N.H. Debate: The GOP Field

And it's also true that McCain refused to offer Rumsfeld a vote of confidence. When President Bush reappointed Rumsfeld as secretary of defense following his 2004 reelection, McCain responded, "The president of the United States was reelected by a majority of the American people, and I respect his right. And I will work with the president obviously and with the secretary of defense." But when specifically asked whether his comment was a vote of confidence, McCain replied, "No, it is not."

But McCain's expression of no confidence came in December 2004 – well into the Iraq war. Rumsfeld's decision to invade with a much smaller force than the one suggested by his more traditional generals – the famous "shock and awe" strategy – was implemented in March 2003.

Hollow Denials on "Amnesty"
Romney was wrong when he denied that his attack ads described McCain's immigration bill as "amnesty" for illegal aliens:

McCain: [T]he fact is it's it [sic] not amnesty. And for you to describe it as you do in the attack ads, my friend, you can spend your whole fortune on these attack ads, but it still won't be true.

Romney: No, no, no, no. I get a chance to respond to this. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't describe your plan as amnesty in my ad. I don't call it amnesty. What I say is – and you just described what most people would say is a form of amnesty.

In fact Romney has been running an ad since Dec. 28 that says "McCain pushed to let every illegal immigrant stay here permanently" while Romney "opposes amnesty for illegals," adding: "Mitt Romney, John McCain, there is a difference." That's pretty clearly accusing McCain of supporting "amnesty." Otherwise there would be no "difference" on that issue. (The ad also falsely accuses McCain of supporting payment of Social Security benefits to illegal aliens. See our Dec. 28 article for more on the ad.)