McCain's Straight Talk Goes Off Message
By Michael D. Shear
ROCKY RIVER, Ohio -- Sen. John McCain said bluntly today that he will lose the presidential election in November if the Iraq war goes badly, then quickly tried to walk his own comment back.
Asked what will happen if he can't convince the American public that the war in Iraq is succeeding, he said "Then I lose."
It took just six seconds on the back of his Straight Talk Express for McCain to realize that he might not want to say that quite so directly to a half-dozen reporters for national news organizations.
"Lemme not put it that stark," he said, prompting laughter from the reporters. "Lemme just put it this way: Americans will judge my candidacy on how, first and foremost, on how they believe I can lead the country both from our economy and for national security."
That was clearly much more "on message" and seemed to please chief aide Mark Salter, who was perched on the side of a couch, listening.
But McCain -- as is his tendency -- just kept talking.
"Okay. Obviously, Iraq will play a role in their judgment of my ability to handle national security. Okay. I retract -- if I may, I'd like to retract, 'I'll lose,'" McCain continued. "But I don't think there's any doubt that how they judge Iraq will have a direct relation to their judgment of me. My support of the surge. Clearly, I am tied to it to a large degree."
In fact, that is one of McCain's biggest challenges as he ramps up to face a general election audience in the fall that will no longer be composed mainly of Republicans who support the war in Iraq.
Polls show that 70 percent of the American public thinks the war was a mistake, and yet in head-to-head matchups against Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, McCain does well, earning the support of many of those people.
Part of McCain's strategy involves refocusing on the broader war on terrorism. At a town hall meeting outside of Cleveland, he once again vowed to get Osama bin Laden if he has to "follow him to the gates of hell."
He called the fight against terrorists a "transcendent struggle" and said America faces a "great evil. One of the greatest evils that this nation has ever encountered."
Posted at 12:58 PM ET on Feb 25, 2008
Share This: 
Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
That is pretty straight, just as in how he is staking up against Obama for the general election;
Obama vs. McCain- The Google Winner is...
http://newsusa.myfeedportal.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=48
Posted by: davidmwe | February 25, 2008 01:03 PM
Don't worry McCain. I am not ready to have another inexperienced lightweight in the White House. If Hillary loses, I will be voting for you. I wouldn't want anybody bombing Pakistan.
Posted by: Chicago1 | February 25, 2008 02:22 PM
How is McCain any different from Bush? They both spent their college days partying, drinking, and almost flunking out and all either can talk about is war mongering.
Posted by: vflex | February 25, 2008 02:38 PM
McCain is right. If he can just convince enough tourists to spend their vacations there this summer then perhaps the word will get out. Oh, that's right. They keep killing all the journalists. Oh well, for a few billion more a month of our children's money, we can assign a Blackhawk helicopter and Blackwater escorts to protect the tourists clamoring to get to Baghdad. Go, John, go!
Posted by: mcwong999 | February 25, 2008 02:45 PM
Let me see here, Chicago1. You're OK with bombing Iraq and Afghanistan, I take it, where Obama bin Laden is not. But you don't want some lightweight bombing Pakistan, where he is. And we'll just keep bombing other people for a century, in the hopes that maybe the mountains will tremble and fall down on him? This is sage wisdom?
Posted by: rwspooner | February 25, 2008 02:48 PM
Sen. McCain is mistaken when he says "Americans will judge my candidacy on how they believe I can lead the country both from our economy and national security". NO,NO, Americans have already judged him and found him wanting, on the fact that he supported Pres. Bush on his rush to war, has walked in lock-step with Bush in every decision he has made since the invasion of Iraq, including the surge that was supposed to shortly let some of the troops come home, and now presents the situation that there are actually more troops on the ground there than when the invasion began...so how is all that working out for him now?
Posted by: beccajo | February 25, 2008 03:34 PM
I am very tired of Iraq. But when one assesses HRC and Obama, it is inescapable that McCain is head and shoulders above their backgrounds, intellects and leadership talent. The democratic primary is outrageously juvenile. Dumping Billy Bob and Hilly is one thing, but trying to understand how it came to this is difficult to explain.
Posted by: DerbyDaddy | February 25, 2008 04:10 PM
We encourage users to analyze, comment on and even challenge washingtonpost.com's articles, blogs, reviews and multimedia features.
User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions.