McCain maligns Kerry on National Public Radio

by Frank James

National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" broadcast an interview with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) this morning during which the presidential candidate promoted his latest book, a thinly veiled variation of John F. Kennedy's "Profiles in Courage" called "Hard Call," an examination of the difficult decisions made by American leaders throughout history.

The book is essentially a call on Americans to search out character in their leaders, the ability to take difficult, unpopular for the nation's sake.

McCain obviously believes if voters did so, he'd have a better shot at gaining their support since he's known for supporting issues controversial with many voters, whether reforming the nation's immigration laws or campaign finance.

Given that the underlying premise behind his conversation with interviewer Renee Montagne was that character counts, it was ironic that McCain told a whopper of an untruth during the interview.

Here's the exchange which began with Montagne asking McCain if he couldn't have done more to change the U.S. course in Iraq:

MONTAGNE: Given that you have argued since the very beginning of the war that more troops were needed and you have since said mistakes have been were made, could you yourself though as a very powerful senator and a Republican could you have done more?

MCCAIN: I think maybe you could always have done more. But I guarantee you I worked very hard to reverse that failed strategy and called for the strategy that is now winning.

MONTAGNE: But you also did publicly support President Bush at a critical time during President Bush's re-election.

MCCAIN: I supported President Bush (because) his opponent wanted a complete and immediate withdrawal as I recall. I felt strongly that the Democratic candidate would doom us to failure not only there but in other parts of the world.

McCain was talking of course about Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.,) the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee. If you give McCain the benefit of the doubt, he misremembered Kerry's position. If you're more cynical, he intentionally misstated Kerry's position to make his own support of Bush more palatable.

Either way, it was odd coming in an interview where McCain sought to align himself on the side of character.

Here's what Kerry actually said during a major Iraq speech he gave on April 30, 2004 at Westminster College in Missouri, chosen because it was where another politician known for character, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave his famous "Iron Curtain" speech:

As complicated as Iraq seems, there are really only three basic options: One, we can continue to do this largely by ourselves and hope more of the same works; Two, we can conclude it’s not doable, pull out and hope against hope that the worst doesn’t happen in Iraq; Or three, we can get the Iraqi people and the world’s major powers invested with us in building Iraq’s future.

Mistakes have complicated our mission and jeopardized our objective of a stable free Iraq with a representative government, secure in its borders. We may have differences about how we went into Iraq, but we do not have the choice just to pick up and leave—and leave behind a failed state and a new haven for terrorists.

I believe that failure is not an option in Iraq. But it is also true that failure is not an excuse for more of the same.

Here is how we must proceed.

First, we must create a stable and secure environment in Iraq. That will require a level of forces equal to the demands of the mission. To do this right, we have to truly internationalize both politically and militarily: we cannot depend on a US-only presence. In the short-term, however, if our commanders believe they need more American troops, they should say so and they should get them.

That is not even close to the "complete and immediate withdrawal" McCain mentioned.

McCain may not have meant to malign another senator and Vietnam vet who he is known to have become friendly with over the years after a frosty initial relationship between the former North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war (McCain) and the one-time war protester (Kerry.)

But it definitely wouldn't be considered of sign of good character to accuse someone of holding a controversial position he never held.