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Democrats Shy From Ad Attacking Petraeus
Fred Thompson said he wants Osama bin Laden killed eventually.
(By Mary Ann Chastain -- Associated Press)
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Sen. John McCain condemned the ad as a "McCarthyite attack" on the general and other Republicans joined in calling on Democratic candidates to repudiate the group.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said he did not question the integrity of either Petraeus of Crocker but added: "The strategy George Bush and Dick Cheney have asked them to execute has failed." He called Petraeus's recommendation "more of the same."
Phil Singer, a spokesman for Clinton, called the uproar a distraction from the question of whether the administration's policy is working.
"It is unfortunate that Republican presidential candidates are focused on generating a political sideshow instead of discussing the president's failed war policy," he said. "Senator Clinton is going to keep her focus where it should be, on ending the war."
-- Dan Balz and Anne E. Kornblut
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Thompson Backs Off 'Capture and Kill'
Fred Thompson continues to have trouble with answering questions about Osama bin Laden.
"We've got due process to go through," Thompson said while campaigning in South Carolina yesterday, elaborating on his promise to "capture and kill" bin Laden. "I'm not suggesting those things happen simultaneously."
The answer is the third attempt in less than a week to address how he would deal with the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks if he were elected president. Thompson spokesman Todd Harris, who was traveling with Thompson yesterday, explained that, yes, Thompson wants bin Laden killed, but not before "we . . . milk every ounce of intelligence information out of him to fight the war on terror."
-- Michael D. Shear
