Does NBC have some inside dope? Is John McCain, till now one of the staunchest supporters of the Bush administration's Iraq policy, about to turn tail? An unusual question from Matt Lauer to Tony Snow this morning seems to suggest that possibility.Posted on 07/10/2007 4:45:49 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
Does NBC have some inside dope? Is John McCain, till now one of the staunchest supporters of the Bush administration's Iraq policy, about to turn tail? An unusual question from Matt Lauer to Tony Snow this morning seems to suggest that possibility.
Here's the exchange that came on this morning's "Today" at 7:08 A.M. EDT, toward the end of Lauer's interview of White House press secretary Snow:
TODAY CO-HOST MATT LAUER: If, and you hate hypotheticals, I know, so hate me later, but if John McCain comes back [from his current Iraq trip] and joins the ranks of those other Republicans who say it's time to rethink this strategy, how big a blow is that to the President, considering how supportive John McCain has been to the strategy?
WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY TONY SNOW: You've got to understand that for the President, although politics is clearly important in building public support, succeeding is the most important thing of all. If we fail in Iraq, and this is something [U.S. Ambassador to Iraq] Ryan Crocker was pointing out as well, if you have failure in Iraq, you are going to see consequences that are going to be extraordinarily dire in the region, throughout the world and for the United States.
View video here.
Given the very track record of McCain's support that Lauer cited, why would the "Today" host have raised the possibility that the Arizona senator might take a powder? Has NBC received a heads-up, some kind of McCain trial balloon?
Just as interesting as Lauer's question was Snow's response. Presumably the White House and/or administration representatives in Iraq are in contact with McCain during his trip. If the administration were certain McCain was still on board, you would have expected a more dismissive answer from Snow. Does the fact that Snow downplayed the importance of "politics" and spoke of the importance of success regardless of domestic support suggest the White House has an inkling McCain's support might be wavering?
Could this be some kind of McCain Hail Mary, a sudden change of course in an attempt to revive a moribund presidential candidacy? Stay tuned.
Mark was in Iraq in November. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net
McCain punting on Iraq? Ping to Today show list.
Well, who can predict Juan McCain? He’s like Hillary on this issue, all kinds of mixed messages, but I don’t think his are deliberate.
He more likely than not will stick to support for the Bush administration plan.
Bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran.
NO way. This is another made up rumor by the MSM...don’t forget..Fred used to do a lot of fund-raising for McCain...MY climb out on a limb prediction is that when McCain drops put..he’ll endorse Fred..which is why Thompson is delaying his announcement..
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
The administration warns about the consequences of failure, but says very little about how we’re supposed to succeed. At this stage, how many Iraqi troops were supposed to be trained? How far along were we supposed to be?
That is true. When Juan’s in trouble - which is often - he’ll tend to be even more erratic. His presidential campaign will be lucky to last until the end of summer.
AZ voters seem VERY sick of McCain’s antics.
From the Nation Review Online Corner Blog, Andy McCarthy reports the following from Senator Kyl Speaking with Bill Bennett
Like Sen. Lieberman, Sen. Kyl thinks the president will hang tough. Also, though he avoids stealing Sen. McCain’s thunder, says we can expect to hear from McCain (and Sen. Graham) later this morning and that it will be a positive report — at least on the military front.
Thanks for the info from National Review about McCain. Perhaps Lauer’s question was simply a shot in the dark.
I’ve updated the NewsBusters item with this info, with hat tip to you.
But if McCain comes back and says we're making real progress, the media will shrug and mumble and say "Says who?"
But, it's not like the media has an agenda ...
This isn’t as much about McCain as it is the Democrats have suddenly realized that if the ‘surge’ works they lose in 08.
Wow...McCain stab Bush in the back to get some cheap heat from the MSM? Gee, its not that’s ever happened before....
McCain’s support for winning in Iraq was the only position he’s taken that I admire. If he dumps it in favor of better polls he’s got nothing left for the conservative right. See Ya John.
If so .. it won't help him and will damage his political career even more
McCain is up on the Senate Floor now speaking about the defense spending bill and the progress of the surge
Listening now, so far, so good. Let’s see if he talks out of both sides.
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