McCain in '08? The MSM loves him, but do the social conservative Republicans?
McCain leaves door open
By MICHAEL COUSINEAU
Union Leader Staff
MANCHESTER — Former Presidential candidate John McCain yesterday left the door open for another Presidential run in 2008.
“I’m not ruling it out, but I’m not ruling it in,” McCain told The Union Leader.
Noting that President Bush hadn’t yet celebrated his second inauguration, the Arizona senator said he will think about running in “maybe a couple of years.”
Sen. John McCain begins his speech during the second annual Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment Award Dinner at the Radinsson Hotel-Center of New Hampshire in Manchester last night. (MARK BOLTON/UNION LEADER)
During a dinner celebrating the First Amendment, the winner of the 2000 Republican Presidential primary in New Hampshire delivered a unifying post-mortem on the 2004 Presidential election, contending the country is not nearly as divided as the red and blue states on the Election Night map might suggest.
“In all candor, I really don’t think the country is polarized at all,” McCain told 400 guests at the Radisson Hotel-Center of New Hampshire attending the Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment Dinner.
“We’ve got to stop polarizing ourselves in Washington in a vain attempt to polarize the nation,” McCain said. “That’s not what we were elected to do.”
Some news organizations, Internet instigators and political partisans have created a “permanent campaign” where people work to tear the other side apart rather than to win an election for the right to govern, he said.
McCain, a former prisoner of war, blasted critics from both sides of the political spectrum for their conduct during the election.
“Despite his box office success, I suspect most Americans don’t really like (filmmaker and Bush critic) Michael Moore very much and are wisely skeptical of his claim to be some kind of national truth-teller,” McCain said. “And to those who thought it funny or wise to question (Sen.) John Kerry’s courage or patriotism, I suggest they volunteer for military service and finish a tour in Iraq and then make a judgment about another man’s bravery or love of country.”
During the interview, McCain said the situation in Iraq is “very, very tough” but said he was glad Fallujah was recently cleared of militants.
“We still don’t have enough troops there,” he said, saying success in Iraq will be measured by “free and fair elections” and by America’s turning the country’s security over to the Iraqi military and police.
McCain, during a question-and-answer session with the dinner audience, criticized the Arab television station Al-Jazeera for broadcasting footage of a U.S. Marine apparently killing an unarmed man in Iraq but not showing the killing of a British hostage by her captors.
“Shame on Al-Jazeera and shame on those people for doing what they did,” McCain said.
He said he was “deeply, deeply disturbed” by the NBC footage of the Marine. “We don’t know what events led up to it. We don’t know the circumstances of it.”
McCain also suggested that Bush should follow through on his stated intent to reach across the political aisle to work with the Democratic minority in Congress.
“He’s got to do that. We have 55 votes in the Senate now, but you still don’t do business until you have 60” to avoid a filibuster. |
