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McCain continues foreign policy assault on Obama

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor May 19, 2008 01:22 PM

John McCain took another whack today at Barack Obama, in his own backyard, over talking to America's enemies.

After going after each other last week in the wake of President Bush's remarks comparing talking to rogue regimes to appeasement, Obama told Oregon voters on Sunday that "strong countries and strong presidents talk to their adversaries" and that compared to the old Soviet Union, countries such as Iran pose a "tiny" threat.

McCain told the National Restaurant Association today in Chicago: "Obviously, Iran isn’t a superpower and doesn’t possess the military power the Soviet Union had. But that does not mean that the threat posed by Iran is insignificant. On the contrary, right now Iran provides some of the deadliest explosive devices used in Iraq to kill our soldiers. They are the chief sponsor of Shia extremists in Iraq, and terrorist organizations in the Middle East. And their president, who has called Israel a 'stinking corpse,' has repeatedly made clear his government’s commitment to Israel’s destruction.

"Most worrying, Iran is intent on acquiring nuclear weapons," McCain continued. "The biggest national security challenge the United States currently faces is keeping nuclear material out of the hands of terrorists. Should Iran acquire nuclear weapons, that danger would become very dire, indeed. They might not be a superpower, but the threat the government of Iran poses is anything but 'tiny.' "

McCain said such statements show Obama's inexperience and recklessness on foreign policy.

UPDATE: Obama answered back at a rally this afternoon in Billings, Mont., saying, "I understand the threat of Iran" but that he also understands that the former Soviet Union could destroy the world several times over.

But the reason Iran is more powerful is because of the "Bush-McCain policy" of "endless war" in Iraq and not pursuing diplomacy, Obama said.

"Iran is the single biggest beneficiary" of the Iraq war, Obama declared.

Obama says the United States needs to rely more on diplomacy, and less on bluster, to deal with unfriendly regimes.

"We were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying we're going to wipe you off the planet," he told voters Sunday. "And ultimately that direct engagement led to a series of measures that helped prevent nuclear war, and over time allowed the kind of opening that brought down the Berlin Wall. Now, that has to be the kind of approach that we take."

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I find it very interesting that no one is talking about how the Bush administration has just approved 500 tons of food to appease the leader of North Korea.It is to be shipped soon.
When we stop talking to people,of all races,and from all countries,they win,not us.
To say that we need to bomb a country that is not a threat at the present time,is not what this country is about.Talking saves lives,talking brings about different ideas,talking is what politicians do best,why would they not now.

Posted by Lance Newell May 19, 08 03:00 PM
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Obama's assertions that the same kind of diplomacy which worked to bring down the Iron Curtain can also work with Iran is truly shocking. And very frightening. The president of Iran is not a Mikhail Gorbachev. Instead, he is a classic megalomaniac with strong psychopathic tendencies. Senator Obama also forgets that it took an enormous military build-up to bring Gorbachev to the table to begin with, and he was a rational thinker who valued human life.

The president of Iran is anything but rational. He is utterly ruthless. And completely determined to destroy as much of the West as he and his followers can get away with. Obama would surely assist him in the process.

How these liberal Democrats allow themselves to draw these kinds of bizarre parallels defies understanding. It's as if they are actually genetically unable to comprehend evil.

Let's not forget the last time a free-world leader tried "diplomacy" with a tyrant who had previously and repeatedly voiced his intention to destroy a part of humanity, 50 million human beings lost their lives, including a quarter of a million Americans.

The citizens of the United States would have to be out-of-their-minds to elect Obama to ANY office not involving the study of the liberal mind and its inexplicable inability to perceive danger.

Posted by Daniel Dolcette May 19, 08 03:32 PM
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Fist Iraq now Iran what next please let us know Mr. McCain. When will you stop lying? May be you are ignorant.

Posted by jimjus May 19, 08 05:18 PM
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When Obama refers to an opening of diplomatic relations with the former Soviet Union, one that headed off the real threat of nuclear war, he refers not to discussions with Gorbachev but to the hugely important, initially secret discussions held by John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev in the early 1960s. To find out more about this, read James Douglass, "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters." Indeed, the episode of American history that Douglass recounts in that book substantiates dramatically the importance of diplomatic relations with our enemies. Obama is the opposite of inexperienced: he is wise beyond his years.

Posted by Mary Cheadle Babl July 15, 08 07:09 PM
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Good morning. What can you say about a society that says that God is dead and Elvis is alive?
I am from Mongolia and also now'm speaking English, tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "From the internet retailer drugstore."

Best regards 8), Sarojin.

Posted by Sarojin June 21, 09 12:47 PM
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