Posted on 08/23/2005 7:10:36 PM PDT by Kokojmudd
President's one meeting with GI's mom is enough, senator says By C.J. Karamargin ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Sen. John McCain today defended President Bush's decision not to meet again with Cindy Sheehan, the grieving mother who has come to personify the anti-war movement.
Speaking at a breakfast meeting of the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, McCain said Sheehan was "probably" being used by organizations opposed to the U.S. mission in Iraq.
But the four-term Republican defended her right to protest and said the vigil she has maintained outside of Bush's Texas ranch was "a symptom, not a cause" of growing public discontent with the war.
"Things are not good in Iraq," he said. "We take one step forward and two steps back."
McCain accused Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld of badly handling the war but said it was up to Bush to decide whether he should be replaced.
He adopted a similar stance about the meeting Sheehan has insisted on having with the president.
Noting that Bush already met with her, McCain said he "can't answer the question as to whether he should meet with her again. But my personal opinion, and I'm not trying to tell the president what to do, my personal opinion is probably not because he had already met with her."
McCain has long advocated sending more troops to Iraq as a way to defeat an insurgency that has claimed the lives of close to 2,000 American soldiers. He said it would be mistake for the U.S. to leave now because Iraq would become "a new center of terrorism."
Oh, I feel so much better knowing that McCain has given his blessing to the President's position on Sheehan.
This should prove to people that McCain and Hagel are different. McCain verbally supports Bush, has campaigned with him, gone to bat for him on TV, and he still cannot make some people here happy.
Used?
Sheehan is a happy monica for all the anti-war, anti-American left.
Can he possibly be any more tepid?!
Geez...with friends like these...
Duh, gee, John, ya think so?
Gee, Ace...ya think?
Mother Sheehan aside, McCain is still saying that things are not going well in Iraq. In that respect he is just like Hagel.
He's really a great morale booster, isn't he?
McCain is being his usual self. He can only say she "probably" is being used. Then he goes on to say the war is not going right and that Rumsfeld should go. Can't quite make himself support the President, then he wouldn't get invited on all the shows he so loves to be on.
McCain and Hagel are different. McCain is supportive of the war but undermines Bush on just about every other issue (campaign finance reform, judges, and global warming just to name a few) whereas Hagel is critical about war but supports Bush on most things. Hagel is pretty reliably conservative with respect to most issues whereas McCain is not.
Jeez! Who woke up Rip Van McCain????
I don't think she is being used by anyone. I think she knows what she is doing.
"Things are not good in Iraq," he said. "We take one step forward and two steps back."
Sounds like McCain has described his own movements after a heavy bout of imbibing. What a jerk!
Senator, if I were to choose between you and Rumsfeld to be in my corner for support it certainly would not be you! Get a life???????
I think McCain is posturing for his MSM cronies. This issue is a dog politically.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.