| 22.09.2008 |
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| A few months ago, there were some news reports about the internal struggle within John McCain's campaign between realists/pragmatists and neoconservatives/idealists. Recent events, though, have led some commentators to conclude that the struggle’s over, and the neocons have won. Three of these events happened in the past week. First, Henry Kissinger urged the next president to meet with the leader of Iran without preconditions, as Barack Obama had said he would do. This is the same Henry Kissinger who had been seen as one of the top realist advisers to McCain. Second, McCain apparently reversed a previous stance when he refused to say he would meet with the president of Spain, and one plausible explanation is that this was a deliberate slight because of his Iraq troop withdrawal. Third, neocon advisers have reportedly taken the lead in the foreign policy education of Sarah Palin. It’s not just been this week, of course. As Michael wrote, one recent analysis is that hawks within McCain’s camp pushed him to take a harsher line against Russia. In fact, it’s hard to find many headlines McCain has made these days for any foreign policy position that might be categorized as realist. ThinkProgress’s M. Duss wrote: “Hopefully, Kissinger’s statement will put to rest the idea that McCain’s foreign policy brain trust is divided between realists and neocons, which I’ve long argued is nonsense. McCain is a committed neoconservative, and has been for years.” Democracy Arsenal’s Adam Blickstein wrote: “McCain is not only an outlier, if he were part of the Bush administration, he would have already been marginalized and rendered irrelevant like the rest of the anachronistic and dangerous neocon cult.” Granted, those two commentaries come from the left, which has an incentive to push the line that McCain is a neocon – not the most popular designation these days. But it’s worth wondering whether their basic argument right. |
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| 1 Comment |
| "Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran" -- The infamous parody sung by John McCain to the melody of the Beach Boys' 'Barbara Ann.' Funny stuff, huh? Yes McCain is truly a moderate. He's only making belligerent statements toward Russia and Iran and promising to increase American troop levels in Afghanistan (Obama is guilty of the latter as well) because his advisors urged him to talk that way. His jokes about bombing Iran are all in good fun. He's truly a diplomatic, emotionally mature and level-headed man. Ahem. If you liked George W. Bush's foreign policy and his attitude toward the rest of the world you'll LOVE President John McCain. Bush is a mental lightweight who was maneuvered by sociopath and megalomaniac Dick Cheney and Cheney's coterie of neocons into ordering the invasion of Iraq. McCain on the other hand genuinely relishes the thought of a brand new war someplace, preferably in the Middle East. In fact ask him about the tensions on the Iraq-Pakistan border, he's very concerned about that. |
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| Tom Westergaard | Homepage | E-Mail | 22.09.2008, 02:29 | ||