McCain surrogates blast back at Obama
Posted: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 3:44 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC/NJ’s Carrie Dann and NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- During an afternoon conference call, surrogates for McCain defended the Arizona senator against a chorus of criticism from Democrats, who jumped on McCain's comment this morning that an estimate of when troops may be withdrawn from Iraq is "not too important."
Sens. Joe
Lieberman (I-CT) and John
Thune (R-SD) said that the Democrats' furious circulation of the comment lacked both context and attention to the more important issue of responsible strategies for ending the war.
Lieberman complained of "reflexive attacks," saying that opponents are engaged in "another partisan attempt to distort John McCain's words."
Lieberman said McCain emphasized what was important -- to get Americans out of harm's way and come home with honor and victory. He also accused the Obama campaign of trying "to distract the American people from the fact that John McCain has been courageous and right about the surge in Iraq, and Barack Obama has been wrong."
Thune accused Democrats of "trying to blow this up as an issue because they don't want to talk about the success of the surge and the stability that's been delivered throughout Iraq."
The South Dakota Republican called the attacks a “head fake” and "a deliberate distortion that is trying to change the subject." He said Obama has "his feet stuck in the sand," not wanting to be held accountable for not having "the wisdom to recognize the success of the surge.”
"It's the difference between someone who has had experience and judgment and someone who clearly did not have that experience and judgment," Thune said. "That's why Obama and his campaign are working so hard to change the subject."
Thune added, "I think what people need to do is keep their eye on the ball, and that is success and victory in Iraq."
The campaign's representatives repeatedly drew attention to the entirety of the exchange between McCain and NBC's Matt Lauer this morning, arguing that the full context makes obvious that McCain said that it is his own "estimate" for troop withdrawal that is "not too important," and that he places tantamount importance upon the lives and welfare of American troops.
During the call, Lieberman also mentioned McCain's son serving in Iraq as an example (in addition to his own service) of McCain knowing how difficult it is for families with people serving in Iraq. At the end of the call, a reporter mentioned that McCain rarely talks about his son and asked if surrogates would be mentioning him more. Lieberman had already left the call for a meeting, and Senior Foreign Policy Advisor Randy Scheunemann said "the campaign is not going to comment on that."
Asked if McCain should be more wary of comments that could be parsed by the opposition, Lieberman defended his Senate colleague, saying that such fearful caution would go against McCain's very nature.
"The problem is if you start constructing your remarks to defend against people who will distort them, you’re not going to be the straight talker that John McCain naturally is," he said. "And I think he was straight talking here."
