McCain Blogger Call
by Ryan Sager
Thu, 2 Aug 2007 at 1:58 PM
updated Thu, 2 Aug 2007 at 1:58 PM
At 2 p.m. today, John McCain held his latest blogger conference call.
The top of the agenda was attacking the Senate Democrats for their ethics bill, which Mr. McCain says he deems a pretty weak brew.
But, he also hit some other topics.
Perhaps the most surprising statement in the call, on Iraq: "In upcoming months, you could see Americans withdrawing." That, he said, could happen as Americans hand over more authority to Iraqis. Of course, he noted, it would be a long, hard process.
UPDATE I (2:46 p.m.): The senator clarified his thoughts on Iraq a bit later in the call...
"What Petraeus is going to say is not that we can start to withdraw," Mr. McCain said. "We're seeing progress," he said, and the Iraqi army is getting better. That means: "We're going to be able, in months ahead, to move into bases." And then, "when the situation warrants it," we'll be able to take the next step of withdrawing.
Full report on the call after the jump...
Ethics:
As Mr. McCain got on the call, he said he'd just come from the Senate floor, where he voted against the ethics reform bill — or, as he calls it, the "so-called" ethics reform bill, which is "a sham and a joke."
Ethics is less the problem, Mr. McCain said, than "earmarks." His objection to the bill — and it seems dead-on — is that it allows the Senate majority leader or the committee chairman to decide what gets certified as an earmark. This is instead of letting the non-partisan Senate parliamentarian do the certifying (which, Mr. McCain adds, is what the Senate originally voted 96-2 to approve). Letting partisan officials certify earmarks is just a recipe for giving the majority party free rein — as in, all Democrat earmarks are not earmarks, all Republican earmarks are earmarks.
Iraq:
Mr. McCain then turned to Iraq, and President Bush's upcoming report to Congress, set for September 15.
"We're all disappointed in the Maliki government," Mr. McCain said. But: "We can get better cooperation from that government."
The police are still not adequate, to say the least, he said. He added, though, that "In upcoming months, you could see Americans withdrawing." That would mean handing over more and more authority to the Iraqis. Of course, he said, it's a long hard process.
Ted Stevens:
Mr. McCain got a question about Ted Stevens and his recent FBI raid on suspicion of corruption.
He basically threw the senator under a bus: "Senator Stevens and I have never been particularly close," he said. Though, he added, Mr. Stevens should have the opportunity to defend himself.
On Obama and Pakistan:
"If it's Osama bin Laden," he said, sure we'd have to go after him.
But: "There are a lot of ways we can achieve goals without announcing that we're going to bomb a sovereign country. ... That's why we have Predators."
The senator reiterated: "There's plenty of ways of doing that before we declare that we're going to send B-52s and carpet-bomb the place." "That's a gross exaggeration [of Mr. Obama's views]," he noted. Still...
Back to Iraq:
"I know what it's like to be in a military that's been defeated, and I never want to see it again," Mr. McCain said.
"What Petraeus is going to say is not that we can start to withdraw," he said. "We're seeing progress," he said, and the Iraqi army is getting better. That means: "We're going to be able, in months ahead, to move into bases." And then, "when the situation warrants it," we'll be able to take the next step of withdrawing.
On when he'll hold his next blogger call:
We'll do it again in a week or two.
Related Topics: GOP Primary
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