At Candidates Forum, Silence About the War Speaks Volumes

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) got little response from firefighters when he made a case for continuing the war in Iraq. (Photos By Linda Davidson -- The Washington Post)

John McCain -- fighter pilot, prisoner of war, tormentor of Pat Robertson -- is seldom wanting in courage. But even so, what he did yesterday was noteworthy.

The Republican senator from Arizona was one of 11 presidential candidates -- Democrat and Republican -- to address the annual gathering of the firefighters union. But he was the only one to risk making a passionate case before the left-leaning group about why the war in Iraq must continue.

"It is not hopeless," McCain told them. No response other than somebody coughing.

Reading his speech and stealing quick glances at his listeners, he continued. "The hour is late, but we must try, we must!" Beefy firemen, arms folded on chests, stared back silently.

"We do have some evidence that the new tactics . . . have begun to make progress," he pleaded. Audience members whispered. Some shook heads. One raised the comics section in front of her face.

"We have the right commander in Iraq," he pressed on. The murmur of conversations grew.

Finally, McCain retreated to a general praise for the troops. "It's a privilege beyond measure to live in a country served by such courageous and selfless patriots," he said. In the back of the room, about 20 firefighters started a standing ovation, then sat down when they realized their colleagues were not joining them.

The performance highlighted McCain's bravery -- and also showed why his second campaign for the presidency is, at this early stage, floundering. Alone among the crowd of candidates, McCain was willing to take an unpopular stand. Rather than promise collective bargaining or more money for firefighters, he plunged immediately into a discussion about Iraq. But like most Americans, the members of the International Association of Fire Fighters had clearly had enough of the war -- and they weren't buying what McCain was selling.

It's not as if McCain wasn't warned. Early in the day, former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore, another Republican candidate, briefly tried to make the case for the war. "I support that surge," Gilmore declared, producing dead silence.

He quickly shifted to a more popular war: the American Revolution. Noting the importance of homeland security, he observed that "we have thrown the British army off this continent," then went on to discuss Benjamin Franklin. "There is a man who understood what risk was," Gilmore said.

Duncan Hunter, a Republican congressman from California, learned from Gilmore's mistake. He shrewdly avoided the "surge" word and, though a supporter of the troop buildup in Iraq, made it sound as if he were calling for a withdrawal. "You rotate in Iraqi divisions," he proposed. "They carry the load for the security in Iraq and we can move the Americans out."

The Democrats have public opinion on their side when it comes to Iraq, but they, too, devoted relatively little of their speeches to the war. Only six weeks ago, former senator John Edwards told a Democratic gathering that "silence is betrayal" on Iraq. But yesterday, Edwards was silent, making only glancing reference to the conflict. "We have got to stand by the men and women who have worn the uniform," he said, safely.

The two Democratic front-runners, Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) gave the requisite denunciations of the war and received the expected applause. Obama stirred up an ovation when he cited his "goal of removing all of our combat forces from the country by March of 2008."

Clinton received even better results from her lines on Iraq, including "We should end this escalation now."

But Iraq was only a small piece of a speech in which Clinton mentioned, six times, the importance of "being there" for the firefighters: "Being there for you means caring for every firefighter. . . . Being there for you means standing side by side with you." Clinton then sought to summarize all her thoughts in a remarkable final sentence: "I am thrilled and honored to stand with you, and together we will make it clear that those of us who believe that courage and anger about what is leads to hope means that we will change America for the better."

Then came McCain, and the mood changed. Right after an opening joke and the obligatory nod to the heroism of firefighters, the senator plunged into "the issue that is of greatest concern to all of us, the war in Iraq." For the next several minutes, the audience listened in stony silence.

Only McCain's pleas to honor the troops earned the crowd's approval. "Whether we believe their mission can succeed or is certain to fail, have the political courage to stand by our convictions and offer something more than doubts, criticism, or no-confidence votes to the national debate."

McCain allowed that his own contribution to the national debate could imperil his candidacy. "Presidents don't lose wars," he said, in the tone of a valedictory. "Political parties don't lose wars. Nations lose wars, my friends, and nations suffer the consequences -- and those consequences are far more serious than the loss of elections."

McCain finally moved on to the need for better equipment for firefighters. The applause, predictably, returned.