Should we feel scared and change our minds? Don't think so.....McCain is saying what Bush is spewing half way across the globe.

By the way, thanks for nothing Hillary.

Eeewww- I'm glad you're doing it, Greg, so I don't have to.

Yes, the shoot-first-ask-questions-later policy style rarely has negative consequences.

Where's McCain's medical records? I want to have it in black and white from his doctors that McCain has all his marbles.

Left unsaid are several key facts about Iran.

When the 9/11 attack occurred in New York, Iran (long a foe of al-Qaeda itself and led by a pro-dialogue and relatively liberal president) reached out to America and voluntarily aided the USA in a number of ways including closing the border with Afghanistan and offering to share intelligence.

Bush rebuffed this outstretched hand and instead bit it with the famous "axis of evil" speech. This let to Iranian intransigence when Iraq was invaded (they would have helped us there too) and the election of hardliner Ahmadinejad (his predecessor had been completely discredited by his utter policy failure which would have been unpopular even if it had worked) and handed the Iranian hardliners a much needed boost in their waning support.

Iran could have been a US ALLY! Think about that for a second, we alienated and demonized a country that offered to help us against al-Qaeda.

This attack is absurd, and is exactly the closedmindedness that prevented US-Iranian cooperation.

Hey McCain, speaking of knowledge and understanding of foreign relations, pop quiz: Is al-Qaeda Sunni or Shia?

Thought so ;)

How does McCain explain the al-Malaki government's warm welcome of Ahmadinejad to Baghdad? The Iranian leader was greeted with flowers, parades and formally reviewed the Iraqi troops.

Where is the evidence that McCain is fit to defend this country. For the past eight years, he was cheering as Bush launched a war on false and dishonest pretenses thas cost us thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. John McCain's political idol is Ronald Reagan, a president who sold arms to Iran and negotiated with terrorists and then lied about it to the American people. Besides, what has the Bush/McCain done to make Israel safer and the Middle East more secure? Hamas and Hizballah are stronger, the Palestinian territories and Lebanon are a mess, Iran (despite American occupation of two bordering countries) is stronger and more influential in the region, Iraq has been one big bloodbath, Pakistan is dangerous as ever, Afghanistan is far from under control and Osama bin Laden is a free man. So on what basis does George Bush or John McCain have the right to question anybody's foreign policy or national security credentials?!

The more often we can get McCain to say "I agree with Bush" the deeper his hole will be dug.

In his original remarks McCain also made a major historical howler, falsely claiming that Reagan did not negotiate with Iran over the hostages. McCain is an idiot.

Is McCain afraid that Iran will use a Jedi mind trick on him if he talks with them? Does he even entertain the thought that we might be the ones to use the conversation to our advantage?

For someone who is adamant in his declaration of American power, he shows very little faith in it or himself.

Why does it feel like October already? Man, the GOP is unleashing all their favorite smears awfully early. Is this a sign they think Obama has been weakened and can easily be defined as a terrorist, or that they're really worried about Nov. and are getting desperate? I kind of think it's the latter masquerading as the former.

Yes, such a wise man, graduated bottom of his class, crashed 4 U.S. jets, and had only 20 hrs. combat time before he was captured. Exactly what I want in a "leader".

Poor McCain, he is so disconnected from reality, as delusionnal as his friend, HRC...

OP, but I am a little pissed off at the NARAL "women" now going on O'Reilly to disparage Obama because HRC didn't get their backing. They have formed a group to start a real uproar, when we need unity. HRC, I would hope, would tell them to STHU.

Obama should serve notice that he is still willing to take the high ground but that if he doesn't want that he will unload on McCain....

He should also in the meantime take an approach of simply saying that McCain is wrong and the facts are "....." then finish saying "That's how I see it and that's how Sen Mcain sees it - you decide.." The fact is that if you don't reply like that, with a direct contrary comment AND an appeal for equal legitimacy then their comment becomes "FACT" and not just opinion.

This twisted notion of American manhood is the tool the Republicans are continuing to use, and they will do so until it's proven that it doesn't work. 2006 was not enough to settle the issue. They'll do everything they can to turn Dems into girly-men instead of dealing with key realities, such as:

- this Bush administration has already negotiated with terrorists. One of them you may have heard of: Moammar Gadhafi. See Paul Begala's piece for more on this.

- their current approach of ignoring states like Iran is strengthening them, not the opposite

- and that by and large, Americans have figured these assholes out.

But that said, there are still large contingents of folks who will vote for McCain on other issues, and in doing so, open the door for one of the most catastrophic presidencies...oops, I'm sorry! Fearmongering is what the Republicans do. My bad, yo.

America needs to get its head out of its ass and realize that being a man doesn't mean giving people (or governments) you don't like the silent treatment. Besides, if they were so against this type of thing, why were they already doing it themselves?

McFlipFlop thinks he's better to defend us against enemies that his boss created. You talk about nepotism in hiring.

Would everyone who is sane here - and that excludes Otto - please stop for a minute and ask yourself why the fuck we Americans seem to worship the military and any old person who threw on a uniform -

Really - it gets too stupid for words, how the military has brainwashed Americans into automatically respecting a uniform.

Jesus Christ on Krispy Kremes with sprinkles!

Start some more unnecessary wars, you senile old fool.

I welcome the debate to which Sen McCain is inviting us here. If he really thinks that the American people are going to trust Republican approaches to foreign policy over Obama's, he is welcome to make that case. I expect that he will come to regret it in the fall, but that is certainly no skin off my own nose.

Sounds like the engineer of the Straight Talk Express has lost his bearings...AGAIN.

For TheInsufferableTwitWhoShallNotBeNamed, Obama was born August 4, 1961. Depending on which date you count, the Vietnam War ended January 27, 1973 with the Paris Peace Accords or April 30, 1975 when the last American helicopter lifted off from the American Embassy. So, Obama was either almost 12 or almost 14 when the war was over. It is possible he was surfing, but you sneered it out with the clear intent of making it sound like Obama was ducking some military obligation.

It's crap like this that proves you never, ever "considered" voting for Obama.

Please tell us how McCain's noble service in Vietnam has actually prepared him to lead us in the face of terrorism.

'Cause ya know, he's been doing such a bang-up job of things in the Senate.

TenaX is so right--when ARE we going to stop the hero-worship of men and women simply because they have served in the military. Why, it's as if many Americans didn't have much to believe in except fear ...ooops, um,

What seems to have constantly alluded the members of the GOP is that these hard, unbendable military stances that we take with the other countries of the world has yet to SOLVE anything. It has only created more hatred towards the United States.

Realistically speaking, as long as there is a state of Israel, there is going to be someone who wants to destroy it. This is never going to go away.

So from my perspective, maybe, just maybe, taking a different approach with countries like Iran and the like may possibly lead to a different outcome, being that the current stance we have is just creating more aggressive behavior and more death to americans.

This is just a thought, most likely an unrealistic one, but one never knows until they try.

I don't understand how a continuation of current policies represents national security "smarts."

He's basically claiming the inherent "Republican Advantage" on national security. I haven't seen it for 8 years, has anyone else?

The Republicans will go down if this is their playbook. McCain's War Till 2013 slogan is going to land like a brick. This whole news cycle today is a great gift to Obama and the Dems. McCain ties himself to Bush and his Israel speech. John, what are you thinking? W has one of the lowest approval ratings in recorded history, he's a laughingstock to 85% of the electorate. Go ahead and play this card and you won't even reach 200 electoral votes.

Oooh boy, this is going to be fun! McCain's coming out of the gate pretty hard and fast, but I feel like he's going to change his tone on this rhetoric at least four more times.

And FWIW, Greg, I am excited that the McC campaign has you in on their conference calls. This is why we come to TPM. Now we get to hear the bullshit straight from the horse's mouth.

Wait just a minute!

It seems like just 5 short years ago, Iraq was Germany and Saddam Hussein was Hitler. I can see how we got the spelling wrong on Iraq/Iran, but it's a long ways from Saddam Hussein to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

So, W, which one is it?

This line of attack "Obama needs to explain..." has been going on from the beginning.

A willful push to bury Obama in the 'splaining mode. The media colludes. Appeasers.

What the formerly tortured war hero, who has appeased this administration on torture, should have to explain is why he sided (appeasingly) with this administrations policies which have helped America’s enemies Iran, Hammas and Hezbullah.

John McCain should explain his own serial moments of appeasement and then explain why he still masquerades as a Mavericky Man.

Enough with the hero worship, already!

If this is McCain and the Republicans line of attack against Obama (and it is), then McCain has a real problem. Because for once the majority of Independents are not going to fall for the warmongering this time around. Not when Obama frames the issue correctly: using the military as our chief diplomatic arm is not the way to go. Just keep saying, Iraq, Iraq, Iraq. And remind
McCain and conservative bloggers what our own SecDef said about Iran and "discussions" just yesterday. This bunch can't shoot straight,and certainly can't stay on message. Heck, even Rush had to do summersaults today to "explain" away McCAin's 2013 remarks.

And please, next time Gregg, ask McCain about what the Reagan Administration did in secret negotiations with Iran to get our hostages released.

"You have to get beyond campaign tactics and take a long hard look if there's something wrong with your product". -Tom Cole,
Chair of NRCC.

I told you that the GOP attacks would make Hillary's campaign against Obama look like a love-tap. Told ya so. Told ya so. And the GOP is just getting warmed up, kiddies. Oh, the fun we'll have together over the next few months!

Let's see, what else? Well, several comments above confirm what I've always suspected. Most TPM readers aren't interested in any simple reporting of factual information at all by Greg. They want nothing but pro-Obama spin 24/7. It's the NEW POLITICS!

I'm glad you were on the call, Greg. This is good reporting.

Indeed, now we know that McCain isn't some moderate-friendly maverick Republican. He's basically like Cheney, or maybe a tad to the right of him.

I say bring it; let's have the discussion about which party and which candidate has the necessary judgment to lead us.

Cheerleading our invasion and occupation in Iraq, causing us to take our eye of Bin Laden and Al Queda and the Taliban -- doesn't sound like the most promising argument for good judgment to me.

Also, wondering what McCain has to say about Nixon negotiating with Mao Zedong. Hey, he was only the biggest mass murder of the 20th century, with a nuclear arsenal to boot.

Just now on MSNBC Chris Matthews just blew up a Republican talk radio host. Matthews asked him who was the senator whom Bush quoted today in Israel and what did this senator do to be call an appeaser. The Republican pundit didnt know and spent 5 min going in circles. Matthews told him he is talking bs
and told him not to talk about things you dont know.
It was hilarious.

It was reminiscent of what Matthews did to that BO surrogate from TX.

Heh. Bush's policies get us into a mess so deep and bad, yet McCain/Lieberman think Obama should explain his policies. WTF?!

Shouldn't McCain/Lieberman be made to explain their alignment to Bush instead?!! Shouldn't the party in power be made to explain it's policies that have ground us down and put us in more danger?

MSM sucks.

Certainly by now republicans in general and John McPander in particular have no credibility when addressing security issues or foreign policy.

It is like the story of the little boy who cried wolf and pretty soon nobody listened.

Not to put to fine a spin on it, I don't believe one word McCain says. Whatever good points he once had, he has pandered away.

I get the feeling that the GOP is going to experience some of the same "I am rubber, you are glue" blowback that Clinton did when she went negative.

Obama's approval rating may take a hit, but the attacker's moreso.

Many former POW's were subsequently given advancements in rank commensurate to their time served in North Vietnam.

Surprisingly, although he was restored to active duty after his return and is the son and grandson of Admirals, McCain was denied advancement to Flag Rank and retired as a Captain...the rank he held the day he was shot down.

John McCain: Unfit for command then, unfit for command now.

Hmmm, it is interesting to note that while Bush is denouncing the appeasement of terrorists, meaning Iran and her associates in Israel, his secretary of defense, Robert Gates, is talking about using incentive and pressure to pursuade Iran to change its behavior.

Now you have McCain saber rattling against Obama.

" We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage...and then sit down and talk with them," Gates said (as reported by the Washington Post today).

I get the impression that the good cop/bad cop is being played. That Gates may be this round's Colin Powell.

Me thinks that there's something foul afoot and we'll really know between now and election day 2008.

Stay tuned. This looks like a re-play of our mist recent misadventure in the Middle East.

I think this is going to be a plus for Obama. First, notice Clinton isn't remotely part of this conversation other than to defend Obama re: Bush.

2nd, this is the kind of stupid shit that Obama loooves to call McBush on.

"As a dog returneth to his own vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly". Proverbs 26:11

al queda is sunni not shia.

way to keep it classy, mcsame

you too greg

I wish I'd kept the New York Magazine article about McCain, which described, among other things, the writers impression of McCain delivering several speeches. At one location, the teleprompter malfunctioned and McCain stood silent for a total of four minutes until it was fixed. The writer referred to McCain's "tiny, clawlike hands" and other humorous descriptions and it was so funny to read.

Having moved to Texas from Arizona, I can tell you that McCain is a joke. He talked so much about Vietnam that somebody finally got him to shut up. So, here we go again. Johnny and the Beer Queen. He is SO Fred Thompson--wait and see.
He's not going anywhere, let alone the White House. Barack will bury him.

Let McCain make these experience and judgment claims as long as he wants. Bottom line is he supported the invasion, while many foreign policy amateurs with a basic knowledge of the region predicted disaster from the beginning. He still doesn't know the first thing about the people of Iraq, and this lack of curiosity, knowledge, or whatever you want to call it will be to his peril should he become President.

I don't have a problem with Greg, or anyone else joining in on a McCain blogger call. What I found a bit disturbing, was the lack of context.

BTW, a majority of Israelis favor direct talks with Hammas. So this drama queen stuff about dealing with terrorists, is a total non-starter.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/958473.html

John McCain is a very stupid, ignorant old man.