May 16, 2008 at 8:58 PM by David Pleasant
If there were any doubts that John McCain is George III, McCain removed them in his response to Obama’s speech today. Be afraid — be very afraid of Barack Obama.
Watch it.
McCain is definitely going to continue the fear-mongering that has been the foundation of George Bush’s presidency and dominated every election since 2000.
This is what McCain said about Obama before the NRA today.
"It would be a wonderful thing if we lived in a world where we don’t have enemies. But that is not the world we live in, and until Senator Obama understands that reality, the American people have every reason to doubt whether he has the strength, judgment, and determination to keep us safe."
May 16, 2008 at 3:59 PM by David Pleasant
(Update I and Update II below)
Barack Obama blasted John McCain and George Bush this afternoon for their remarks yesterday that Obama was a Neville-Chamberlin appeaser and unfit to “preserve this nation’s security.” Obama accused them of “dishonesty and divisive attacks.” He denounced their foreign policies, saying they were based on “hypocrisy, fear-pedaling, and fear-mongering,” and had made America less safe.
Taking direct aim at George Bush’s remarks in Israel yesterday, Obama said, “The president did something that presidents don’t do. [He] launched a political attack toward the domestic market in front of a foreign delegation.”
Obama said Bush and McCain have a lot of explaining to do and then cited a litany of foreign policy failures over the past seven-plus years.
They’ve gotta explain why we’re now entering our sixth year of war in Iraq. We were supposed to be going over there for weapons of mass destruction that we never found. We were told that it was going to last a few months and cost a few billion dollars. We have now spent over $600 billion, thousands of lives lost, and we have not been made more safe.
They’re going to have to explain the fact that Osama Bin laden is still at large and sending out videotapes with impunity.
They need to answer for the fact that al-Qaeda’s leadership is stronger than ever because we took our eye off the ball in Afghanistan.
They’ve got to answer for the fact that Iran is the greatest strategic beneficiary of our invasion in Iraq. It made Iran stronger — George Bush’s policies…
They’re going to have to explain why Hamas now controls Gaza. Hamas that was strengthened because the United States insisted that we should have democratic elections in the Palestinian authority.
They’re going to have to explain why it is that Iran is able to fund Hezbollah and poses the greatest threat to America and Israel in the Middle East in a generation.
Obama then wrapped George Bush around all the failures and hurled them squarely at McCain.
They’ve gotta explain why we’re now entering our sixth year of war in Iraq. We were supposed to be going over there for weapons of mass destruction that we never found. We were told that it was going to last a few months and cost a few billion dollars. We have now spent over $600 billion, thousands of lives lost, and we have not been made more safe.
They’re going to have to explain the fact that Osama Bin laden is still at large and sending out videotapes with impunity.
They need to answer for the fact that al-Qaeda’s leadership is stronger than ever because we took our eye off the ball in Afghanistan.
They’ve got to answer for the fact that Iran is the greatest strategic beneficiary of our invasion in Iraq. It made Iran stronger — George Bush’s policies…
They’re going to have to explain why Hamas now controls Gaza. Hamas that was strengthened because the United States insisted that we should have democratic elections in the Palestinian authority.
They’re going to have to explain why it is that Iran is able to fund Hezbollah and poses the greatest threat to America and Israel in the Middle East in a generation.
That’s the Bush-McCain record on protecting this country. Those are the failed policies that John McCain wants to double-down on, because he still hasn’t spelled out one substantial way he would be different from George Bush when it comes to foreign policy.
So, I’m a strong believer in civility and a bipartisan foreign policy. But that caused is not served with dishonest, divisive attacks of the sort that we’ve seen out of George Bush and John McCain over the last couple of days.
And, let me just say a couple other things about this. I was going to say one more, but I’ve got a couple of things.
John McCain has repeated this notion that I’m prepared to negotiate with terrorists. I have never said that. I have been adamant about not negotiating with Hamas, a terrorist organization, that has vowed to destroy Israel and won’t recognize them.
In fact, the irony is, yesterday, just as John McCain was making these attacks, a story broke that he was actually guilty of the exact same thing he is accusing me of, and in fact was saying maybe we need to deal with Hamas.
And that’s the kind of hypocrisy we’ve been seeing in our foreign policy – the kind of fear pedaling, fear-mongering, that has prevented us from actually making us safer.
They’re trying to fool you. They’re trying to scare you and they’re not telling you the truth. And the reason is, the can’t win a foreign policy debate on the merits.
But it’s not going to work. It’s not going to work this time. And it’s not going to work this year.
Our Iran policy is a complete failure right now. And that’s the policy that John McCain is running on. He has nothing to offer except the naive and irresponsible belief that tough talk from Washington will somehow cause Iran to give up its nuclear program and support for terrorism. I’m running for president to change course, not to continue George Bush’s course.
I believe we need to use all elements of American power to pressure Iran, including tough principled and direct diplomacy. That’s what John F. Kennedy did. That’s what Ronald Reagan did when dealing with the Soviets and that’s what the president’s own secretary of defense wants to do.
I understand George Bush’s secretary of defense suggests we talk directly with Iran. So, I don’t know if George Bush is calling his own secretary of defense an appeaser — I don’t know who he is talking about.
It’s time to present Iran a clear choice. If it abandons its nuclear programs, support for terror and threats to Israel, then Iran can rejoin the community of nations. If not, Iran will face deeper isolation and deeper sanctions.
But, in the Bush-McCain world view, everyone who disagrees with their failed Iran policy is a “appeaser.” And back during his "No Surrender" tour, John McCain said anyone who wants to end the war in Iraq wanted to surrender. He even said later on that he would be willing to keep troops in Iraq for 100 years; although I think he noticed that it wasn’t polling well, because yesterday he said suddenly that our troops are going to be home by 2013, although he didn’t explain how he was going to do it.
He offered the promise that America will win a victory with no understanding that Iraq is fighting a civil war. Just like George Bush’s plan isn’t about winning – it’s about staying – and that’s why there will be a clear choice in November for fighting a war without end or ending this war and bringing our troops home. Because we don’t need John McCain’s predictions about when the war will end. We need to plan to end it, and that’s what I’ve provided during this campaign.
The American people have had enough of the division and the bluster of both Bush and McCain. They represent the failed foreign policy and fear-mongering of the past. I believe the American people are ready to reject this approach and choose the future.
I think you’re ready to change – for change that unites this country, and ends this war, and restores our security and standing in the world. And that is serious about a bipartisan foreign policy.
You can’t suggest that you want to be bipartisan and then run the kinds of campaign tactics we’ve been seeing over the past couple of days. You gotta start while you’re campaigning. That’s why we need to bring about some change in the White House.
Update I: This is an abbreviated transcript, which I created quickly. There may be a few minor inaccuracies, such as "they are" rather than "they will," for the moment. I will correct any inaccuracies shortly and provide an update as appropriate.
Update II 6:54 PM ET: I have updated the abbreviated transcript. The transcribed portion here begins at about 03:15 in the video.
