McCain Starts To Feel Fallout From Iraq

[Mark E. Smith]

Sunday Telegraph (UK) 17/12/2006

The popularity of John McCain, the decorated Vietnam veteran and strong contender for
the Republican 2006 presidential nomination, is being undermined by his support for
the Iraq war.

As he took his undeclared White House campaign to Baghdad, among a congressional
delegation to Iraq, the Arizona senator called for the deployment of up to 35,000 more
US troops and made clear that he opposed a timetable for withdrawal.

Yet even as Mr. McCain, 70, was talking to US commanders and Iraqi leaders on the
green Zone, troubling poll data for his White House hopes were emerging at home.
Among independent voters, his strongest backers in the previous tilt at the nomination,
support has slipped 15 percent since March.

The figures reveal the stark dilemma facing would-be Republican candidates to succeed
President george W. Bush in the 2008 election, for which the party's big-hitters are
already limbering up.

None can afford to be seen as soft on security or foreign affairs, yet the kind of voters
who are likely to swing the result are increasingly tired of America's intervention.

http:/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/17/wirq17.xml

I don't think the American people are going to see much of the once vaunted "Straight
Talk McCain" in the Bush-style war talk of the senior Senator from Arizona, a man
whose freshness dating has clearly lapsed.

[Captain Hilts]

1. He's not going to be the nominee. nt

[The Count]

2. 2006 presidential nomination??? (It actually feels that way, but it aint)

[bahrbearian]

3. "Straight Talk McCain" and "Holy Joe" visiting Iraq together

I thought they were going to announce their Presidential Ticket in Baghdad.

[randr]

4. Prediction

Channey retires due to health issues. McCain selected as VP and runs as the incumbent.

[independentpiney]

22. With Lieberman as his running mate nt

[Akoto]

5. Good, let him eat that fallout.

He's been nothing but a pandering shill from the day Bush came to power.

I still can't believe there was a time when I thought he was a decent man.

[Jack from Charlotte]

7. Dems should refer to this war as The Bush-McCain War. Pin that baby on this......

SOB so in 2 years the whole country is using that term.

[rodeodance]

12. yes. good one!!

[SoFlaJet]

13. he jumped the shark

that day he made that "the republicans party has left me" speech-then turns around and cowtows to everything that Rove and Cheney wants.For me though taking what he took from the Bush team with that push-polling in S.Carolina in 2000 made me lose all respect for him as a man

[gratuitous]

6. Figures this is a story in England

Over on this side of the pond, media prostration before Saintly Senator Straight Talk (out of not one, but two sides of his mouth) continues without missing a beat, even when the war he supports dips to sub-30% approval ratings.

[Renew Deal]

8. I predicted this yesterday

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2929749&mesg_id=2929749

[against all enemies]

9. This thread needs the "hug".

[UpInArms]

11. pic one?

[NI4NI]

What kind of man is McCain?

The kind of man who as a husband, father, and Vietnam veteran, hugs and kisses the ass of someone who had endorsed the smearing of his wife as a drug addict, the description of his young adopted daughter as an illegitimate black baby, and the claim that his war time capture and imprisonment was cause for mental instability. No way do I want a man like that as a president.

[tblue37]

23. He is the kind of man who wants so desperately to be

presdient that he will do anything at all if he thinks it will give him a shot.

In other words, a whore.

[NI4NI]

14. What kind of man is McCain?

The kind of man who as a husband, father, and Vietnam veteran, hugs and kisses the ass of someone who had endorsed the smearing of his wife as a drug addict, the description of his young adopted daughter as an illegitimate black baby, and the claim that his war time capture and imprisonment was cause for mental instability. No way do I want a man like that as a president.

[against all enemies]

15. You're the best. The first picture should be attached to McCain's name.

Every time some one reads the name John McCain that picture should pop up. No one would vote for that loser.

[jazzjunkysue]

30. You had to do that, didn't you? Ewwwwwww! n/t.

[Kahuna]

10. John McCain: Talking straight talk out of both side of his mouth...

pass it on.

[BenDavid]

16. I am tired of hearing that McCain

is some kind of hero. Damn! What he did was in my honest opinion,"self preservation". Hell! McCain did not risk his life. Hell, he saved his life? A hero NO! I and no one here is accusing Mr. McCain of not having a survival instinct, but to call him a "hero", NO!
Since he was this so called "straight shooter" in 2000, he has now a total of 11 flip flops, and if I were making tv spots I would bust his old ass with them all, and put his tired old ass on the defensive....

[Le Taz Hot]

28. With all due respect,

the man SURVIVED over 5 years at the Hanoi Hilton -- something few of us could have done. His service to this country should be honored.

I'm no fan of the modern-day McCain but pleaes, do not disrespect our service men and women.

[pinniped]

17. The cheerleader is now going to change his mind.

....is being undermined by his support for
the Iraq war.

[goforit]

18. The soul that follows evil will pay a heavy price.

[fujiyama]

19. Some good news here

It looks like some have started to pay attention to the snake McCain really is.

His whole "maverick" thing was bullshit.

[goforit]

20. kick

[lovuian]

21. 5 years of McCain War Hawk statements

McCain is cooked

and may I add Cain was the killer of his brother

How fitting for McCain

[rollopollo]

24. McCain and Powell

McCain and Powell were often on the same page on foreign policy and military matters. Powell may have once advocated war with Iraq (eventually) but today he is against sending in more troops, and says it would likely not improve the situation. So he's had a change of heart. Perhaps McCain will too.

[donheld]

25. He sold his soul to Bush and Cheney

Wonder if the price was worth it.

[confludemocrat]

29. His relentlessly hard right wing "soul"? Fuck him. No real soul.

Mr. "Maverick" is not pandering to the extremist base of that rotten party-he really believes this shit.

[BlueManDude]

26. The question is - Can any GOPer capitalize on his weaknesses?

All the GOPers are essentilly boxed in by their need to show support for Bush and the war. They can't really get to the left of the field. If they weres amrt they'd be referring to the increase in tropps in Iraq as the McCain Plan and try to hang it's inevitable failure on him.

Would a GOPer dare run as an AntiWar Republican?

[Olney Blue]

27. It's time for you to go away, Mr. McCain. We aren't buying

batshit crazy anymore.