewer @ 06/04/2008 7:49:50 PM

    Comment: Wow, Lee Holmes just used sweaters and Village People to prove that "lefties" are worse than the current Bush Administration and it's failed foreign policy and constant pandering to radical, far-right evangelicals. I would say it is a weak argument that does not even show HOW the neo-conservatives are a better choice. Seems like a fallacy-ridden declaration, that any literate high school student could see through.

  • Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 06/04/2008 7:11:33 PM

    Comment: I disagree. Obama will lead from a leftwing which is as disastrous as anything we have seen from the ''neocons''. His foreign policy picks are what is left of a wretched cast,including the architects of Clintons disastrous Rwanda non-policy,Anthony Lake and Susan Rice,who usually opt for strongmen in their Africa policy[black Democrats,for instance,backing Mobutu Sese Seko,the Eichmann of Africa], to keep the peace. It gets alot of people killed as in The Congo,but it maintains the illusion that everything is OK.
    Then too,Obamas team moves towards the unilateral use of military power that had NEWSWEAKS Zakaria and Dickey so frightened with Bush,as they embrace the Obaman concept of ''just war''even if,as Rice pointed out,it does not involve the sanction of the ''international community''Obamaites were demanding of Bush before he went to war in 2003. Thus Sudan,will become the new ''Kosovo'',except that we will not be fighting European whites this time surrounded by European democracies, but African Muslims in a country surrounded by the practicioners of terror. Where have we seen this before?
    On economic policy,it is just as bad. All of Obamas campers support cap and trade which will wipe small businesses out,impact larger one,and begin the upwards rise of the long-steady unemployment rate. They are Venezuela/Bolivia-centric rather than Colombian,thus at a time when FARC,after several decades is finally on the ropes,Obamas team will pull the rug out from underneath,while torpedoing CAFTA,thus earning the US more Latin American allies.[insert sarcasm here]. We should bear in mind that the last time we had lefties running the show,we got Carter,sweaters,American hostages in blindfolds,double-digit inflation,ABSCAM,and the Village People.

  • Posted By: lilbuw @ 06/04/2008 5:06:19 PM

    Comment: mccain on foreign policy is just like his speech giving. having to be prompted for fake smiles and making a fool of himself. what mccain represents is more of the same mess we have had since bush took over. the only way we turn this country around again is to have obama as the president.

  • Posted By: an obama girl @ 06/04/2008 3:14:13 PM

    Comment: Not only does he need to look at new foriegn policy advisors, after last nights speech he needs some advisors in speech writing and delivery!

    John will need a game plan to beat Obama and he better be able to speak better than George Bush!

  • Posted By: raddave @ 06/04/2008 12:07:32 PM

    Comment: McCain is half right on foreign policy. Radical Islam is a very serious threat to National Security. However, before we invaded Iraq, it was not one of the Radical Islamic countries, Saddam's government was secular (the type of Govt, Radical Islams want to overthrow). Keeping our troops tied down in Iraq has weakened our ability to confront countries such as Iran and they know this. Furthermore, his and President Bush's policy of non-negotiation with Iran is not a very good policy either. In the 80s The Soviet Union was the biggest threat to national security, but we negotiated with them regularly.

  • Posted By: garysgary @ 06/04/2008 9:44:52 AM

    Comment: McCain intends to protect Israel at all costs. (Costs to the American people) The rest is just B.S. Neocons have his ear, Lieberman has his ear and they don't care what the American people have to sacrifice as long as Israel is protected!

  • Posted By: Alvy @ 06/03/2008 9:34:40 PM

    Comment: McCain's Brains Trust
    Kind of an oxymoron isn't it?
    Isn't this the same guy with the beer wife (a plus) who forgot who we were fighting?

 
 
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