McCain Wooing Independents; Distances Himself from Bush

[Barack_America]

McCain urges UK-style sessions for U.S. president

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Thursday that, if elected, he would like to take a page from the British government and appear in question-and-answer sessions with lawmakers.

"I will ask Congress to grant me the privilege of coming before both houses to take questions, and address criticism, much the same as the prime minister of Great Britain appears regularly before the House of Commons," McCain said in excerpts of a speech he is to deliver later in Columbus, Ohio.

Although U.S. presidents deliver annual "State of the Union" speeches to Congress at the start of each year, those formal addresses do not include a question-and-answer session.

McCain said exchanges such as those in the British House of Commons are a way of holding leaders accountable.

"When we make errors, I will confess them readily, and explain what we intend to do to correct them," McCain said. He also reiterated a pledge to hold weekly news conferences, a change from President George W. Bush's practice of holding them roughly once a month.

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1517615720080515


With this, the Iraq withdrawal by 2013 and introducing his own "cap and trade" global warming plan, McCain is making his move on Independents.

It's time to start focusing on McCain. If you agree, please keep threads like this one kicked.

Also:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5980818
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5979639

For those interested:
With "McCain urges UK-style sessions for U.S. president" as the title; 33 views in 10 minutes
With "Hillary is Evil!" as the title; 64 views in 10 minutes

[cali]

1. I've long wanted to see that

odd to agree with McCain. Too bad I don't believe him.

[Barack_America]

2. That's the problem. Many will agree with him on this.

It makes sense. And if Obama's people weren't so preoccupied with this worthless primary, they could have come out with this first.

[highplainsdem]

8. LOL! How did the primary keep Obama from suggesting this first?

There is absolutely nothing about the primary that kept EITHER of the Dem candidates from mentioning it first.

I wish they had, or at least one of them had. I don't care which one. But I'm not going to blame the primaries for neither of them thinking of this. And I don't see how you can, unless you think none of them ever uttered a sentence about what they would do as president.

You don't have to end the primaries to talk about what you'll do as president. All the candidates talked about what they'd do as president, all along. This is, unfortunately, one instance where McCain brought up a good idea first.

And it's a fairly simple idea, one that doesn't take any explaining. You don't need a long position paper. This idea could have been tossed out at any opportune time by any Dem candidate. And again, I wish it had been.

But I won't blame the primaries for them not thinking of it first.

[Barack_America]

10. You don't think that the primaries are preventing the Obama camp. from properly...

following what McCain is up to?

I would certainly think so. It's becoming a tremendous distraction. And don't forget that Obama has been hesitant about even making statements that presumed he would be the nominee.

[highplainsdem]

13. Again, any Dem could have proposed this simple idea at ANY time,

and I wish they had. I don't recall Kerry, for instance, suggesting something like this during the '04 race, and it would have been particularly effective then considering how painfully obvious it was that W would never be able to handle parliament-style discussion.

I wish Hillary had suggested it. But I'm not going to blame the primary for her not thinking of it. It would have taken only a minute to set out this idea in some media venue like a talk show. But none of the Dems did this.

It would have gone very well with what Obama says about change, but it apparently didn't occur to him.

And I am NOT going to blame this on the primary, since Obama had a long time before declaring his candidacy to think about being president, and as far as I know, he never wrote or said anything about this.

I don't like McCain, and I'm hoping he'll lose in November. But I'm not going to pretend that the only reason a Dem didn't suggest this first is that Hillary is still campaigning. And if Obama supporters try to make her a scapegoat because Obama didn't put forth a very simple idea earlier, it will only alienate more Hillary supporters.

[Barack_America]

3. Kicking because morning experiments are fun!

:evilgrin:

[highplainsdem]

11. Thanks for changing the subject line back to the original.

:toast:

[greguganus]

4. Damn! I got DU-rolled! n/t

[Barack_America]

5. Lol. Yeah, I guess that's what it is.

I'll change the title back in a few minutes. I'm just having a little fun here.

And I'm honestly concerned that McCain is wooing Independents while the Dem primary is being allowed to drag on when it's really over.

[greguganus]

6. Maybe Clinton is bucking for a spot in McCain's cabinet by keeping this going?

They are good friends, according to Bill. :tinfoilhat:

[Barack_America]

9. Who knows.

She certainly seems to be burning her bridges on the Democratic side, and I doubt that she's already thinking of retirement.

[MethuenProgressive]

7. "curious to see how much attention this gets with the temporary new title"

Isn't the new DU just grand?

[bluestateguy]

12. That would be stupid

The members (of both parties) would asked carefully crafted, staged and loaded questions, which wuld turn his Q&A session into silly political theater.