The Iraq-eteers (Rudy Giuliani Being Advised By John Bolton and Gen. Jack Keane)

New York Observer ^ | 4/13/07

[areafiftyone]

Nine Candidates Need to Gin Up Stances on War; Democratic Wonks Lunching With Dick Holbrooke, McCain Aide Recoils at Mitt Message; Rudy Asks Bolton

John McCain has yet to criticize any of his Republican opponents directly for their positions on Iraq. As for his staff, that’s another story.

 

Mr. McCain’s go-to Iraq expert says, for example, that he couldn’t believe his ears when Mitt Romney recently told ABC’s Good Morning America that he supports “timetables and milestones” for the Iraq government to meet, but ones that “shouldn’t be for public pronouncement.”

 

Mr. McCain “does not believe in timetables or deadlines, secret or otherwise,” said the advisor, Randy Scheunemann. “He has made it clear that setting a timetable or deadline is nothing more than setting a date certain for surrender.”

Mr. Scheunemann, a former president of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq and advisor to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, sounded equally unimpressed with some recent comments from Rudy Giuliani, who told reporters last week that President Bush and the Democrats in Congress should reach a compromise over Iraq funding legislation that includes dates of withdrawal.

 

“Frankly, it does not make a lot of sense talking about negotiations in advance of the President even having a bill on his desk,” he said.

 

While primary voters in both parties have had a difficult time discerning and keeping track of the different attitudes of the candidates toward the war in Iraq, it is staff-level Iraq advisors like Mr. Scheunemann who provide the best guide to the distinctions between the various camps.

 

On the Democratic side, their Iraq point-people meet monthly at a Washington restaurant for a lunch presided over by former United Nations ambassador Richard Holbrooke. The assembled foreign-policy wonks all know each other and get along—to an extent.

 

“It’s a very collegial group,” said Antony Blinken, 44, senior advisor to Senator Joe Biden in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee office, who served as the principal advisor to President Clinton on U.S. relations with Europe and NATO. “Obviously, there are some distinctions on Iraq.”

 

The attendees of those gatherings tend to state those differences at least as plainly as the candidates do.

 

Mr. Blinken, who has helped Mr. Biden fine-tune his controversial proposal to devolve powers to autonomous Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish ethnic regions, makes a point of saying that none of the other campaigns have done as much.

 

“What’s the alternative? No one has one,” said Mr. Blinken, who argued that the Iraqi Constitution actually called for the federalist system that Mr. Biden was proposing. “It’s in the Iraqi Constitution, but he is the only one who has bothered to read it.”

 

But the Democratic front-runners have distinguished themselves in other ways.

 

The Big Three

 

John Edwards’ representative at the lunches, for example, advocates the withdrawal of as many as 50,000 combat troops from Iraq within the next three months and favors revoking the war’s authorization and funding.

 

His guru is Derek Chollet, a 36-year-old unpaid advisor and oddly prolific ghostwriter of political  autobiographies of State and ambassadors, who is a veteran of Washington think tanks.

 

Mr. Chollet recently helped found the Center for a New American Security, whose first mission has been identifying how many American troops it would take to prevent what it calls “the three no’s”: stopping Al Qaeda from gaining a foothold in Iraq, keeping a civil war from spilling across Iraq’s borders, and avoiding genocide. He has been advising Mr. Edwards since 2002, after helping write the memoirs of two former Secretaries of State, James Baker and Warren Christopher, and then the speeches and Bosnia memoir of Mr. Holbrooke, who encouraged him to advise Mr. Edwards.

 

“There was a pragmatism about him that I found attractive,” said Mr. Chollet, adding that he talked “a lot” with Mr. Edwards as the candidate developed his Iraq policy.

 

He thinks that the candidate is much more solid now on matters of foreign policy, an area seen as his weakness in the 2004 election. “Now I’m hard-pressed to think that there is any issue he could get asked about in a town hall or Meet the Press setting that could be a stumper,” he said.

 

[areafiftyone]

That’s what most people in the real world say about Rudy is he’s honest.

[veronica]

Of course. Obviously, Bolton is a treasonous liberal.

:)

Seriously though, I do think certain anti-Rudy types think Rudy is too beholden to the "neocons" (wink wink) who are for "perpetual war" - and Bolton is part of that "cabal."

[babaloo]

A51—help me out here! LOL!

[areafiftyone]

Obviously, Bolton is a treasonous liberal. Rudy could exhume Ronald Reagans corpse, reanimate it and have the gipper campaign for him, and I still would not vote for Rudi

I'll alert the media for you.

[areafiftyone]

LOL! Just wanted to make you stew a bit for FORGETTING YOUR SARCASM TAG ;-)!

Spyder - babaloo was being sarcastic. He's a Rudy person! LOL!

[babaloo]

Correct on all accounts except that I am a SHE!!! LOL!

[areafiftyone]

YIKES! OOPS! I am so sorry! Do you know how many times I’ve been called Pal, Buddy, Guy, He, His, Dude! ROFLMAO!

[Jake The Goose]

I don’t think so. Rudy had to deal with the evil U.N. when he was mayor - Bolton and him have a lot in common in that regard

Wow - you said it !!!

[Ultra Sonic 007]

Um...am I the only one who noticed that John Bolton's name wasn't mentioned ANYWHERE other than in the title? He's not in the article at all.

The only time Giuliani is mentioned at ALL in the article is for this:

Mr. Scheunemann, a former president of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq and advisor to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, sounded equally unimpressed with some recent comments from Rudy Giuliani, who told reporters last week that President Bush and the Democrats in Congress should reach a compromise over Iraq funding legislation that includes dates of withdrawal.

Hmm...misleading, much?

[areafiftyone]

Its not misleading. Its in the title and that’s where it is mentioned. I didn’t make it up. What are you trying to pull?

[politicalwit]

Rudy had to deal with the evil U.N. when he was mayor

Other than municipal dealings (trying to collect parking tickets), Rudy had nothing to do with the operations of the UN. Rudy's was nothing more than a tick on the hound dog's butt.

[areafiftyone]

IT'S ON PAGE THREE THIS IS A THREE PAGE ARTICLE AND I DIDN'T EXCEPT IT! I wish you would read the article before calling in the Rudy haters! Thank you! Here it is:

Mr. Giuliani has criticized some aspects of the American performance in Iraq, but has basically supported the President’s plan without addressing its specific shortcomings. Asked about his day-to-day Iraq advisor, his campaign would only say that he speaks with many individuals, including retired Gen. Jack Keane and former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton.

[areafiftyone]

Except=Excerpt

[CharlesWayneCT]

The picture they used is priceless:

Riding the Rough Beast: Candidates Hillary Clinton, Rudolph Giuliani, Barack Obama, John McCain, John Edwards, Mitt Romney, Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden

They've got Rudy right where he belongs. :-)

[areafiftyone]

Well that’s the NY Observer for ya. They can’t stand Rudy either or any Republicans for that matter.

[dforest]

Um...am I the only one who noticed that John Bolton's name wasn't mentioned ANYWHERE other than in the title? He's not in the article at all.

Its a common Rudeo tactic. They like name dropping. If only to provide the perception that the particlar name they are dropping is endorsing Rudy.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Asked about his day-to-day Iraq advisor, his campaign would only say that he speaks with many individuals, including retired Gen. Jack Keane and former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton.

I'm not sure that "advising" is the same as "talking to". Advising suggests a level of support that isn't indicated by the article.

[areafiftyone]

Well you can be sure that Bolton is not just talking to Rudy He’s giving advice.

[CharlesWayneCT]

The article says nothing about Bolton backing Rudy. It doesn’t even say that Bolton and Keane are “advising” Rudy.

The article simply states that Rudy has talked to Bolton and Keane.

Now, I’d love to be able to have access to talk to Bolton, but if I did, it wouldn’t mean he supported me.

I’m certain that the person who added that to the title did not MEAN to mislead people into thinking Bolton was advising Rudy as if Bolton was in his camp or something.

[areafiftyone]

See my post #32. I just forgot to except the article. It is three pages long.