The Trail

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

U.S. TROOPS IN IRAQ

The War as McCain Sees It

ROCHESTER, N.H. -- Far from Amman, Jordan, where the world's news media were fixated on Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. John McCain told a town hall meeting here that U.S. troops "have succeeded, and we will win the war in Iraq."

In midday remarks to a lively crowd in the old Rochester Opera House, McCain criticized Obama for sticking to his proposal for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. "Now he wants to reverse the success we have had and set a date for withdrawal," McCain said. He did not address recent statements supporting withdrawal by 2010 from the prime minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki, and the Bush White House's implicit recent support of the idea.

McCain also accused Obama of stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the success of the troop increase. "I hope that he will have the courage to reverse his position," McCain said. "We will be coming home, our troops will be withdrawing, but they will come home in victory and in honor."

By then, "we will have restrained Iranian influence in the region," McCain said. "We will have a stable and pro-American and pro-western government in Iraq. We will see and are seeing economic, political and judicial progress in that country."

Although McCain acknowledged "a long way to go," his declarations of success seemed to go further than in the past.

"We have succeeded," McCain said. "Sadr City is safe. Basra is safe. Mosul is safe. The people of Iraq are now leading normal lives."

McCain also predicted that the same strategy applied in Afghanistan will produce victory there.

-- Robert G. Kaiser

EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS

Lieberman Forges Ahead

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a close adviser and advocate of John McCain, praised Texas megapreacher John Hagee last night, saying that his support for Israel "is so much more important" than inflammatory comments he made about Jews and Catholics.

Controversy over those remarks led McCain to disavow Hagee's support earlier this year.

Lieberman addressed for the second straight year the annual conference of Christians United for Israel, a group Hagee founded to gather evangelical Christian economic and political support for Israel.

American Jewish skepticism toward Hagee and other Christian Zionists has long been high. On Monday, the Jewish peace lobbying group J Street delivered more than 42,000 signatures to Lieberman's office asking him to cut ties with Hagee.

J Street and its allies note that the vast majority of American Jews support a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, something Hagee thinks God opposes. Hagee believes an end-time narrative that requires Jews to relocate to Israel and to convert to Christianity.

Lieberman pointed out to the audience that he had been urged not to appear. But he added that "the bond that I feel with Pastor Hagee and each and every one of you" made him "proud to stand with you tonight."

-- Michelle Boorstein and Reuters

CAMPAIGN GIFTS

McCain Relies on Bush's Network

Campaign Money Watch has reviewed the latest campaign filings by John McCain's campaign, and found that although the presumptive GOP nominee is not spending much time with President Bush, he is spending plenty of time with Bush's bundlers.

According to the group's analysis, 124 fundraisers have raised money for both Bush and McCain. These former Bush Pioneers and Rangers have raised a minimum of $25.95 million for McCain's presidential campaign, the analysis found.

"Senator McCain has been working hard to distance himself from an unpopular president, but he is relying on the same network of big-money donors and fundraisers in his run for the White House," said David Donnelly, director of Campaign Money Watch.

-- Matthew Mosk