McCain: The Jimmy McCain story
Posted: Monday, April 07, 2008 9:12 AM by Mark Murray
The Sunday New York Times front-paged a piece about McCain’s youngest son, Jimmy, who has served in Iraq. “Mr. McCain, now the presumptive Republican nominee, has staked his candidacy on the promise that American troops can bring stability to Iraq. What he almost never says is that one of them is his own son, who spent seven months patrolling Anbar Province and learned of his father’s New Hampshire victory in January while he was digging a stuck military vehicle out of the mud.”
The Wall Street Journal reports on McCain's slamming of executive pay and notes he's showing a "populist streak." "McCain's rhetoric is notable because it comes from a self-described conservative Republican and follows comments he made nearly two weeks ago emphasizing that some problems were caused by irresponsible borrowers who bought homes they couldn't afford, betting that rising prices would save them."
The Washington Times' Dinan wraps up McCain's bio tour. "On his ‘Service to America’ tour, Mr. McCain repeatedly touted his military service and bipartisan credentials and talked about the heroes who shaped his personal life and politics. But it could just as easily have been called the ‘imperfect public servant’ tour — words he used to describe himself to students at his former high school on day two of the tour — as he found himself apologizing for not always living up to what those heroes expected.”
NBC/NJ’s Adam Aigner-Treworgy notes that McCain spoke to reporters on his plane from Phoenix to Kansas City yesterday afternoon, addressing Petraeus’ upcoming appearance before Congress and Obama’s statement regarding liberal radio host Schulz’s “warmonger” comment. “I have not talked to General Petraeus in -- prior to his statements before the committees, before the Congress. But I think you’re going to hear more about the Iranian influence, the arms they’ve provided, the money, the training, particularly the extent of their influence in southern Iraq. It’s pretty extensive and I think he’s going to be talking about that. I say that because of the information that I’ve got.”
Also: “I look forward to hearing his assessment of the situation, particularly in light of recent events in Basra, Maliki’s dispatch of the army down there, and the cease fire and the degree of Iranian involvement, particularly in southern Iraq as well as the rest of the nation. So I think it’s important, this is a very appropriate time to hear from Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker.”
On Obama’s response to Schultz’s comment: “I think it’s -- I think it’s satisfactory, the statement by his campaign, and I hope we can keep these things to a minimum. I know that as we talked earlier many times, it’s a free country. Everybody has the right to say what they want to say as long as it’s not -- and a lot of the rhetoric gets heated in American politics, but Americans want a respectful campaign.”
On whether Obama is running a respectful campaign: “I’ve been very disappointed in the 100-year-war statement, because he knows that that’s not the case. He knows that the context of the statement that I made, and it’s contradictory to his statements about the kind of campaign he would run. I’ve been disappointed in that – and so, but we’ve got a long way to go.”
The DNC hits McCain on the economy.
The age issue… “Team McCain is quietly starting to get serious about confronting the age issue -- it plans to convene an unusual meeting of the senator's doctors next month to answer questions about his health, the Daily News has learned. At the same time, the Republican presidential hopeful acknowledged last week that some voters may want extra insurance when it comes to electing a septuagenarian -- most notably with his choice for vice president.”
