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McCain's Sons Serving In Iraq May Frustrate Dem Attacks
Democrats are facing what could prove a major difficulty in the general election: During the fall campaign, John McCain might have not one, but two sons serving in Iraq.
For the Democrats, that possibility could make it much more difficult to hit McCain on Iraq policy. And while McCain himself has avoided mentioning it in his speeches, at least for now, you can bet his surrogates will be more than happy to bring it up every time the Dems hit him on the war.
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Eric the concern troll pops up again. Eric, you seem to have forgotten that most Americans are opposed to the Iraq War. Don't their opinions count for more than the fact that McCain's sons serve in Iraq? Senator Webb has a son serving in Iraq as well.
April 3, 2008 9:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why would this matter? Democrats want to end this war for all soldiers and all parents of soldiers, McCain included. The debate over the war doesn't have anything to do with McCain having family there.
Is it just me or is this really stupid?
April 3, 2008 10:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yep. It's more concern-trolling about "Oh, this may REALLY damage Democrats," from Eric here. I've never heard anything about how McCain's Iraq stance may hurt his chances of being elected from Eric.
April 3, 2008 10:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
LUXVERITAS: It isn't just you. This really is stupid.
April 3, 2008 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
I disagree. While commendable they are serving, they should be i Afghanistan, they definitely will not be subjected to stop loss, and should they need medical care when returning home, we know that isn't an issue. His sons are serving and he still says we should stay in Iraq, that, in my humble opinion, just solidifies the dementia question. Senator Webb's son served and Senator Webb has vested many hours trying to help the soldiers, not riding on the OOPS!, ran off the tracks straight talk express.
By the way, how is McCain's relationship with his sons, I assume they are from his first marriage that he left after several affairs (his words) while his wife and children had remained ever vigilant during his captivity.
April 3, 2008 10:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't see how this doesn't allow Democrats to attack him on Iraq. It definitely doesn't make it more difficult. The "chickenhawk" line wasn't going to work against McCain anyway. All you have to do is point out he's wrong on the war. There are plenty of avenues of attack with Mcain and Iraq (it rhymes!). The line of attack precluded by his son's service in Iraq isn't one thats all that effective anyway.
April 3, 2008 10:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Unless the VP was Webb...
April 3, 2008 10:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
One can admire the service of the sons without believing in the policies of the father.
The Iraqis believe they would be better off if we left, so why are we not establishing a timetable for orderly withdrawal. The al-Maliki government is hated by everyone but the people in the Green Zone who want to stay in power. They have tons of money but can't find a way to spend it on their own people.
Yesterday's comments to the Senate by Nir Rosen were the most revealing.
April 3, 2008 10:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Headlines today: by Sam Stein
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/03/mccain-is-awol-on-new-gi_n_94791.html
McCain not backing new GI bill, that should be easy enough to hit him back with.
April 3, 2008 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think it may be an issue but Jim Webb would be a good counter.
April 3, 2008 11:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
I have skin in the game too. Does this mean I should think the war is winnable? Didn't think so.
April 3, 2008 11:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Eric your theory is only true if Dems are stupid enough to attack McCain claiming he has no skin in the game. Every American does whether or not they or relatives are serving in Iraq. The Republicans are spending our Social Security money in Iraq preparing them for a full scale civil war.
April 3, 2008 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Honestly Eric, this concern is beltway handwringing at it's best. It shows little understanding of the military and its families, or how to talk to and about them. And it could really only be propagated by people who have never served and never been that close to the military.
Of course you can find people with family members in Iraq who think the war is a good idea, and of course (for reasons of loyalty) this positive opinion of the Iraq war may often seem to remain even after the general populace has soured on the war. But unless someone is making the most ham-fisted arguments about the Iraq war, the fact that someone is positive about the war and they have family members in it doesn't mean you can't criticize their views as being out step with the populace in general and other military families in particluar:
April 3, 2008 12:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think that the eventual nominee will know how to attack the concept and "merits" of our military actions in Iraq without being perceived as anti-troops/anti-military.
I think the 2006 midterm elections showed that the Democrats can do it.
April 3, 2008 12:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jimmy and John are McCain's sons by his current, wife, Cindy. His sons by his first wife, Carol, are in their 40s. Pretty obvious if you remember how long ago Vitenam was.
The Democrats would be fools to say, "Even with his own sons in Iraq, McCain wants more war." That would backfire big-time, as when Kerry brought up Mary Cheney's lesbianism. Obama is no Kerry, thank God, and should avoid that pitfall.
April 3, 2008 12:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think the point is we'd rather have our troops - including his sons - serving in battlefields where we have a genuine mission.
How about we ship them to places where Bin Laden hangs out?
April 3, 2008 1:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
No one is going to attack McCain's patriotism or service in this campaign. No one has. No one needs to.
The right line of attack is that we honor McCain for his service and his family's service, just as we honor ALL our citizens in the armed services. We honor them by not putting them in a no-win situation. We honor them by getting them out of Iraq and focusing our military on our real enemies, instead of weakening them through over-extension. We honor them by giving them proper medical care and benefits and respect when they return home.
We attack McCain by showing how he has aligned himself with Bush, and we attack Bush for the gross abuses his administration has committed, from the extended tours to Walter Reed to opposition to pay raises/GI bill.
Obama has a good record on veteran's benefits. And of course, he was right on the war from the beginning. This is not an obstacle in this campaign.
April 3, 2008 1:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Most democrats will continue to support the troops and oppose the war.
Genuine conservatives regard the military as part of the service economy, for which they are overtaxed, so it is one more thing which makes mcCain a suspicious character---all this glorification of the actual human beings who serve, as opposed to the concept of what the military apparatus does to protect their interests.
April 3, 2008 2:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
But we're not going to attack McCain(except when he makes stupid gaffes like "100 years in Iraq"). McCain is not our target. Bush and the GOP is our target.
Call him McBush and then bash Bush. Not that complicated.
April 3, 2008 4:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama never has, and most likely never will attack McCain's credentials as a military man or patriot. He always says it is a difference in policy. I fail to see how this can be affected by McCain's having sons serving in Iraq. It can even be said that by presenting credible and feasible plan to wind down the Iraq war, the Democratic candidate could be seen as helping McCain's sons come home safely and in a reasonable time.
I don't see the premise of this article having any basis in reason, but emotions are something else. Still, Obama cannot let McCain's family involvement in the war deter his search for a credible exit strategy from Iraq. On the contrary this should be precisely his challenge to McCain..let's get your sons home safely.
April 3, 2008 9:18 PM | Reply | Permalink