McCain Fights Iraq Criticism at Solo Town Hall Appearance
by FOXNews.com
Thursday, June 12, 2008
John McCain, taking the stage at the first of his so-called Presidential Town Halls, defended himself Thursday against fresh charges that he wants to maintain a war in Iraq with no end.
McCain stressed he is seeking long-term stability in the region, and he accused Democratic rival Barack Obama of wanting to surrender to "defeat" as he emphasized his latest campaign theme of "reform, prosperity and peace."
"We are succeeding, and Senator Obama wants to set a date for withdrawal and have that arbitrarily done," McCain said. "We would be back and there would be genocide and chaos in the region (under Obama's plan)."
The hour-long event, at Federal Hall in New York City, kicks off a series of town hall meetings McCain says he eventually hopes will include his Democratic rival.
Obama did not join him this time. But McCain re-issued his town hall challenge Thursday.
"I think this town hall meeting would have been a little more interesting if Senator Obama had accepted my request," McCain said to applause. "I think Americans are tired of the spin rooms, they're tired of the sound bites. … I strongly urge (Obama) to do this."
The McCain campaign said it was taking random questions from the audience of about 200 people. But the questions and mood were decidedly favorable, as his jabs at Obama were frequently interrupted by applause.
One questioner praised his military service; another called him a "hero."
The campaign later issued a statement saying it distributed tickets to "supporters, Mayor Bloomberg, and other independent groups."
During the town hall, McCain blasted Obama for having "an extreme voting record" and for wanting to raise taxes and sit down with rogue leaders on the world stage without preconditions.
McCain started the forum with an opening statement, as in a formal debate, but later began asking audience members questions, as he answered theirs.
Obama has said he's interested in eventually joining McCain at the events, but he wants to switch up the format on occasion and wants to do fewer than the 10 joint appearances McCain had proposed.
"We are happy to do more than the three typical presidential debates in the fall," Obama said Tuesday. "If I'm not mistaken we've gone back with a counterproposal to them and are in communication with them right now."
Obama, speaking at his own town hall meeting in Wisconsin earlier Thursday, swiped at McCain for allegedly flip-flopping to support the Bush tax cuts and for his recent comments on Iraq that drew heavy criticism from Democrats. McCain took heat for saying in an interview Wednesday that troop withdrawal timetables in Iraq are "not too important."
"Obviously he's not thinking about the extraordinary burden that families are under on two or three or four tours of duty," Obama said Thursday. "But he's also not thinking about taxpayers who are spending $10-to-$12 billion a month in Iraq."
McCain has touted the town hall format by saying that taking questions from the public is the antidote to partisan posturing and bickering.
In New York City Thursday, McCain also repeated a pledge to fight pork-barrel spending and vilify the authors of wasteful earmarks.
McCain pushed for a summer gas tax holiday and, in response to one questioner, said he would have no objection to making English the official language of the country.
Though Obama did not attend, his campaign sent out a series of statements after the town hall ended disputing McCain's claims that Obama would broadly raise taxes and has an "extreme" voting record.
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