2003 Flashback: McCain Bashed Germany and France

[Joanne98]

In Berlin today, Barack Obama capped his European tour with an address to an audience whose numbers reached tens of thousands. But while the media will focus on Obama’s call to strengthen America’s trans-Atlantic alliance with France and Germany, no doubt absent from the coverage will be John McCain’s essential role in undermining it. As it turns out, back in 2003 John McCain stood shoulder to shoulder with the Berlin-bashers and Paris-hating purveyors of “freedom fries” and “old Europe.”

As President Bush prepared to pull the trigger on the Iraq war in February 2003, John McCain was at the forefront of those browbeating the Chirac government for France’s refusal to back the U.S. at the United Nations. On February 10, 2003, McCain declared on MSNBC’s Hardball:

“Look, I don’t mean to try to be snide, but the Lord said the poor will always be with us. The French will always be with us, too.”

The next day on February 11, 2003, McCain co-sponsored a Senate resolution praising 18 European nations backing U.S. enforcement of UN demands for Saddam’s disarmament. In his press release, McCain echoed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in thundering at the France and Germany of “old Europe:”

“The majority of Europe’s democracies have spoken, and their message could not be clearer: France and Germany do not speak for Europe…most European governments behave like allies that are willing to meet their responsibilities to uphold international peace and security in defense of our common values. We thank this European majority for standing with us.”

McCain’s venom towards the French and Germans was on full display two days later during a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

On February 13, 2003, McCain warned of “new threats to civilization again defy our imagination in scale and potency” portrayed Iraq as “threat of the first order.” He proclaimed that “the United States does not have reliable allies to implement a policy to contain Iraq” and pointed the finger squarely at France:

“Compare our great power allies in the Cold War with those with whom we act today in dealing with Iraq.

France has unashamedly pursued a concerted policy to dismantle the UN sanctions regime, placing its commercial interests above international law, world peace and the political ideals of Western civilization. Remember them? Liberte, egalite, fraternite…

…Gerhard Schroeder’s Germany looks little like the ally that anchored our presence in Europe throughout the Cold War. A German Rip Van Winkle from the 1960s would not understand the lack of political courage and cooperation with its allies on the question of Iraq exhibited in Berlin today.”

Just days later on February 18, 2003, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Lateline program showed a furious McCain foaming at the mouth over France:

Continued>>>
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/07/24/2003-flashback-mccain-bashed-germany-and-france/

[Whisp]

1. thanks so much for posting this.

ya think there's any chance some talking head will bring this up on the teeeeveeeee?

:rofl:
highly unlikely