Hothead McCain (and the ideas coming out of his foreign-policy brain trust)

The Nation ^ | posted March 6, 2008 (March 24, 2008 issue) | Robert Dreyfuss

[K-oneTexas]

Article that generate thought and make the grey matter work are pretty good from any site.

[K-oneTexas]

I read to generate ideas. I also find in reading these others sites exactly what the other side is thinking and then I can prepare an answer to it. Living in a place as liberal as Austin Texas, thanks to the transplants from elsewhere, I get an opportunity to throw it back in many a place. You pick their specifics and throw it back ... not haphazardly.

[McGruff]

"League of Democracies" that can bypass the balky United Nations, from an expanded NATO that will bump up against Russian

I guess he is trying to win over us conservatives. Go McCain!

[safeasthebanks]

So do you agree with this drivel or not?

Sorry, but for me you've been here long enough to know how to use a "barf alert", or at least to post a comment with the article saying you know that what you are posting is crap, but it's just for educational purposes (or something like that).

Just common courtesy, especially with an article from a lefty rag like this.

[DeaconRed]

"He is the lesser of three evils at this point in my mind."

I am still a "NONE OF THE ABOVE" voter!

[kinoxi]

That usually helps one of the greater. I’ve never seen a perfect candidate. It always seems to come down to one being better than the other. I thought Hunter was great if that gives you a clue as to my mindset. Not voting is a differential vote for someone else. I hope you don’t sit it out.

[malia]

“We must make sure our Brave Military gets the support to Win This WAR. Not another Viet Nam”

Nothing more to be said!!!

[Grunthor]

bump

[muleskinner]

If “The Nation” doesn’t like him, then he must be good.

Proving once again that there must be a marked difference between Obama & Hillary on one side and McCain on the other, regardless of what some here believe.

[Solitar]

From the article:
Not surprisingly, the center of McCain's foreign policy is the Middle East. "He's bought into the completely fallacious notion that we're in a global struggle of us-versus-them. He calls it the 'transcendental threat...of extreme Islam," says Daalder. "But it's a silly argument to think that this is either an ideological or a material struggle on a par with [the ones against] Nazi Germany or Soviet Communism." For McCain, the Iraq War, the conflict with Iran, the Arab-Israeli dispute, the war in Afghanistan, the Pakistani crisis and the lack of democracy in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan are all rolled up into one "transcendent" ball of wax.

I agree with McCain on this -- we are up against an Islamic front that wants to see the West in general the America specifically conquered into submission.

As to Russia...
On the one hand his aggressiveness could cause trouble with the Russians. On the other hand, it worked for Reagan and thus maybe aggressiveness against Russia and China is also needed to counter Putin who is even more confrontational than McCain (as in bomber overflights and threats of targeting with nuclear missiles).

I'm reminded of LBJ's campaign which was saying that if we voted for Goldwater, there would be war. Well, some of us voted for Goldwater and there was war.

[K-oneTexas]

I don't agree. As I said I read it to learn. This one states who is advising McCain, by name, on Foreign Policy. Things any informed voter might want to know. Some Bush 1 and Clinton policy wonks.

If Foreign Policy matters need a "Barf Alert" for you, well maybe posts on Radical Islam do too.

Read to learn!!!

[muleskinner]

Looking way back at Goldwater vs. Johnson.

Johnson successfully portrayed Goldwater as a 'Warmonger" and someone who would have no problem with pushing the missle button first and asking questions later. It was the scare of nuclear war with Russia that had Goldwater in trouble. It was only a year and a half previous to the election that we almost had a real nuclear war over Cuba.

In early '64, Vietnam was a minor issue and just starting to get legs, so the "warmonger" taint was easily spread over Barry on that concern too. JMO.

[isrul]

And that's the problem. If it wasn't for that and his distaste for free speech, I could work with him.

[xjcsa]

If the Rats think “hothead” will bring down McCain they better think again, it will probably give him a 10 point bump if he keeps doing it to the MSM.

He usually directs it at conservatives.

[mcvey]

It is just not the same. This is not 1976. The schools are controlled by far lefties. Most of the mainstream churches are controlled by far lefties. Reform Synagogues are embarrasing. The MSM is—well, you know. Talk radio is losing its effectiveness in gaining converts. Basically the only place we have that still allows us to have a voice is the presidency.

Take the presidency away and the Supreme Court will turn sharply left, the Presidency will be left and the Congress will remain left.

If this were not so, we would be not fighting to hold onto Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Virginia. But it is so and we are in real danger of losing those states. Think to yourself—how many blue states are drifting red? Answer: none. How many red states and purple states are drifting blue. Answer: PA, OH, VA, MO, NV, AZ, NM, TN, and the entire upper Midwest.

So, we need to hold on and McCain is going to be the only voice we have.

[Vaduz]

Ted Kennedy has placed the nose ring in McNuts long ago.

[MinuteGal]

We here at FR castigate the mindless masses for buying into left-wing, radical, socialist, commie propaganda emanating from all varieties of media. The Nation is premier among this group.

Yet, this article planted on FR elicits all kinds of comments based on it, without any question at all as to the authenticity of what's presented. It's all so "scholarly", you know, so "inside stuff", therefore everything in it must be true.

I suggest we freepers keep our heads clear and ready for more of this on McCain in the months ahead. I suggest we wait and see what actually comes out of McCain's mouth and official campaign before we go off all hysterical. There's a deep-seated hatred of the GOP nominee-presumptive by a vocal minority here who apparently never sleep. Take what they say and what marxist rags like The Nation say and do your own thinking. Much depends on it.

Remember the freeper poll showed McCain support (holding nose or not) to be around 70%. This means the McCain haters have a lot of work to do on all the various threads. We must remain adept at separating the wheat from the chaff and seek the truth, not being knee-jerk when unfounded propaganda is posted.

Leni

[K-oneTexas]

This article for me was extremely interesting because of the people named, the "inside stuff".  Just as it is reading those associated with Obama  and Hillary. McCain seems to have the interest of many "old hands" from the Reagan and Bush 41 Administrations and some, not as well known, from the Bush 43 Administration. Obama, from many articles I've read, has the"old hands" from the Carter Administration.

[It's also funny (but a new topic from this threat) that many from the Reagan and Bush 41 Administrations are the "Shadow Warriors" (from Kenneth Timmerman's book of the same title)  along with  Clinton "holdovers" that have tried so hard to derail or re-route the Bush 42 Iraq policy.]

John McCain (frorm Sourcewatch):

"From the Bush Team"

• Wayne L. Berman, lobbyist and Bush fund-raiser
• Mark McKinnon, Bush's media consultant
• Tom Loeffler, former Texas congressman and "prime Bush fund-raiser"
• Terry Nelson, Bush's political director 2004 campaign
• Gerald L. Parsky, California chairman, Bush's 2000 and 2004 campaigns
• Nicolle Devenish Wallace, nee Nicolle Devenish, White House communications director
• Ron Weiser, Ambassador to Slovakia and Bush fund-raiser

Policy advisers

• Don L. Crippen, director, Congressional Budget Office (1999-January 2003)
• Douglas Holtz-Eakin, director, Congressional Budget Office (2003-December 2005)
• Kevin Hassett, directs economic policy studies American Enterprise Institute
• Lisa G. Keegan, Arizona education official
• John A. Thain, CEO, New York Stock Exchange

Foreign policy advisers

McCain is "also being advised on foreign policy by neoconservatives. McCain is supported by Robert Kagan, a noted American Enterprise Institute chickenhawk and the author of the surge policy, and former CIA director Jim Woolsey, who, like [Norman] Podhoretz, has called for a World War against Islam. Leading neocon lobbyist Randy Scheunemann, who headed the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq and was on the board of the Project for the New American Century, completes the McCain foreign policy and security team. There are reports that McCain will lose some of his advisers as his campaign is in trouble and that they might gravitate to Romney and Giuliani. McCain also had considerable interaction with neocon elder statesman Richard Perle in the early days of his campaign, but Perle has decided that McCain cannot win the nomination. Perle is deferring judgment on where he should go next. Bill Kristol of The Weekly Standard and Henry Kissinger are also reported to be giving McCain advice."^[23]

In October 2007, the Washington Post listed the following as McCain's foreign policy advisers.^[24]

• Richard L. Armitage, "President George W. Bush’s deputy secretary of state and an international business consultant and lobbyist, informal foreign policy adviser"; ^[24] deputy to former secretary of state Colin Powell
• Bernard Aronson, "former assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs and now a managing partner of private equity investment company ACON Investments, informal foreign policy adviser"^[24]
• William L. Ball III, "secretary of the Navy during President Reagan’s administration and managing director of lobbying firm the Loeffler Group, informal national security adviser"^[24]
• Stephen E. Biegun, "former national security aide to then-Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and now Ford Motors vice president of international government affairs, informal national security adviser"^[24]
• Max Boot, "Council on Foreign Relations editor and former Wall Street Journal editorial editor, foreign policy adviser"^[24]
• Brig. Gen. Tom Bruner, "Iowa veterans advisory committee"^[24]
• Lorne W. Craner, "International Republican Institute president, informal foreign policy adviser"^[24]
• Lawrence S. Eagleburger, "President George H.W. Bush’s secretary of state and a senior public policy adviser with law firm Baker Donelson, endorsed McCain April 10 [2007]"^[24]
• Brig. Gen. Russ Eggers, "Iowa veterans advisory committee"^[24]
• Maj. Gen. Merrill Evans, "Iowa veterans advisory committee"^[24]
• Niall Ferguson, "Harvard historian and Hoover Institution senior fellow, informal foreign policy adviser"^[24]
• Michael J. Green, "former Asia adviser to President George W. Bush and now Japan chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Asia policy adviser"^[24]
• Gen. Alexander M. Haig, Jr., "President Reagan’s secretary of state, endorsed McCain April 10 [2007]"^[24]
• Maj. Gen. Evan "Curly" Hultman, "Iowa veterans advisory committee"^[24]
• Robert Kagan, "senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington Post columnist and former speechwriter for then-secretary of state George P. Shultz; informal foreign policy adviser"^[24]
• Brig. Gen. Robert Michael Kimmitt, "current deputy Treasury secretary, informal national security adviser"^[24]
• Henry A. Kissinger, "President Nixon and President Ford’s secretary of state who met McCain in Vietnam and is now a consultant, informal adviser"^[24]
• Col. Andrew F. Krepinevich, "president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, briefed McCain as well as Sen. Hillary Clinton and Gov. Bill Richardson"^[24]
• William Kristol, "The Weekly Standard editor, informal foreign policy adviser"^[24]
• Adm. Charles Larson, "former superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy and now chairman of consulting firm ViaGlobal Group, informal national security adviser"^[24]
• Robert "Bud" McFarlane, "President Reagan’s national security adviser and now a principal with Energy & Communications Solutions, energy and national security adviser"^[24]
• Brig. Gen. Warren "Bud" Nelson, "Iowa veterans advisory committee"^[24]
• Brig. Gen. Eddie Newman, "Iowa veterans advisory committee"^[24]
• Maj. Gen. John Peppers, "Iowa veterans advisory committee"^[24]
• Maj. Ralph Peters, "writer and retired Army officer, informal national security adviser"^[24]
• Brig. Gen. Maurice Phillips, "Iowa veterans advisory committee"^[24]
• Gen. Colin L. Powell, "President George W. Bush’s secretary of state, informal foreign policy adviser";^[24] Secretary of State (2001-January 2005)
• James R. Schlesinger, "President Nixon and President Ford’s secretary of defense, energy and national security adviser"^[24]
• Randy Scheunemann, "national security aide to then-Senate Majority Leaders Bob Dole and Trent Lott and now a lobbyist, defense and foreign policy coordinator (for this cycle and 2000)"^[24]
• Gary Schmitt, "former staff director of the Senate Intelligence Committee and now an American Enterprise Institute scholar, foreign policy adviser"^[24]
• Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, "national security adviser to Presidents Ford and George H.W. Bush and founder of business consultancy the Scowcroft Group, adviser"^[24]
• George P. Shultz, "President Reagan’s secretary of state and a Hoover Institution Fellow, endorsed McCain April 10 [2007]"^[24]
• Brig. Gen. W.L. "Bill" Wallace, "Iowa veterans advisory committee"^[24]
• Maj. Gen. Gary Wattnem, "Iowa veterans advisory committee"^[24]
• R. James Woolsey, "former CIA director and now a vice president at consulting company Booz Allen Hamilton, energy and national security adviser"^[24]

Other advisers

• James Jay Baker, former National Rifle Association lobbyist
• Former Sen. Dan Coats of Indiana, Christian conservative
• Niall Ferguson, historian at Harvard
• Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. of Utah, Christian conservative
• Barry McCaffrey, drug czar under President Bill Clinton
• Sig Rogich, directed advertising for George H.W. Bush in 1988 and 1992 campaigns
• Jay Zeidman, former White House liaison to the Jewish community under George W. Bush

[K-oneTexas]

Obama's advisers (from Sourcewatch). Was in Houston all week and the AM Talk Radio SHows (several locals) stated that Obama's pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was on a sabattical from the church to be an adviser on Obama's Campaign. Unknown if this is true or false, just heard on the radio while driving.

 

Economic advisers

• Austan Goolsbee, University of Chicago Business School (conservative faculty)^[10]

Foreign policy advisers

"Obama's key advisers who speak for him on foreign policy include Gregory Craig, Anthony Lake, and Samantha Power. Craig is a leading Washington lawyer who was a White House special counsel under Bill Clinton and defended the president in his impeachment trial. Lake was also a Bill Clinton adviser who was involved in the Bosnian conflict. Power is an Irish-born Harvard professor from the Kennedy School who is regarded as an expert on Third World issues. None of the three is considered to be particularly partisan on any foreign policy issues but genocide, which Power has written a book about, but Obama is also accelerating his efforts to woo Jewish donors and to improve his standing with AIPAC, which has been suspicious of him because of youthful indiscretions that included expressions of sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians. He recently appointed Eric Lynn as "liaison to Jewish Community and advisor on Middle East issues".^[11]

Accompanying Obama when he "outlin[es] his views on the Iraq war in a major speech [September 12, 2007,] in Iowa" will be Zbigniew Brzezinski, former Democratic President Jimmy Carter's "national security advisor, who says that Obama offers 'a new definition of America's role in the world.'"^[12]

In October 2007, the Washington Post published a list of Obama's foreign policy advisers.^[13]

TheRealNews.com has a report on Obama's foreign policy advisors [12].

• Former Amb. Jeffrey Bader, "President Clinton’s National Security Council Asia specialist and now head of Brookings’s China center, national security adviser" ^[13]
• Mark Brzezinski, "President Clinton’s National Security Council Southeast Europe specialist and now a partner at law firm McGuireWoods, national security adviser"^[13]
• Zbigniew Brzezinski, "President Carter’s national security adviser and now a Center for Strategic and International Studies counselor and trustee and frequent guest on PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, foreign policy adviser"^[13]
• Richard A. Clarke, "President Clinton and President George W. Bush’s counterterrorism czar and now head of Good Harbor Consulting and an ABC News contributor, sometimes Obama adviser"^[13]
• Gregory B. Craig, "State Department director of policy planning under President Clinton and now a partner at law firm Williams & Connolly, foreign policy adviser"^[13]
• Roger W. Cressey, "former National Security Council counterterrorism staffer and now Good Harbor Consulting president and NBC News consultant, has advised Obama but says not exclusive"^[13]
• Ivo H. Daalder, "National Security Council director for European affairs during President Clinton’s administration and now a Brookings senior fellow, foreign policy adviser"^[13]
• Richard Danzig, "President Clinton’s Navy secretary and now a Center for Strategic and International Analysis fellow, national security adviser"^[13]
• Philip H. Gordon, "President Clinton’s National Security Council staffer for Europe and now a Brookings senior fellow, national security adviser"^[13]
• Maj. Gen. J. (Jonathan) Scott Gration, "a 32-year Air Force veteran and now CEO of Africa anti-poverty effort Millennium Villages, national security adviser and surrogate"^[13]
• Lawrence J. Korb, "assistant secretary of defense from 1981-1985 and now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, informal foreign policy adviser"^[13]
• W. Anthony Lake, "President Clinton’s national security adviser and now a professor at Georgetown’s school of foreign service, foreign policy adviser"^[13]
• James M. Ludes, "former defense and foreign policy adviser to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and now executive director of the American Security Project, national security adviser"^[13]
• Robert Malley, "President Clinton’s Middle East envoy and now International Crisis Group’s Middle East and North Africa program director, national security adviser"^[13]
• Gen. Merrill A. ("Tony") McPeak, "former Air Force chief of staff and now a business consultant, national security adviser"^[13]
• Denis McDonough, "Center for American Progress senior fellow and former policy adviser to then-Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, foreign policy coordinator"^[13]
• Samantha Power, "Harvard-based human rights scholar and Pulitzer Prize winning writer, foreign policy adviser"^[13]
• Susan E. Rice, "President Clinton’s Africa specialist at the State Department and National Security Council and now a Brookings senior fellow, foreign policy adviser"^[13]
• Bruce O. Riedel, "former CIA officer and National Security Council staffer for Near East and Asian affairs and now a Brookings senior fellow, national security adviser"^[13]
• Dennis B. Ross, "President Clinton’s Middle East negotiator and now a Washington Institute for Near East Policy fellow, Middle East adviser"^[13]
• Sarah Sewall, "deputy assistant secretary of defense for peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance during President Clinton’s administration and now director of Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, national security adviser"^[13]
• Daniel B. Shapiro, "National Security Council director for legislative affairs during President Clinton’s administration and now a lobbyist with Timmons & Company, Middle East adviser"^[13]
• Mona Sutphen, "former aide to President Clinton’s National Security adviser Samuel R. Berger and to United Nations ambassador Bill Richardson and now managing director of business consultancy Stonebridge, national security adviser"^[13]

 

[K-oneTexas]

Hillar's team (from Sourcewatch) Don't know if Wilson is till on board.

 

Foreign policy team

Clinton is "regarded as by far the more conservative candidate in that she has carefully triangulated her potential supporters and is unwilling to say that her vote in the Senate in support of the Iraq war was a mistake. She has also positioned herself with the Israel lobby through her pledge to disarm Iran by whatever means necessary and her threat to use nuclear weapons on terrorists. Her foreign policy advisers are a who's who of neoliberal hawks, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who famously believed that the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children due to sanctions was 'worth it.' Clinton is also being advised by Richard Holbrooke, who is reported to be close to Paul Wolfowitz. Holbrooke is a possible candidate for secretary of state if Clinton is elected president. Holbrooke has been a supporter of the Iraq war, and he was an architect of the 1999 bombing of Serbia. Strobe Talbott, who advised Bill Clinton and was also involved with the bombing of Serbia, is reported to be another Hillary adviser," Philip Giraldi wrote August 14, 2007, at Antiwar.com.^[10] TheRealNews.com has a report on Hillary Clinton's foreign policy advisors [2].

In October 2007, the Washington Post published a list of Clinton's foreign policy advisers.^[11]

• Madeleine K. Albright, "President Clinton’s secretary of state and now chairperson of the National Democratic Institute, foreign policy adviser"^[11]
• Samuel R. Berger, "President Clinton’s national security adviser and now a principal at business consultancy Stonebridge, foreign policy adviser"^[11]
• Lt. Gen. Daniel William Christman, "a former West Point superintendent and now senior vice president for international affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, foreign policy adviser"^[11]
• Gen. Wesley K. Clark, "President Clinton’s Kosovo commander and now a Democratic fundraiser, endorsed Sen. Clinton Sept. 15 [2007]"^[11]
• John H. Dalton, "President Clinton’s Navy secretary and now president of the Financial Services Roundtable’s Housing Policy Council, veterans and military retirees for Hillary"^[11]
• Lee Feinstein, "a deputy in President Clinton’s State Department, national security coordinator"^[11]
• Leslie H. Gelb, "president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, a former New York Times correspondent and a former State and Defense Department official, informal adviser"^[11]
• Richard C. Holbrooke, "President Clinton’s UN ambassador and broker of the Dayton Peace Accords (and now a Washington Post columnist), foreign policy adviser"^[11]
• Martin S. Indyk, "President Clinton’s ambassador to Israel and now director of Brookings’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy, foreign policy adviser"^[11]
• Gen. John M. ("Jack") Keane, "a former Army vice chief of staff who co-crafted the Iraq 'surge' and is now a military analyst (sometimes for ABC news), military issues adviser"^[11]
• Lt. Gen. Claudia J. Kennedy, "former deputy chief of staff for intelligence, veterans and military retirees for Hillary"^[11]
• Lt. Gen. Donald L. Kerrick, "President Clinton’s deputy national security adviser, organizes meetings of retired officers"^[11]
• Col. Andrew F. Krepinevich, "president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, briefed Hillary Clinton as well as Sen. John McCain and Gov. Bill Richardson"^[11]
• Vali Nasr, "Naval Postgraduate School professor, Middle East adviser"^[11]
• Michael E. O'Hanlon, "Brookings senior fellow and former Congressional Budget Office defense and foreign policy analyst, supporter"^[11]
• Rep. (and retired Vice Adm.) Joseph Sestak, veterans and military retirees for Hillary"^[11]
• Andrew Shapiro, "Sen. Clinton’s Senate foreign policy staffer"^[11]
• Jeffrey H. Smith, "former CIA general counsel and now a partner leading the public policy and government contracts group of law firm Arnold & Porter, national security adviser"^[11]
• Strobe Talbott, "Brookings president, informal adviser"^[11]
• Togo D. West, "President Clinton’s secretary for veterans affairs and former secretary of the Army, veterans and military retirees for Hillary"^[11]
• Former Amb. Joseph C. Wilson IV, "the half of the Plamegate couple who criticized the administration for using questionable evidence to promote the Iraq war, endorsed Sen. Clinton July 16 [2007]"^[11]