Richard Clarke: "Quick Draw John" McCain Wanted War Before Bush Did

The campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain both held conference calls Wednesday afternoon to hammer each other on national security.

McCain's message came a bit muddled. His campaign's call -- which took as its focus the a new report that one of Obama's advisers spoke with Syria's foreign minister last month -- started out with a factual error and ended by cutting off a critical-sounding question from a journalist.

First, McCain surrogate Rudolph Giuliani mistakenly suggested that former Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer had met with Syrian President Bashar Assad, when in fact he had met with Syria's foreign minister. When McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheuneman jumped on the call, he had to "clarify."

Later, when Ron Kampeas from Jewish Telegraphic Agency asked how the McCain could square its critique of Obama's adviser with senior foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann's own lobbying work on behalf of foreign governments, he was suddenly disconnected from the call in mid-sentence. Kampeas told the Politico he thought he was "cut off."

As for the call's substance, it was mostly a re-hash of the "judgment" criticisms previously lobbed Obama's way -- plus some unadulterated speculation. "Maybe this is a playing out of his [call for] negotiating with dictators without preconditions," Giuliani offered.

On the Obama call, foreign policy adviser Susan Rice emphasized that Kurtzer had undertaken his Syrian visit as a private citizen, and that he wasn't even a paid campaign adviser in the first place. "The McCain campaign continues to level dishonest attacks on Barack Obama's integrity and patriotism," Rice said, adding that Americans were tired of "Karl Rove's say anything, do anything politics." Rice also accused McCain of trying to "mislead the American people in order to obscure his own record of failed policy judgments."

Joining Rice on the Obama call was former National Security Council counter-terrorism adviser Richard Clarke, who dubbed the presumptive Republican nominee "Quick Draw John." Clarke drew on his experience on the NSC to talk about McCain's own judgment after Sept. 11, 2001, saying that McCain was pushing for war with Iraq before the Bush administration had even made its own mind up on the matter. "Sen. McCain had already decided," Clarke said. "He and his neoconservative foreign policy types that he agreed with are one of the reasons that George W. Bush decided to go to Iraq."

When asked by a reporter whether it was inconsistent for Obama surrogates to accuse McCain of misleading the public while also saying that discussion of patriotism should be out of bounds, Clarke had a retort ready. "I'm sure he [McCain] loves his country. It's just that loving your country and lying to the American people are apparently not inconsistent in his view."

Comments

[madisonhack]

McCain will not re-institute the draft - it would mean the end to preemptive wars of choice. No, we need volunteers; consumers of the Kool-Aid, as it were.

[oldwiseone]

The president of the United States

cannot be a military person

there are obvious reasons for this

for one such a person

may think that military solutions

preempt dimplomacy

therefore it follows

that military experience

does not qualify a person

to be president

it could be argued

that military experience

disqualifies

[galinha]

Bravo to the democrats for finally telling it like it is! National security does not mean solving every problem with guns, bullets, tanks, AK47s, Kalashnikovs, atomic bombs--you name it, every war arsenal.
The fact that McCain is a war monger IS a national security threat. Americans should just wake up to that fact.

[oldwiseone]

They say they want to apread democacy

but what they really mean

is that thay want to spread

capitalism

google neoliberalism

;oberals are for people

conservatives are for business

allowing the conservatives to run the country

is like allowing the horse to take the rider

whereever the horse want to go

do we really want to allow

the elephant

to take us where it wants to go?

[cincyr]

McCain wants to spread democracy through the use of force and reenact the draft so that your sons and daughters can't say no.

He also wants to replace the U.N. with his "League of Democracies".

"Charles Krauthammer, the conservative journalist who invented the plan, says: "What I like about it is, it's got a hidden agenda. It looks as if it's about listening and joining with allies... except the idea here, which McCain can't say but I can, is to essentially kill the UN. Nobody's going to walk out of the UN. There's a lot of emotional attachment to it in the US. How do you kill it? You create a parallel institution." Gradually – over decades – McCain hopes it would make the UN wither away."

see http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-john-mccain-and-his-secretive-plot-to-kill-the-un-903998.html

[oldindependent]

There is more than one hidden agenda at work here. Spreading democracy isn't one of them. Making the world safe for corporate criminals of all kinds, maybe....but not democracy. Doing in the U.N has long been a goal of Krauthammer and his ilk, but so has undoing all things New Deal and Great Society.

What better way than starting and endless war and war profiteering like nothing I have ever seen, running the economy into the ground while certain portfolios just get fatter and fatter. When the "war on terror" begins to lose its appeal, as fear will only work for so long, the Bushites began poking the old Russian bear, with plans to put spying installations in Poland.

Why Poland? Iran has no beef with Poland, nor do they have anything with which they could hit it, even if they did.. North Korea couldn't hit Poland if they wanted to.

Another cold war and weapons race! Ah, yes, that's the ticket. More portfolios grow fat off the military-i­ndustrial-­complex.

The Neocons, let alone this administration, never do anything for just one reason.

[Relax08]

John McCain is a small man with a small man's complex. Hot temper, big mouth and basically dishonest persona. It is obvious in his character, in his approach to virtually any issue. He would be just plain scary in the White House.

[BlueInARedState]

It's one thing to be short. It's another to be small. It isn't short that scares me. It's small that scares me. Small mind. Small world view. Small fuse.

You're right. John McCain is small.

[oldwiseone]

Einstein said

that all great men

are attacked by

small minds

[ebanks84]

Napoleon complex.

[blissiseasy123]

POLYGAMY !!!

Obama should start talking about POLYGAMY and how John McCain has ignored the abuses in Colorado City, Arizona for over 20 years! In my film, BANKING ON HEAVEN, senator Linda Binder (Mohave County, AZ) asked McCain to help, but McCain wouldn't even return her calls.

What qualifies John McCain to be president when he won't even take on the cowardly thugs in Colorado City, Arizona who abuse women and children? John McCain is a cold-hearted, self-serving hypocrite who hasn't lifted a finger to stop the raping of young girls in his home State.

DO NOT vote for John McCain!

http://www.bankingonheaven.com

— Laurie Allen, Producer, Sedona, Arizona

[Grannysue]

When will the nobheads in the GOP wake up and smell the coffee, this guy is a WAR MONGER, but then I guess anyone with an R by their name enjoys seeing sensless WARS taking our young men and women's lives and ruining our country, yup go ahead vote for another four years of HELL FOR OUR MILITARY AND COUNTRY!

[Deidre77]

This article reeks. Those that have served in the military and know what it is like to loose a friend, a soul, a brother to them ARE LESS LIKELY to go to war.

John McCain has experienced that first hand. He stood against Reagan with regards to Panama-he thought it was a bad idea to go there, and he was right.

Do all liberals think that everyone that has served in the nmilitary are warmongers?

Just like someone that studies martial arts or some form of self defense- you loearn to respect it's power and only use it when necessary.

[ebanks84]

It's about time our MILITARY woke up. No more Americans should sign up period.

[filo]

Richard Clarke was the only person from the government to apologize to the American people and say: "Your government failed you" after 9/11. That took a lot of testicular fortitude. IMHO

[ebanks84]

You got that right. And how many more know that is the truth? Many, many!

[westreal]

Clarke took off the gloves. That's what we need. An attack dog.

[wdw101]

ok ........good luck with that

[Whinger]

When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
Covered in blood and soldiers guts
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The men will puke and the girls will scream
The ladies will run away from the scene
And we'll all feel that we were tricked
When Johnny comes marching home.

[wdw101]

well that was stupid!

[Whinger]

Yeah! illegal war and 4000+dead soldiers countless dead men, women and children!

All for the sake of lies, oil and profit, yeah, that was real smart!

[Marlyn]

I liked it.

[zendem1]

As are you.

[JayHorus]

hmmm...I am not going to bother trying to explain it to you, but I take it you never served in the military?

[frappe]

If what Richard Clarke says is true, and I have no doubt that it is, the Obama campaign should be running ads around the clock in every nook and cranny throughout these United States about this important fact. And we shouldn't stop there.

There is a virtual encyclopedia of Republican misdeeds, lies, mismanagement, corruption, and colossal failures of one kind or another that are directly associated with Bush, McCain and the Republican Party in general that should be converted into an aggressive ad campaign of "public service ads" designed to educate and remind the public about why it is so very important NOT to vote for the Republican ticket in the upcoming election. We certainly can't rely on the MSM to inform the public about these facts. They stopped performing their role of serious watchdog years ago. Obama must do it.

It's finally time to hold the Republicans accountable for their pathetic record that has led us to the brink of another Great Depression, weakened our military, assaulted our Constitution, and seriously harmed our image and stature in the world at large. And the only way that accountability can be effectively accomplished is if Obama embraces that responsibility as his own.

[BlueInARedState]

The information has been out there since before the 2004 elections. It made no difference then. It won't help now. I live around these people. They are like the dogs in the old Far Side cartoon. All they hear is "Blah, blah, flag, blah, blah, terror, blah, blah, Barack's name is Hussein, blah, blah, terror, blah, blah, McCain will save us, blah, blah, terror."

[frappe]

Those who are brain dead won't change their vote. But an effective ad campaign that opens eyes and raises doubts about McCain and the Republican Party in general will impact a "significant" percentage of the voting community in a way that benefits Obama and the Democratic Party in general.

[LAB10]

Quick draw's DRAFT is coming!

[Jaxas]

I think the real reason that teleconference was cut short was because McCain's "handlers" are well aware of his instability when under any sort of probing scrutiny concerning his motives. McCain has this outsized view of himself as being America's most honorable statesman. In truth, McCain is no more honorable than most of the other politicians in Washington. In fact, he is less so. His transparent remaking of himself from a straight shooting maverick into a weirdly morphed image of George W. Bush (Sometimes I think Bush is actually possessing McCain) is clear evidence that he lacks the necessary integrity to evince that character trait.

Like so many Washington types who have been there so long and have grown into this attitude that they must be special because of all of the lavish attention, perks and slavering adulation they get from powerful lobbying interests, McCain has come to believe the campaign propaganda about himself. It is precisely this sort of hubris that got us into that awful misadventure in Iraq.

Richard Clarke is a man of honor. And I am quite certain the very reason he is blasting McCain is that in his official capacity he has run into more than his share of dishonest poseurs who make huge careers off their past, irrelevant reputations.

[barackobama4prez]

Dems have to be fed up this year and get these crooks out of office. By any means necessary!

[wdw101]

"By any means necessary!" careful now, that could be read as a criminal threat.

[terramartom]

Wesley Clark, ex-military, Joe Biden, foreign policy, Bill Richards, Govenor, Hispanic votes, Hillary Cliton, senator, ruthless as nails but highly effective. The Democrats will need to finally play the republicans at their own game,which is to take no prisoners.
Stick to the original philosophy, do not go to the center to get votes from the right. Just hammer at the republicans over and over. Beat them down and bring the republican criminals to trial and then to jail. Keep religion where it belongs, in private!

[1099]

If he doesn't go to the right where is going to get the votes he needs to win this election? There are only so many under 30 voters who will actually show up at the polls.

[wdw101]

good luck with that

[SconnieGrl]

Getting lots of troll points today, I see.