McCain: Too Reckless to Lead Posted by Ilan Goldenberg

John McCain has an ad up trying to scare the American people about Iran and saying Obama doesn't take the threat seriously enough.  I think it's time to take the gloves off and paint McCain as the reckless and dangerous overeager warrior that he is.

If I was the Obama campaign I would probably go with something like this: 

John McCain.  He was a cheerleader for George Bush and Dick Cheney's war in Iraq.  He has said we should bomb Iran.  He's willing to get into major escalations with China and Russia.  He thought war with North Korea was inevitable.  He even called Germany and France our "adversaries."  Is that who we want leading our country?  John McCain too reckless to lead (You can see supporting facts below the fold).

In terms of McCain's ad.  The whole point is to elevate the Iranian threat to some ridiculous level of fear and paranoia equivalent to the Nazis or the Soviet Union.  First of all, the quote is of course completely out of context.  Obama  clearly takes Iran seriously.  All you have to do is read his policies and listen to his positions.

But Iran isn't the Nazis or the Soviet Union.  The Soviet Union had thousands of nuclear weapons and controlled all of Eastern Europe.  The Nazis took over all of Europe and killed millions.  Iran is a country with 60 million people and a GDP the size of Florida.  By historical comparison it is simply not the same level threat.

But John McCain doesn't think that way.  For McCain every crisis is 1939 and every threat is existential.  As Max has so aptly pointed out, this is a very dangerous approach to the world.

Iraq

McCain: Iraq would be a nuclear assembly line for Al Qaeda. “Iraq and al-Qaeda present the United States with enemies on multiple fronts. In World War II, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, we went to war -- against them and against the Nazis, who had not attacked our homeland. We did not have the luxury of fighting one enemy at a time. Sept. 11, 2001 showed that al-Qaeda is a grave threat. Saddam Hussein has the ability to make a far worse day of infamy by turning Iraq into a weapons assembly line for al-Qaeda's network. Does anyone really want to vouch for Saddam, a pathological risk-taker with a history of violent aggression and an enormous stockpile of the world's worst weapons, when terrorists could help him attack us without fingerprints?... Standing by while an odious regime with a history of support for terrorism and hostility to America develops weapons whose use by terrorists could kill millions of Americans is not a choice. It is an abdication…Saddam is an international felon who has repeatedly violated the terms of his parole and is planning further crimes with his terrorist accomplices. He must be brought to justice once and for all. [USA Today 2/13/03]

McCain called for rushing to war – thought Iraq “threat” was incredibly urgent – few months before said war would be “easy” because Saddam was weak. In calling for the immediate invasion of Iraq, McCain wrote in the USA Today, “It is in the nature of democracies to be patient. But as history has shown, they can delay to their peril.” But McCain just a few months before said Iraq was weak, "I am very certain that this military engagement will not be very difficult. It may entail the risk of American lives and treasure, but is vastly weaker than he was in 1991." [USA Today 2/13/03. NY Times, 9/13/02]

Iran

McCain: “Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran.” In April 2007, McCain, speaking to voters in South Carolina, responded to a question about Iran by singing “Bomb, bomb Iran” to the tune of the Beach Boys’ “Barbara Ann.” A man had asked McCain about sending “an air mail message to Tehran.” McCain answered by singing, “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran.” He then added: “Iran is dedicated to the destruction of Israel. That alone should concern us, but now they are trying for nuclear capabilities. I totally support (President George W. Bush) when he says we will not allow Iran to destroy Israel.” [UPI, 4/19/07]

Days after 9/11 and before U.S. forces had even invaded Afghanistan after, McCain was focused on attacking countries that had nothing to do with 9/11 – Iraq, Iran, Syria – said picking which one would be the tough part. “That's where the tough part of this whole scenario is going to begin. And that is that, after the Taliban are overthrown -- which I believe they will be -- I have very little doubt in my mind -- after bin Laden is either taken prisoner or killed and his network is destroyed, then what's next? Obviously, Iraq is still bent on -- Saddam Hussein is still bent on developing weapons of mass destruction. Obviously, the Iranians are still supporting terrorist organizations, as are the Syrians. That's where the tough choices and decisions are going to be made.” [MSNBC, Hardball, 10/3/01]

North Korea

McCain thought war with North Korea was inevitable in 1994. "In a chilling message to colleagues on the eve of Memorial Day, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., warned that a major war with North Korea is inevitable unless America finds a way to deter Kim Il Sung, a dictator bent on crashing the nuclear club and unleashing weapons of mass destruction around the world."  The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), May 30, 1994

Russia and China

McCain said “we are all Georgians now,” implying he would be willing to take a much more confrontational approach to Russia.  [Washington Post, 8/12/08]

McCain’s calls for enlarging the G-8 would snub China and condemn the G-8 to “failure and irrelevance.” McCain has proposed that the U.S. should expand the G-8 specifically by taking in India and Brazil—but pointedly excluding China. Fareed Zakaria notes: “To reorder the G-8 without China would be particularly bizarre. The G-8 was created to help coordinate problems of the emerging global economy. Every day these problems multiply—involving trade, pollution, currencies—and are in greater need of coordination. To have a body that attempts to do this but excludes the world's second largest economy is to condemn it to failure and irrelevance.” [Newsweek, 05/05/08]

France and Germany

McCain threatened and bullied our allies before the start of the Iraq War.  “Speaking at an international security conference in Germany a month before the war, a frustrated McCain lashed out at our European allies, calling them "vacuous and posturing." Later that year, in an interview, he referred to the French and Germans as "our adversaries." He said that former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder "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." McCain also unleashed on two other critical players, accusing France and Russia of putting their "commercial interests above international law, world peace, and the political ideals of Western civilization."  [The New Republic, 5/7/08]

Comments

[COL. [retd] A.M.Khajawall]

Dear American Citizens and the mass media of U.S.A.

As a concerned disabled American Veteran and American citizen, I consider it my duty and responsibility to bring following critical characteristics of so called Maverick McCain to you for proving me wrong or right.

"The citizens of the United States of America have the ultimate responsibility to elect the " Right Candidate with the right temperament" to lead our nation' to address our nations present and future moral, democratic, economic, educational, health care, energy, military, and foundational soul of our nation.

In my firm professional opinion that the media should help the common voter to explore and discuss following attributes of Hon. Senator McCain.

1. Does he have a calm, cool, and collected " temper " [ Presidential Temperament ]?
2. Does he have a sound and sustained "Judgment and Caliber"?
3. Does he have a reveal a presidential "Thought-fullness and togetherness" of purpose and positions?
4. Does he lot or little "ex-poser and exploitation" around Washington"?
5. Does he poses enough " Vigor, wisdom and Vision " for our Great-grand Nation?
6. Does he poses foreign policy exploit-es based on " American Values, Virtuous, Vastness"?
7. Does his campaign talk. slogans and ads are based of facts and free of fiction, deception, seduction, and attacks?

If your answer to the above questions is yes then recommend and vote for him.

But in my professional. political, and personal opinion that vote is against the common interests majority of American people, against the world humanity, continuation of status qua and possibly dangerous world order.

Long live U.S.A and its democratic people and their common sense.

COL.. A.M. Khajawall [Ret] MD., Colonel, USAR / MC Combat Stress Control[Ret], Disabled American Veteran and Iraq Freedom team.

PS: I fully agree to with you. Our top priority is economy, jobs, and restoring world credibilty. That needs common sense and not commander in chief. Leave that to US Armed Forces. Please google McCain and temper read what his senator colleagues and others are saying about it.

[Dan Kervick]

McCain is a dangerous and impetuous foreign policy extremist and radical, who lacks the depth of knowledge, intellectual skills and executive temperament to be president. It is also becoming apparent that his alleged "experience" is a drawback, and that he does not appear to understand the world as it exists in 2008, but responds to events as though we still lived in the world of 1970 or 1985. His frequent gaffes, misstatements and ill-advised kneejerk responses suggest a tired old dog who has never made a full mental adjustment to the challenges of a post-Cold War environment; who doesn't clearly understand the forces America is contending with in the contemporary world; and who lacks the diplomatic understanding and mental flexibility needed to manage the nation's foreign policy in a world now characterized by baffling multi-sided complexity.

The world is now like an eight-handed poker game; but McCain still seems to think we are playing one-on-one checkers with Leonid Brezhnev, and he subsumes every foreign policy challenge under a dangerously oversimplified, bipolar scheme of The US vs. The Adversary.

McCain's extremist foreign policy vision is now to the right even of the Bush administration, which itself has been showing gradual and very belated moves toward realism in recent months. The McCain policies, which are closer to the earlier Bush policies of 2002 than the policies of 2008, reveal an even more comprehensive full spectrum belligerence and kneejerk reactiveness than Bush's did. And these policies have already been decisively rejected by the public.

The president's chief job is to protect the safety and security of the American people. The performance of that job requires sober judgment; the ability to gather and analyze accurate and comprehensive information in a timely manner; the organizational ability to manage a large team; the ability to deliberate thoroughly yet quickly during a crisis; and the ability to make sound decisions under pressure that reflect a proper regard for a large number of immediate term, short term and long term goals and interests. I don't see these talents among McCain's strengths.

McCain's strengths are not in the areas required for the stewardship of a nation's policies, but in the smaller and more restricted personal arena - the cockpit, the prison camp, the boxing ring, the drinking match. I suspect McCain as president would show one of the the same chief failings that Bush showed: neglecting his great responsibility to the 300 million Americans he is charged to defend and protect, by confusing challenges to American security with challenges to his own personal honor and stature. Like Bush, he will allow his responsibility to others, including the next generation of American families and children, to fall victim to personal pride and stubbornness. I honestly don't think McCain has the ability to subordinate the needs of his pompous ego to the needs of others, and therefore he can't be trusted with the security of America's children. He is still that pilot, prisoner, and boxer, engaged in the defense of his own honor in very personal forms of combat. He's not cut out for executive responsibility. Goodness, he's not even a full partner in the management of his own household.

[The Conservative Deflator]

Great post! I completely agree and think you have the tenor for the McCain commercial down perfectly. Expect endless war if McCain is elected, as like most conservatives, he thinks violence is the answer to every problem.

[A Stoner]

Have fun painting McCain as you wish. As far as I can tell by the poll, everyone already has determined who McCain is, and it is the ups and down of Barack Obama that moves the polls. Instead of painting pictures of McCain, maybe you should spend some time obfuscating Barack Obama's ideals better. McCain is doing a great job of exposing the truths about Obama, and you better fix in peoples minds who Barack is before McCain taints peoples minds with truths instead of the lies you need them to beleive in for him to get enough support to win.

[Adam Habib Dallas, TX]

I totally agree. Because of democrates hesitation of attacking McCain, I stopped making donations.

[Aaron Levitt]

This was an excellent post, and reflects my core concerns regarding Senator McCain's candidacy. I have great respect for the Senator in a number of regards, but there are issues of temperament, judgment, and impulse control that, while relatively harmless in a legislator, would be truly dangerous in the next POTUS.

[jamaljk]

COL.. A.M. Khajawall
Good questions
For McCain:
1. YES
2. YES
3. YES
4. NO IDEA WHAT THE QUESTION MEANS.
5. YES
6. YES
7. MOSTLY YES

For Obama:
1. Don't know
2. Don't know
3. NO
4. NO IDEA WHAT THE QUESTION MEANS.
5. VISION - Maybe. WISDOM - Probably not.
6. NO
7. MOSTLY YES

[BBUckley]

This is what happens when we continue to le the parties send old Vietnam Vets to run for President. In McCain's case he is unstable and unfit for this command because he was psychologically dammaged by the war and is intent on refighting the Vietnam War in every other war we might be in. Listen to "Never Surrender" Speaches, he's not another Churchill, he is an unstable individual who will gladly lead the US to the bring of Nuclear War with Russia to pacify past demons in his psyche. Cold War II her we go! Vietnam War II, III, IV.... Remember lets just stay in Iraq 100 or a 1000 years, doesn't really matter to McCain, as he will be dead in less than 30 and the rest of us can go on fighting his demons for him.

[Lisabeth]

What a great article. We need MORE articles like this. John McCain scares me and many that I know. Enough with the fear mongering. He is completely out of control!!!!!!!!

[akarmenia1]

So do you have any answers to that question for the Messiah (aka Barack Hussein Obama)? Doe she have presidential temperment? Does he have sound judgement? Does he show "thought-fulnnes," "togetherness of purpose and positions," "wisdom," "vigor," or "vision?" (Those were the adjectives that I could actually understand from the barely coherent post).

The answer to most of these, besides perhaps vigor, is "WE DON'T KNOW." We might not all agree copmletely with John McCain, but most of us don't like to roll the dice with the highest office in the world.

So who's the "fear-monger," when you are the one insisting that John McCain is going to put us into war after war? Or that if we don't vote for Obama then global warming will kill us all?