THE PLANK JUNE 5, 2008
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This morning the McCain campaign sent out one of its "In Case You Missed It" alerts (now shortened to ICYMI for all the hip kids). This bulletin touted Mitt Romney's appearance earlier today on CNN's "American Morning," with a spotlight on the ex-governor's critique of Barack Obama:
You know, he's going to
do his very best to try to walk back from what he said at the Democratic debate;
and, in the Democratic debates the other candidates made it very clear they
would not sit down with Ahmadinejad, himself, or with Assad, or Kim Jung-Il, or
Castro, without condition. And, Barack Obama said he would sit down with them in
his first year. He would meet with them without condition. A statement like that
shows a naive lack of experience that I think is going to haunt him throughout
this campaign. It's the wrong course for him to have set.
He said he
would meet personally with Ahmadinejad, with Assad, Kim Jung-Il, with Hugo
Chavez, with Castro. That's simply the wrong course for American foreign policy.
You only meet with those people when there have been conditions met and when
there's been progress. Of course, you talk diplomatically. Diplomatic channels
are always open between nations of the world. But the President doesn't grace
the world's worst tyrants with a propaganda bonanza.
Did I miss something in the news this week? Has John McCain suffered a severe blow to the head? If not, then why on earth is he trotting out Mitt Romney as a font of foreign policy wisdom? We're talking about a presidential wannabe who, in terms of foreign policy cred, made Obama look like Joe Biden. And no one knows this better than McCain, who back in January, devoted an entire "Mitt Romney Issue Alert" to contrasting his own seriousness in this area with the ex-guv's complete lack thereof. Better still, the McCain press release hawking the ad included a list of Romney quotes and news clippings aiming to illustrate Mitt's utter boobishness.
So now Team McCain is touting Mitt's foreign policy sagacity. How adorable. Next thing you know they'll all be out varmint hunting together.
--Michelle Cottle
5 comments
Eight years ago McCain's open personality led to a really fortuitous chance to gain the press as a base - the bull sesions on the bus - good access, no better way of garnering favorable clippings.
Now, then too probably, he wants it badly - say anything, do anything - "within reason".
- jemerk
June 5, 2008 at 3:48pm
Well, Big Dog has this canine where he wants him, so he sends him out on an errand. The charge is once again planted and if Mitt's foreign policy credentials are challenged, he will just diappear into the woodwork.
- liberal reformer
June 5, 2008 at 3:59pm
I really wonder about McCain these days. He used to be a Republican I could respect, but lately, he seems kinda dim-witted and desperate.
- scire
June 5, 2008 at 5:14pm
Forget foreign stuff -- has Mitt finally gotten around to admitting he was in fact once governor of Massachusetts? The way he was ducking and weaving around that fairly substantial bit of personal history during the primaries was surreal. It was as if he lived in an alternate universe in which he'd had a whole different career, which he believed.
- ironyroad
June 5, 2008 at 5:41pm
Most of what McCain says is simplistic cant, but because of his foreign policy cred,we're supposed to think his posturing is insightful. Mitt doesn't have any foreign policy cred, so the simplistic cant sounds worse coming from him. If McCain is really not that much of a thinker, why does he have foreign policy cred? Because he loves America. Pity poor Obama who does not benefit from a presumption of patriotism. He has to come up with actual policies and rationales, and for his troubles is called naive by the likes of Mitt.
- geoffgraham
June 5, 2008 at 9:08pm