AP INTERVIEW: McCain criticizes Obama on Iraq

[City Lights]

Source: AP via Yahoo

AP INTERVIEW: McCain criticizes Obama on Iraq

By LIZ SIDOTI and BARRY MASSEY, Associated Press Writers 17 minutes ago

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Republican John McCain on Monday sharply criticized Democratic rival Barack Obama for not having been to Iraq since 2006, and said they should visit the war zone together.

"Look at what happened in the last two years since Senator Obama visited and declared the war lost," the GOP nominee-in-waiting told The Associated Press in an interview, noting that the Illinois senator's last trip to Iraq came before the military buildup that is credited with curbing violence.

"He really has no experience or knowledge or judgment about the issue of Iraq and he has wanted to surrender for a long time," the Arizona senator added. "If there was any other issue before the American people, and you hadn't had anything to do with it in a couple of years, I think the American people would judge that very harshly."

McCain, a Navy veteran and Vietnam prisoner of war, frequently argues that he's the most qualified candidate to be a wartime commander in chief. In recent weeks, he has sought portray Obama, a first-term senator, as naive on foreign policy and not as qualified to lead the military.

The Iraq war, which polls have shown that most of the country opposes, is shaping up to be a defining issue in the November presidential election. McCain, who wrapped up the GOP nomination in March, supports continued military involvement in Iraq; Obama, who has all but clinched the Democratic nomination, has called for withdrawing U.S. troops.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080526/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_7

[blkirish03]

1. "It's the Economy, Stupid"

$4.00 per gallon gas, Americans losing their homes, runaway inflation, and the lowest consumer confidence in a decade - no wonder McCain wants to try to paint Obama and the Democratic Party as weak on terror. Let's hope that our candidate is savvy enough to see the Republican's pathetic gambit as exactly what it is - an attempt to frighten Americans into forgetting that 8 years of Republican leadership have led the Nation to a precipice the likes of which we have not seen since 1929. This election is about the economy, plain and simple. Economic security is just as critical to the survival of this nation as military security. Let's not let McCain change the subject to avoid talking about the fiscal incompetence of the Bush Administration - policies he would perpetuate into the next decade. Never were the words, "It's the economy, stupid" more prescient. If McBush has his way, there will be nothing left here to defend.

[gibbyman]

2. Amen Brother

[Journeyman]

4. It's not the economy, stupid . . .

subprime mortgages, a collapsing dollar, shortsighted energy policy, food-devouring biofuels, a budget-busting "stimulus" package. . .

It's not the economy, stupid . . .

It's the stupidity in the economy!

[City Lights]

9. Hi blkirish03!

:hi: Welcome to DU! :hi:

And Obama is already tying oil prices, the nation's debt, and our economic woes to the Iraq war.

[scarface2004]

3. hey mkane, irak sucks and so do you!!!

stfu already old man!!!

[Doctor_J]

5. 100 more years, old timer?

STFU, you're just an old version of the most hated president in history.

[brooklynite]

6. I think this is a brilliant idea...

With Obama and the press in tow, its going to be impossible for McCain to pretend that "normalcy" has returned to Baghdad, and it will allow him to challenge whichever "real Iraqi's" get presented to the cameras about the Iraqi Government's inability to assume responsibility for its own defense.

[Skittles]

7. McCain should take Obama to the market to buy rugs n/t

[MJJP21]

8. Someone should

Someone should tell McCain that getting your ass caught behind enemy lines does not qualify you to be president. Thank you for your service but your comments and actions have persuaded many that you learned nothing from your experience.

[ngant17]

10. McCain doesn't want to lose Iraq

because it will be deja vu again, like we lost in Vietnam.

Who could possibly want another village idiot to be President?

People get quickly tired of illegal wars, Iraq is one of them, and even just wars will be burdensome on the economy as the years go by.