McCain wraps up overseas trip in Paris
Posted: Friday, March 21, 2008 3:50 PM by Chuck Todd
From NBC's Bethany Thomas
PARIS -- John McCain wrapped up his five-country swing to the Middle East and Europe by meeting with two familiar faces- one old and one new. In London this morning, former Prime Minister Tony Blair and McCain had breakfast together at the swanky Mandarin Oriental hotel. A quick photo-op for reporters before the official visit quickly became a reflection of McCain's recent travels. On the friendship with Britain, McCain said, "What I've learned from our trip is that our alliance and our relationship is still strong. There are areas such as climate change, transparency of international financial institutions, Israeli-Palestinian peace process and others that we need to work with more closely together."
Throughout the entire week, McCain has been careful to distinguish this trip as a Congressional fact-finding mission that he's leading as the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. Nevertheless, questions on the election and McCain's candidacy have followed him and various world leaders at every country's stop. This morning Mr. Blair tried to deflect the question, but when asked if he was interested in the race, he said, "I think there's great interest in the election everywhere."
Across the English Channel, McCain stopped at the Elysee Palace to greet the new president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy. The senator regularly praises Sarkozy on the stump for his forward thinking on green technology and for his choice of vacationing in New Hampshire. He likes to tell the joke to audiences back in the US, "In case you haven't noticed, France elected a very pro-American president, which means if you live long enough, anything can happen!"
After a private meeting, McCain spoke to a gathering of mostly French journalists. Before news had hit on the breach of McCain's passport, one reporter asked about Obama's breach. He said, "If anyone's privacy is breached they deserve an apology and a complete investigation I believe that will take place. The U.S. values everyone's privacy and corrective action should be taken."
Minutes later in the car, McCain was informed that his privacy had also been compromised. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
called McCain in Paris with the news.
The campaign plans to compile the trip findings from the overseas tour in a foreign policy speech next week.