McCain: "Too Early" To Conclude Whether Obama Has Made Us Less Safe

In what was billed as the first ever "twitter-view" - an interview over twitter - Sen. John McCain said it was "too early" to conclude, as former Vice President Dick Cheney had done, that the Obama administration was making the country less safe from terrorist attack.

The Arizona Republican offered other moderately newsworthy bits in his 15-minute conversation with ABC's George Stephanopoulos. He said he was "proud of [his] daughter" and that "she has a right to her opinions," when asked about Meghan McCain's recent tiffs with conservative talk show hosts Laura Ingraham and Michelle Malkin. He did not commit to introducing an alternative budget to the Obama administration and Democratic Congress forthcoming proposal. But he did write that he was "working with others on alternatives."

And when asked about the issue of the day - the bonuses issued by bailout-recipient AIG to senior executives - McCain said he would "explore every option" when it comes to recovering the $165 million. But he added that the real outrage was not the bonuses themselves but the bailouts that kept the insurance giant solvent.

"I would have never bailed out AIG," the Senator tweeted. "I repeat, we wouldn't have this problem if we hadn't bailed them out," he added later.

McCain went on to insist that while he voted for the TARP, he opposed the bailout of AIG. In actuality, the then-Republican presidential candidate's stance was far more nuanced. While he initially opposed the taxpayer funds for the insurance giant, he later tempered his criticism, to the point of seemingly supporting a financial intervention.

"I didn't want to do that. And I don't think anybody I know wanted to do that. But there are literally millions of people whose retirement, whose investment, whose insurance were at risk here," he told ABC News during the crux of the debate.

The Senator's economic adviser, Doug Holtz-Eakin, clarified the remarks by noting: "The senator supports the particulars of the action but regrets that circumstances forced us to actually have to do it."

Comments

[mortecome]

Ya' gotta love 'im, the old JawBreaker. Now THERE'S persistence!!

[MyGuyO]

Aw come on now Senator McTwitter. Do you really think that America cares what you say?

[trycaring]

Mccain opinion is as much needed as AIG's right now! who is he to critique president obama's safety for the country.

[jade7243]

Daddy Dearest must have some business deal in the works with Dick Cheney.

But I'm content to wait for 8 years to hear McCain's retraction.

[LondonTownNY]

NUANCE: That is what the GOP has mastered. You have to state that you are against something that you know is necessary for the President to do. You run against it, condemn it so when it hits the fan you say I told you so. John McCain has little or no integrity whatsoever.

[dax49]

he never had any integrity, now he has abandoned loyalty in his need to suck up to the republican base

[brklynivn]

Nice dad! Let's hear it for those family values!

[Liberalforsure]

The man who introduced us to the clueless pathological liar, palin...

[Shayrae]

Johnny Boy, remember during the campaign, you told America that you knew how to find bin Laden? Well, why are you not sharing the information with the Administration and thus, with the American military? Oh, I forgot. Since you lost the election, we just gotta figure it out on our own. And you ran on a military hero, mavericky platform. Why are you not willing to help keep America safe? I shudder to think where we'd be today if you were in the Oval Office. Thank God that didn't happen.

[Jacob77030]

McCain is right. Some kids have been on my lawn recently.

[EducatedObserver]

A nuanced and politically skilled statement from Senator McCain.

Indeed, few of us know if the US is less safe since the new president took office, but many (including myself) are pleased that the amateurish foreign policy rhetoric of the campaign has been tempered by the Reapolitik approach of HIllary Clinton at the State Department.

Mr McCain's other statements - about the economy and even his daughter - are balanced and politically astute. Good move.

[chibbles]

It's like he just discovered the internet and immediately became addicted to it.

[just4shiggles]

The fundamentals of this countries economy and my daughter Meghan are o.k. ?

[wdw505]

how about just run a conservative against him next election

[lincheryl]

Why doesn't McCain just tell us how to find Osama bin Laden, like he told us he could? Then we wouldn't have to worry about our safety so much. Where is your strategy, John?

[just4shiggles]

I don't understand why on earth John won't tell us where Bin Laden is. It makes no sense that he wouldn't, unless of course he doesn't care about his country. That can't be right! He has to know, because he said he did...