McCain responds to "100 years" comment

[LFOD]

Transcript from today's Meet the Press:

MR. RUSSERT: Let me ask about Iraq. You were at a town hall meeting here in Derry, New Hampshire...

SEN. McCAIN: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

MR. RUSSERT: ...and here’s what you...

SEN. McCAIN: I’m glad you’ve been paying attention to these town hall meetings.

MR. RUSSERT: I follow you closely, Senator, believe me.

SEN. McCAIN: God bless you.

MR. RUSSERT: Here’s the question and answer.

(Videotape)

Unidentified Man #1: President Bush has talked about our staying in Iraq for 50 years.

SEN. McCAIN: Maybe 100.

Man: Is, is that...

SEN. McCAIN: How long...

Man: Is that...

SEN. McCAIN: We’ve been in, we’ve been in South Korea—we’ve been in Japan for 60 years, we’ve been in South Korea for 50 years or so. That’d be fine with me, as long as Americans...

Man: So that’s your policy?

SEN. McCAIN: ...as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed, then it’s fine with me.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: In November, you go the American people...

SEN. McCAIN: Mm-hmm.

MR. RUSSERT: ...and say, “I’d be all right with having U.S. troops in Iraq for the next 100 years”?

SEN. McCAIN: Most importantly, so would the American people if Americans aren’t dying. We have a base in, in the neighboring country of Kuwait, very large base. We have a base in Turkey. We have a base in Japan, Germany. We’ve had bases there. It’s not American presence that bothers the American people, it’s American casualties. And if Americans are safe wherever they are in the world, Americans—the American people don’t mind that. So what I believe we can achieve is a reduction in casualties to the point where the Iraqis are doing the fighting and dying, we’re supporting them, and, over time, then it’ll be the relation between the two countries. With Kuwait, they want us there and they want us there for a long time, so we’re glad to be there. The Saudis? They didn’t want us there for various reasons, so we left. That’s going to depend on relations between the United States government and the Iraqi government. My point was—everybody says, “How long are we going to stay?” My point is, how—when are we going to succeed? Which we are succeeding now so that the Iraqi government is functioning, and we have stability in the region. Instability in Iraq means instability...

MR. RUSSERT: What kind of troop levels for the next 10, 20 years?

SEN. McCAIN: I—you know, that’s very hard to say. But they—but the troops would be out of harm’s way. That’s the key to it. And...

MR. RUSSERT: Would you have permanent bases?

SEN. McCAIN: If, if that seems to be necessary, in some respects. It depends on the threat. I mean, look, what if, what if Jordan falls? What if there’s another war with Israel? What, what if Egypt, that, that there’s tremendous upheaval? This is a very unstable part of the world as we just found out in Pakistan. So it depends on our national security threats and the needs to meet them. But right now I just want to look you in the eye and tell you that al-Qaeda is on the run and they are not defeated. But we are succeeding, and many, many experts said that the surge would not succeed and said that I was wrong. And, my friend, I was right.

[DrRich]

mccain is an idiot.

[MGreen]

What a scary man. And talk about condescending. You kind of expect the elite to have the attitude, "what the people don't know won't hurt them," but McCain is so open with it. The government has the authority to do whatever it wants, so long as we don't see massive protests in the streets.

And the Iraqis have made it quite clear they don't want us there. So why aren't we leaving, senator?

[hueylong]

McCain is making Dr. Paul's case for him.

[MayTheRonBeWithYou]

McCain clearly has no understanding of foreign policy or jihad whatsoever.

[stefans]

SEN. McCAIN: Most importantly, so would the American people if Americans aren’t dying. We have a base in, in the neighboring country of Kuwait, very large base. We have a base in Turkey. We have a base in Japan, Germany. We’ve had bases there. It’s not American presence that bothers the American people, it’s American casualties.

the sad thing is that he's probably right on this.
the public opinion wouldn't have turned around without the casualties.
for now this preemtive war policy is at least on hold for a while. not saying that the casualties are a good thing of course, but that's the only good thing about this catastrophic situation.

[Myerz]

As long as Americans don't die...........as long as it's the Iraqis that are fighting and dying!......what evil.

We here in the forums already see right through this guy I hope the American people do..

If Ron paul is not going to run negative ads....I think it's time for the Revolution to step up!

[Liberty Star]

SEN. McCAIN: Most importantly, so would the American people if Americans aren’t dying. We have a base in, in the neighboring country of Kuwait, very large base. We have a base in Turkey. We have a base in Japan, Germany. We’ve had bases there. It’s not American presence that bothers the American people, it’s American casualties. And if Americans are safe wherever they are in the world, Americans—the American people don’t mind that. So what I believe we can achieve is a reduction in casualties to the point where the Iraqis are doing the fighting and dying, we’re supporting them, and, over time, then it’ll be the relation between the two countries. With Kuwait, they want us there and they want us there for a long time, so we’re glad to be there. The Saudis? They didn’t want us there for various reasons, so we left. That’s going to depend on relations between the United States government and the Iraqi government. My point was—everybody says, “How long are we going to stay?” My point is, how—when are we going to succeed? Which we are succeeding now so that the Iraqi government is functioning, and we have stability in the region. Instability in Iraq means instability...

MR. RUSSERT: What kind of troop levels for the next 10, 20 years?

SEN. McCAIN: I—you know, that’s very hard to say. But they—but the troops would be out of harm’s way. That’s the key to it. And...

MR. RUSSERT: Would you have permanent bases?

SEN. McCAIN: If, if that seems to be necessary, in some respects. It depends on the threat. I mean, look, what if, what if Jordan falls? What if there’s another war with Israel? What, what if Egypt, that, that there’s tremendous upheaval? This is a very unstable part of the world as we just found out in Pakistan. So it depends on our national security threats and the needs to meet them. But right now I just want to look you in the eye and tell you that al-Qaeda is on the run and they are not defeated. But we are succeeding, and many, many experts said that the surge would not succeed and said that I was wrong. And, my friend, I was right.

Sen. McCain, what threat did we face from Iraq?

What did we get in terms of American security with over 4000 American lives lost and many more maimed and 30% of all Iraqis killed, orphaned or having lost a family member?

Don't you think this policy makes America less safe?

Let's let Israel and Jordan, Egypt dictatorships handle their own issues, we can help them without permanent bases in Iraq.


THE MCLAUGHLIN GROUP HOST: JOHN MCLAUGHLIN
PANEL: PATRICK BUCHANAN, MSNBC; ELEANOR CLIFT, NEWSWEEK; TONY BLANKLEY, THE WASHINGTON TIMES; JAMES WARREN, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE
TAPED: FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2007 BROADCAST: WEEKEND OF MARCH 31-APRIL 1, 2007

The human toll:

U.S. military dead in Iraq, 3,244;
U.S. military amputeed, wounded, injured, severely injured, mentally ill, all now out of Iraq, 73,570;
Iraq civilians dead, 139,500.

http://www.mclaughlin.com/library/transcript.asp?id=589

[smoke.stack]

seems like he is a "what if" man.

I'm scared of him because I fear that he holds grudges from his POW days, and might take us to war.

[stevedasbach]

Unfortunately, it appears that the MSM is completely ignoring McCain's comments. I've done Goggle searches for it all day and with a couple of exceptions, it is only showing up in liberal news sources. One New Hampshire paper seems to have picked it up.

I haven't seen all of last night's debate, but I assume that Dr. Paul didn't challenge McCain about it. Too bad. It doesn't look like it's going to get out there in time to affect New Hampshire, unless it is spreading in New Hampshire by means that don't show up online.

Anyone from New Hampshire taking a momentary break from campaigning and available to comment?

[OrbitalGun]

I have to admit to being a closet McCain supporter about 8 years ago. But the way he has been acting lately qualifies him to be the kook in this race.

[yongrel]

jeez

NH will not take kindly to that, I hope.

[JS4Pat]

We need a negative ad in New Hampshire targeting McCain. It would be sooo easy and so effective.

The 100 year war quote.

The quote from the CNN/YOU Tube debate where he said we failed in Iraq.

And of course the quote where he says Ron Paul is the most honest man in Congress.

We could kill him with this!!!

What is the CAMPAIGN waiting for?

[colecrowe]

I'm telling you what--the Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran is one of the most powerful things to show people--even people who support or like McCain--it is so disgusting and over the top that it really affects people.


We need a negative ad in New Hampshire targeting McCain. It would be sooo easy and so effective.

The 100 year war quote.

The quote from the CNN/YOU Tube debate where he said we failed in Iraq.

And of course the quote where he says Ron Paul is the most honest man in Congress.

We could kill him with this!!!

What is the CAMPAIGN waiting for?

[colecrowe]

Please, can someone convince them to run these videos in an ad?

[CountryRoads]

McCain is making Dr. Paul's case for him.


EXACTLY

How would we feel with Chinese bases or Russian bases stationed all around us? AND WE DONT EVEN CONSIDER THIS HOLY LAND LIKE MUSLIMS CONSIDER THEIRS.

Get the fuck out McCain.

[Eponym_mi]

His "my friend" crap is nauseating. Friends don't let friends vote for McCain.

[IHaveaDream]

Senator John McCain was a prisoner of war.

Senator John McCain is still a prisoner of war.

[Mark]

Just how would he keep them "out of harms way"? They make little things called missiles these days that fly a few miles and explode.

There's no "out of harms way" over there.

[charger]

McCain has little value for human life and even less for Iraqis.
I can't believe anyone in their right mind would support him or this war policy?

[Xonox]

So really he dosen't want our troops just in Iraq forever, he wants them everywhere, because, "What if there's a war or something?"

[Lyn]

His "my friend" crap is nauseating. Friends don't let friends vote for McCain.

ROFL

[Sey.Naci]

As long as Americans don't die...........as long as it's the Iraqis that are fighting and dying!......what evil.Yea, that's what struck me, with fear and loathing. Dr. P values ALL human life, not just American.

[CountryRoads]

So really he dosen't want our troops just in Iraq forever, he wants them everywhere, because, "What if there's a war or something?"


He might as well talk about having bases stationed all over the world, you never know where the terrists'll be next!! LOL

I can't believe NH is buying that creep.

[Thomas Paine]

Senator John McCain was a prisoner of war.

Senator John McCain is still a prisoner of war.

You said it, brother!

[B of R guy]

These are truly frightening remarks from Sen McCain Feingold. The implications of our Iraqi based troops acting to support corrupt, un-democratic regimes in Jordan and Egypt (and by default Pakistan) is truly outrageous.

RP needs to call him on this ASAP.

[Bossobass]

Russert forgot to ask McCain: When the largest bailout in American history of more than a trillion dollars for Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's bogus government backed mortgages hits American taxpayers. how do you propose we pay for these permanent bases???

When the debt incurred for these permanent bases finally crashes the US dollar and the US economy, how will America defend itself against ANY enemy?

Bosso

[Thumper]

SEN. McCAIN: I—you know, that’s very hard to say. But they—but the troops would be out of harm’s way. That’s the key to it. And...


The troops would be out of harms way here at home. Any time you put an American in uniform and put a gun in his/her hand, then place them on foreign soil they are by default in harms way. They are targets for anyone who wants to take a shot at them and that will not change regardless of the situation in Iraq. The world is a different place today than it was fifty years ago and there are people in the world who consider it honorable to kill Americans because of our occupation of different countries around the world.

I would think that as a military veteran Sen. McCain would understand that. American troops abroad are always in harms way. If the idea is that we are going to keep troops on the ground in all these different countries even after their countries are "stable" just so we can watch them, I have to ask why? We can watch them from here, we don't need to be there to do it. That's why we have the news media, to keep us informed. Why not have a media surge in Iraq and bring the troops home? The way most of our media acts, they deserve to be stationed there.

[TheConstitutionLives]

Russert should've ask him "So how much is all this presence gonna cost the American taxpayer?"

No one ever ask how much all this crap costs, do they?

[Liberty Star]

We need a negative ad in New Hampshire targeting McCain. It would be sooo easy and so effective.

The 100 year war quote.

The quote from the CNN/YOU Tube debate where he said we failed in Iraq.

And of course the quote where he says Ron Paul is the most honest man in Congress.

We could kill him with this!!!

What is the CAMPAIGN waiting for?

Fully agree, except that I won't call it a negative ad, it will be education 101 on Iraq. It's not digging up irrelevant dirt on an opponent, it's highlighting very illogical views of a candidate in public domain. Contrast it against RP's now popular Iraq stance and human/economic/liberties cost of Iraq war. That one smartly designed ad hitting hard the right message can win NH for RP.

[RevolutionSD]

McCain is doing himself in with all this.
He's basically saying we need to keep building an empire and policing the world.

Beyond the fact of how sick this policy is, how the hell is he proposing we fund this mass-murder?

[aspiringconstitutionalist]

Why doesn't McCain ask himself the question of why al Qaeda turned against the US in 1990 in the first place?

[Liberty Star]

McCain is doing himself in with all this.
He's basically saying we need to keep building an empire and policing the world.

Beyond the fact of how sick this policy is, how the hell is he proposing we fund this mass-murder?


It won't cause him much damage unless someone effectively exploited and highlighted this in an ad or using some other channel. So far, no campaign is doing it.

[Liberty Star]

Russert should've ask him "So how much is all this presence gonna cost the American taxpayer?"

No one ever ask how much all this crap costs, do they?


They don't for a reason.

Cost of Iraqi freedom/reconstruction operation is $2 Billion per week, unfortunately that's the least expensive of all the costs of this ill conceived exercise. Human, liberty and terror breeding costs are much higher.

[atthegates]

mccain's going down in NH

[familydog]

Good job on and hammering him on that, Russert.

Not.

[The Good Doctor]

I shudder to think what McCain would say if another country came in here and told us what to do.

[webber53]

Please forgive my vernacular. I do not particular speak in such an
undignified way but did you hear John McCain laughing at Ron Paul
when Charles Gibson mentioned that RP changed parties? That man
is a complete a**wipe! The people of Arizona should dig a hole in their
desert and bury that dumb SOB as deep as they can bury him!
He is an embarrassment to the Republican party.
He is a flippin joke of a politician. :mad:

[rfbz]

I made a quick youtube video of the 100 years comment and the Bomb Iran comment back to back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrJiNzW7d0c

[Sarge]

I hate McCain but the transcript showed it was Mitt who made the comment.

Check out the post of the transcript.

[ronpaulfollower999]

I hate McCain but the transcript showed it was Mitt who made the comment.

Check out the post of the transcript.

:confused:

[Mark]

:confused:

ABC Transcript Page: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4091645&page=1 (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4091645&page=1)

Simple Printer Version: http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=4091645

[JS4Pat]

mccain's going down in NH

Not according to the polls. :confused:

[JS4Pat]

I made a quick youtube video of the 100 years comment and the Bomb Iran comment back to back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrJiNzW7d0c

He is an absolutely disgusting man.

He just tied Rudy for the Republican candidate I hate the most.

New Rankings from Worse to The Worst...

5. Hunter
4. Thompson
3. Mittens
2. Huckster
1. Goulani and McCain

[webber53]

I hate McCain but the transcript showed it was Mitt who made the comment.

Check out the post of the transcript.

I read and reread the entire transcript discourse between the candidates
and Ron Paul and I did not see any comment that was atrributed to Mitt Romney
telling Ron Paul that "we'll miss you tomorrow at the debate."
All I read was "crosstalk". Apparantley ABC Snooze is covering their tracks
and not publishing every word that was videotaped. I still say the voice
sounded like McCain's.

[Give me liberty]

Not according to the polls. :confused:

SCREW THE POLLS

NH is for ron paul.

[Liberty Star]

Where was that TV pundit comment from, 'there are so many Ron Paul signs in NH, he has to be the biggest real esate agent in NH'. Or something like that.

[Liberty Star]

McCain is making Dr. Paul's case for him.


McCain clearly has no understanding of foreign policy or jihad whatsoever.

That seems to be the case.

[Liberty Star]

Unfortunately, it appears that the MSM is completely ignoring McCain's comments. I've done Goggle searches for it all day and with a couple of exceptions, it is only showing up in liberal news sources. One New Hampshire paper seems to have picked it up.



It's starting to show now, it's catching up.

[Liberty Star]

As long as Americans don't die...........as long as it's the Iraqis that are fighting and dying!......what evil.

We here in the forums already see right through this guy I hope the American people do..

If Ron paul is not going to run negative ads....I think it's time for the Revolution to step up!

I think most do, he has no chance beyond NH.

I don't think McCain is a racist, just ignorant and ill advised on this issue.

[Liberty Star]

I have to admit to being a closet McCain supporter about 8 years ago. But the way he has been acting lately qualifies him to be the kook in this race.


I had some respect for McCain too as he seemed to have some convictions, not much any more.