Why do people call McCain a warmonger?
By Taskr36
@Taskr36 (13963)
United States
August 13, 2008 6:01pm CST
I'm asking this because I'm really shocked at the way people are treating McCain with the current crisis in Georgia. On Mylot even people who hate McCain are at least somewhat respectful, but look at the CNN comments. People there call him warmonger at every opportunity and think that he's aiming for World War 3.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/12/analysis-does-the-crisis-in-georgia-highlight-mccains-strengths/
You'll notice that all the comments attack McCain. That's because CNN moderates their boards and won't allow any pro-McCain comments to be posted. I have yet to get a single comment past their moderators.
CNN quoted him:
"Russia should immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory," the Arizona senator said Friday.
More recently he's said:
Your actions will have "severe, long-term negative consequences" for relations with the United States and Europe, McCain declared, as he outlined a plan of action for the West to isolate and punish Russia.
It seems those on the far left believe that these are the words of a warmonger. McCain has said nothing about attacking Russia. He's said nothing about sending troops into Georgia. He hasn't said a single word that in any way indicates he wants war of any kind. His first words were that Russia should withdraw. Why would a warmonger want Russia to withdraw? Wouldn't a warmonger be looking for an excuse to send troops over there and fight? If Russia withdraws, the fighting stops.
I know he supported the war in Iraq but so did Hillary Clinton. Somehow I seem to have missed the people calling her a warmonger. What are your opinions? I don't mean do you like him or not, but do you think that calling for a withdrawal and cease fire are the words of a warmonger?
4 people like this
5 responses
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
15 Aug 08
I think the reason people call McCain a warmonger is because he has supported most of Bush's foreign policy. One of the other reasons is that his strong point is militray issues, and foreign policy. His whole campaign relies on war, and fear of terrorist, his strong suite is his military career, and foreign policy. But, if the American people feel safe, then they really won't worry to much about a strong military, or his foreign policy.
You asked in your post why McCain would want Russia to withdrawal troops: The reason is we don't have the man power to sustain any military action against Russia. Even if that ment a quick strike to defend Georgia, we would have to leave Iraq, or Afghanistan to defend Georgia, this is from military experts, not liberal commentators. One of the other things you noticed was that Europe has remaind very quiet on this subject. See McCain was to busy acting tough to get all of the facts, Europe relies on Russia for the majority of their natural gas supplies, see Europe can't function if the United States cuts off Europes natural gas supply. This is why it usually is better to get all of the facts before you open your mouth.
By the way, what does this action by Russia say abour our military intelligence? Russia amasted an army at the boarder of one of our allies, and apparently we had no idea at all. How do you think it looked to the Georgian people when our president was sitting inches away from the prime minister of the country that just attacked them. What was it that Bush said about Putin: "I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue". "I was able to get a sense of his soul". Looks like Bush was wrong again. But, I am sure that isn't a surprise to anyone at all.
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
15 Aug 08
"See McCain was to busy acting tough to get all of the facts, Europe relies on Russia for the majority of their natural gas supplies, see Europe can't function if the United States cuts off Europes natural gas supply. This is why it usually is better to get all of the facts before you open your mouth."
McCain got all the facts on the invasion of Georgia. Those are the relevant facts. Everyone knows Russia is important in the world economy but we can't treat that as an all access pass to invade neighboring countries. Perhaps the failure of other leaders, including Bush, to respond more forcefully is why Russia felt comfortable violating the cease fire repeatedly.
I think Bush has been wrong about Putin from day one. I remember the day he said said he could see Putin's soul and I remember exactly how stupid he looked to me that day. I think our military intelligence was primarily focused on Iraq and Afghanistan and I don't think any country, anywhere in the world saw this coming. Russia has a pretty big border so it's hard to watch every part of it. Now with the way they're behaving I wouldn't be surprised if they attacked Ukraine.
4 people like this
@thegreatdebater (7316)
• United States
16 Aug 08
Thanks for the response Taskr. I agree with most of your response except for the fact that you said that no one saw this coming. I couldn't believe the people that come out just hours after this happened talking about this. Many said this has been going on for the last four months, and it was only a matter of time before they attacked. I was also surprised to see John McCain come out just hours after the attack with a speach ready to deliver with out looking at a script, but sounding like he was going off of one. I have heard many people following this campaign say that this is one of the first speach he has given that he didn't read from a cue card. So why would his campaign take such a risk on such an important topic as this? It just doesn't make sense; does it?
1 person likes this
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
18 Aug 08
What I meant is that nobody saw a full scale invasion coming. Tensions have been high in the area for quite some time regarding the two provinces involved. Both McCain and Obama had talked about the area months ago, but neither saw it as an immediate threat of full scale war.
John McCain has had a close relationship with the president of Georgia so it was no surprise to me that he came out quickly with a solid statement. He did however, talk with the White House personnel about the issue as well as his own securtiy ane foreign relations advisors and the Goergian president himself. I haven't known him to make speeches from cue cards regularly. He's actually more well known for speaking on his own which is why he's often misspoken and said things that he later came under fire for. Obama's use of cue cards and prepared speeches are precisely why he's made less gaffes.
It's anyone's opinion as to whether his speech was a risk or not. The thing is, this was his opportunity to show where he could outshine Obama. He had to speak fast, and speak with authority so people would listen. Obama's statement that "Both sides should show restraint and try not to escalate" was weak and rather meaningless. It wasn't until the next day after Obama had talked with his advisors that he made a stronger statement that was more similar to McCain's. In the end, Obama's statements were too little too late to impress anyone other than his faithful followers. McCain made the most of an opportunity that many thought he wouldn't get before the election.
2 people like this
@ZephyrSun (7381)
• United States
14 Aug 08
I think you're probably aware of the fact that I am not a McCain supporter but I haven't called him a warmonger, and I do not think that him calling for a cease fire makes him such. I do not really watch CNN nor do I like to go to their website, sorry just for some reason hate 24 hour news channels. I could come up with two reasons why CNN is behaving this way, the first being maybe they are trying to become the left winged channel to compete with FOX. Secondly, it could be his geography issue he had that time, I don't remember what exactly was said but he sort of left out a couple of coutries while talking about something or other, now I'm not saying it was or wasn't a mistake but the way that it was said could have been taken by some people as a battle threat. I would have to hear the words again to give you why I see some people as saying that, but I have a headache and don't feel like looking it up and I know that you probably already know what I am talking about.
1 person likes this
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
14 Aug 08
That's why I mentioned that people here are typically more respectful than that. I'm not 100% sure, but I think you're referring to when he mentioned Czechoslovakia which separated into Czech Republic and Slovakia a while back. He got a lot of flack over that. This thing just bugs me because people aren't listening to him or reading his words, they just heard he made a statement and somehow assumed that he wants war with Russia. Political analysts have almost universally agreed that he has done a good job showing how he can handle an unexpected crisis.
2 people like this
@evanslf (484)
•
14 Aug 08
No I wouldn't call McCain a warmonger either, though I certainly would say that of George Bush who was pining for and launched this totally unecessary war on Iraq. McCain supported this disastrous adventure, hence why people are calling him a warmonger, also because he has never accepted that this disastrous war was wrong, nor did Hillary and that probably cost her the nomination.
I doubt that McCain seriously wants to attack Russia. Of course, there is the small matter of that video which saw him singing 'bomb bomb bomb Iran', which in view of his stance on Iraq, has no doubt help reinforce the warmonger label amongst many.
@ZephyrSun (7381)
• United States
14 Aug 08
Taskr I really had no idea that you were a man and I think that I have referred to you as both sexes but I finally looked at your profile and now I'm shocked that you are so young lol. All that aside, it was McCain's interview with Good Morning America when he said something about the Iraq Pakistan borders, forgetting about the countries that lay between them, if you heard/read it and were a McCain hater one would assume that he was meaning that we should just invade the lands that he failed to mention or simply forgot about (I don't know what he was thinking so I don't know if he forgot or whichever).
1 person likes this
@gewcew23 (8007)
• United States
14 Aug 08
All McCain wants is what everyone should want a peaceful end to conflict. Russia should withdraw that does not make me a warmonger any more than it make McCain. CNN is just trying to harm McCain anyway they can. At one time CNN stood for the Clinton news network so that would explain why CNN would not call Hillary a warmonger.
1 person likes this
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
15 Aug 08
Well CNN did a fine job of staying quiet on Clinton's illegal war in former Yugoslavia so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I guess the fact the McCain is the ONLY person who had the balls to demand Russia back down immediately makes him a warmonger. Maybe he's the only one who realizes that you have to be forceful with aggressive nations to be effective. You can't use the kiddy gloves when Russia is trying to annex one of our closest allies.
3 people like this
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
21 Aug 08
I think those who say that about McCain are going by his history and by things like his sick "Bomb Iran" parody of the Beach Boys "Barbara Ann". I really don't think it's fair to compare McCain to Hillary because although she certainly had been reluctant to say right out that she'd "made a mistake", unlike her fellow Democratic Senator Presidential candidates, she still has had a much different policy on Iraq since. Personally, I had a problem with his "We are all Georgians" remark. funny, it's us Democrats who are most accused of being anti-American but I'm not afraid to say that while I may have empathy for the Georgian people and agree with helping them in humanitarian ways, I am an American, not a Georgian, today, yesterday or any other day.
Annie
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
21 Aug 08
Yeah, I was like "???" when he said we are all Georgians. I really don't know what he was going for with that statement. Especially since most Americans probably didn't even know there was a country called Georgia until Russia invaded them. I never got around to looking into that Bomb Iran bit, but I think it's been well established that his sense of humor is more than a little questionable when it comes to Iran.
@ladym33 (10978)
• United States
23 Mar 09
I think it is terrible that people say that about him. He was a United States soldier who served his country and was a prisoner of war who endured horrible tortures, but he always acted honorably. The last thing he wants as war but he is also inteligent enough to know that we can not back off and roll over, or things will become very dangerous for us.
