McCain: 'Today, we are all Georgians'
Republican John McCain didn't let up today on the heat on Russia and its former president and current prime minister Vladimir Putin for the incursion into neighboring Georgia.
Even though Russia said today that it is halting its offensive, Georgia says that shelling is still going on, and McCain said "the situation remains fluid and dangerous."
Campaigning in York, Pa., McCain said that Russia intended to "send a signal" to any neighboring country that wants to ally with West.
"The impact of Russian actions goes beyond their threat to a democratic Georgia. Russia has used violence against Georgia to send a signal to any country that chooses to associate with the West and aspire to our shared political and economic values. My friends, we learned at great cost the price of allowing aggression against free nations to go unchecked. With our allies, we must stand in united purpose to persuade the Russian government to withdraw its troops from Georgia."
The United States should stand with the democratic government in Georgia, he said, adding that he had offered Americans' prayers and thoughts in a conversation with Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili.
"He knows that the thoughts and the prayers and support of the American people are with that brave little nation as they struggle today for their freedom and independence. And he wanted me to say thank you to you, to give you his heartfelt thanks for the support of the American people for this tiny little democracy far away from the United States of America. And I told him that I know I speak for every American when I say to him, ' Today, we are all Georgians,' " McCain declared.
UPDATE: At a huge outdoor rally tonight in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, Saakashvili mentioned what McCain had said about American support, and the crowd applauded.
Democrat Barack Obama also issued another statement through his campaign: "Now is the time for action – not just words. It is past time for the Russian government to immediately sign and implement a cease-fire. Russia must halt its violation of Georgian airspace and withdraw its ground forces from Georgia, with international monitors to verify that these obligations are met.”
McCain has long been more strident on Russia than President Bush. Bush once said he looked into Putin's eyes and saw his soul as a "straightforward and trustworthy" man, McCain likes to say: "I looked into Mr. Putin's eyes and I saw three things -- a K and a G and a B."
"I don’t think there’s any doubt who is still by far the most powerful and influential person in Russia,” McCain told WITF radio in Harrisburg, Pa., saying that Putin has “personal control” of the military.
“Of course we have to deal with Russia and we deal with Putin,” McCain said. “But it has to be on a very realistic basis. And not one that there’s any illusions about his ambitions.”
And those ambitions including restoring Russia's czarist prominence. “I think it’s very clear that Russian ambitions are to restore the old Russian Empire,” he said in the radio interview. “Not the Soviet Union, but the Russian Empire.”
Anyone want to bet that had it been Obama who had said "We are all Georgians" the McShame camp would have immediately been sending out headlines screaming "Obama admits he is not American!!" :)
If it had been Obama who had said "We are all Georgians" - you could expect an immediately press release from the McShame camp shouting "DID YOU HEAR THAT?? Obama questions own Patriotism!!" :)
equally stupid the second time JP..even this story has to be spun as another Obama as Victim line? that's pretty...McLame..the McDumb Mcmoveon.org lines are getting Mc"tired and old"..
This past weekend was a watershed moment in history, as significant as November 9, 1989. President McCain will deal with it just fine...and Senator Obama will enjoy a fine career in the dustbin of America's discarded liberal Presidential candidates...HIllary 2112! PUMA!
McCain does not speak for all Americans and he definitely does not speak for me. Letting him or somebody like him to be our president is the first step to the WW3. If he was the president now we'd be in a full blown war with Russia already based on his position and statements. This is very dangerous.
Georian government declared themselves a democracy and a US ally and they are trying to use this as a shield to cover up the genocide against Ossetian people. Georgia tried to exterminate them, but they failed (in the 90s and now). South Ossetia has been independent for 15 years. The world community simply decided not to recognize their independence formally for political reasons.
I think Obama still thinks Georgia is in the South (that's south USA).
get this straight talk,you do not speak for me,John McCain don't you ever make a quote like that again,that is wrong,I will not have you or President bush speak for me,its the Republicans,who says its ok to send our jobs over the border,why don't you go over the border,don't do us any favors,YOU VOTED TO SEND OUR JOBS TO CHINA,MEXICO,YOU WILL NOT MAKE A GOOD PRESIDENT,AFTER EIGHT YEARS OF THE BUSH REGIME,WHY WOULD WE WANT ANOTHER FOUR YEARS,AND THANKS FOR STICKING THE MIDDLE CLASS.what Russia did is wrong,but I'm not a georgian,I'm an AMERICAN,HAVE A NICE day.
I understand that you got some local jokes over there, but did you ever thought about civil people in such situation? When i`m going to sleep i am ready that some WAR MACHINE can throw to my house some bomb of weight 250 kg each... can you imagine what it feels like? i`m not talking about my family,who are sleeping next to me... and people like me are millions... i dont wish to anyone to be in such situation... Think about WAR MACHINE- what will they do tommorow? or the day after... or next year... think about yourself...
Now folk's, you can see an understand the difference's between Barack Obama an Sen. McCain. Sen. McCain tell's thing's as they really are! He has the experience, knowledge, integraty, honor, respect, an right judgement to be the right man for the job as our next president an commander in chief!
Sen. McCain will make us all very proud to call ourselve's American's!
Vote for a real leader an an man that deserve's our vote's an support in Nov.!
Vote for Sen. John McCain for president of our great an wonderful nation!
Thank You!
Ray in Calif.
exactly,J.P.....
This is a campaign stunt for McSame. The last thing we need is another undeclared war on our hands.
It's no doubt that Russia's response has been disproportionate, but I think "we are all Georgians" goes too far. America should not be implying that we support the use of force to bring the autonomous regions under control of the Georgian government. Even more importantly, we should not be implying that we'll provide military support in a war over South Ossetia. I think this is another case where McCain is getting the benefit of the doubt from the McCain Stream Media because this was a very emotional thing to say when we need someone that's looking at the big picture geostrategically.
How many wars can the US fight and remain a "super power." The first response to any disupte should not be war (fighting). Isn't this what we teach our kids? If so, I say - Are we "adults" smarter than 5th graders?
Today, we are all empty sloganeers.
Hey everybody! Guess what...
McSame's foreign policy coordinator, Randy Scheunemann, is a paid lobbyist for... get this... the Republic of Georgia. I am not making this up, folks. You can read about it the Washington Post or just google it.
This is what Obama means when he says that McCain is part of the old way of doing things. Time to sweep these cynical bastards out of power.
Just further reinforces my view that McCain is inept at strategic thinking. Obama is a mediocre candidate, but when faced with someone who wants to have a completely unnecessary showdown with countries over issues that have little to nothing to do with us, it becomes a no brainer who to vote for.
How about KOSOVO. Did he say "Today, we are all Albanians" ??
Captain - you my friend are quite uninformed. If Hillary supporters get behind McShame they'll be voting for a platform that is in direct contrast with absolutely EVERYTHING Hill supposedly stands for. Only a moron could make sense of that plan... which I guess means you support it. Nice work.
A recent study of McCain's voting record shows that 95% of his votes have been in support of stands backing the Bush agenda. In WHAT WAY does that represent any kind of chance from this current disaster except substituting one war monger for another who, if anything, is even MORE bellicose????
How is Bush a warmonger or McCain for that matter? Seems to me that especially with this whole Georgian thing we need to do something or we could be dealing with a lot worse of a situation in the future.
Can the Bush Administration---Rice and McCain included--have any bearing on this situation given what they've done in Iraq? It's like a parent saying "do as I say, not as I do." Don't invade a sovereign country, displace its government and occupy the territory. That's just wrong. Ummm, unless the US does it. Of course we did it because Iraq was behind 9/11...or because Iraq had WMDs,..okay so it was so we could all enjoy lower gas prices...okay, I don't remember why we did it but we had every right to do it.
Russias response has been very good. You don't protect a people, like the Ossetians, and then bomb the Ossetian homeland.
Of course Russia took the fight to Georgia.
If you have trouble working that out in your mind, then think of the first Iraqi war when they had invaded Kuwait.
We sure as heck didn't bomb the heck out of Kuwait and keep the entire war bottled inside the country we were trying to save. We took the fight to Iraq.
The same principle applies here, they took the fight to Georgia and then systematically dismantled the Georgian military. Using precision bombing, which like our own precision bombing sometimes hits apartments and things in the area, but inasmuch as their technology allowed, they tried to dismantle the military.
We keep saying Gori is 60 miles from Tblisi, forgetting that its less than 20 miles from South Ossetia, and was the staging point for the war against Ossetia. Of course they went to Gori...its only 20 miles away, and it was the main military base they needed to destroy and a few others.
I am absolutely not going to compromise and say, both sides were wrong, and maybe they overreacted...no such thing. They didn't overreact at all, they handled it in much the same way we would handle things, had our peacekeeping forces been attacked anywhere in the world.
Russia is attacking Georgian villages, its army is almost at Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Russian forces are raping, robbing and killing Georgian population and they are severely torturing Georgian imprisoned soldiers. I ask: are we in 21 Century?? Now I am in Tbilisi and I will stay here to watch these occupiers with my eyes, to take their photos and to show to the world - we are still in times of Stalinism, in times of KGB, in times of bloody Soviet empire. You, who can not imagine, what is the fear to lose homeland, to lose family, to lose life and to lose everything, take it like a film, you discuss it like a film. I can not believe a man can have such attitude towards thousands of people dying. How Russians can be tolerated? The ambitious occupiers who can not admire that times of Red Terror has been ended. These people are still alive, and moreover, they are still fighting for these ambitions. Bravo McCain, who saw K G B in Putin's eyes. They all have one same aim: to kill, to destroy, to conquer. REMEMBER: K G B !!!
Russia is attacking Georgian villages, its army is almost at Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Russian forces are raping, robbing and killing Georgian population and they are severely torturing Georgian imprisoned soldiers. I ask: are we in 21 Century?? Now I am in Tbilisi and I will stay here to watch these occupiers with my eyes, to take their photos and to show to the world - we are still in times of Stalinism, in times of KGB, in times of bloody Soviet empire. You, who can not imagine, what is the fear to lose homeland, to lose family, to lose life and to lose everything, take it like a film, you discuss it like a film. I can not believe a man can have such attitude towards thousands of people dying. How Russians can be tolerated? The ambitious occupiers who can not admire that times of Red Terror has been ended. These people are still alive, and moreover, they are still fighting for these ambitions. Bravo McCain, who saw K G B in Putin's eyes. They all have one same aim: to kill, to destroy, to conquer. REMEMBER: K G B !!!
McCain's reaction to Russia's invasion of Georgia proper is just right, and so is Obama's, if somewhat belated. It's incredible to read some of the attacks on McCain here. "McSame" really. That's nonsense. He and Obama deserve more respect as presidenital candidates. The situation in Georgia is exteremely serious and it demands a strong reaction. from both. Anyone who doesn't see that is forgetting--if they ever knew--what can come of turning away while an agressive nation runs roughshod over its weaker neighbors. Yes. Study Chamberlain's appeasement to Germany at Munich and then see if you still want to treat the situation in Georgia like it's a joke.
My god Americans you all have to pay closer attention. Georgia actually fired the first shots that started the Russian response. Are you all aware of this fact? I thought the Bush doctrine (of invasion) was a fluke of the governing body but the people were smart enough to know it was stupid. However, I can see how you all elected Bush twice. my god, your countrymen are fairly dim.
good luck.
heloo, I'm GEORGIAN and I'm devastated from comments you wrote about my country. Do you know what it feels to live in panic?listening to sounds of bobmsa during whole night???You have never experienced it and that's why you don't care about lives of thousands.
you are unaware of what has started conflict. WE answered on the bombing from Tskhinvali region. And Tshkinvali has always been part of Gerogia, only after Georgia became invaded from russia, they took our territory(Tskhinvali)from us. and same to Abkhasia russians took it from us, because it's beutiful, and Georgias beautifel and everyone wants it...nobody left our territory for cebturies we always had wars against invadors and it will continue coz we never gonna gve up for our country, if it's smaal it doesn't mean we can be invaded from anybody. we are proud of being Georgians
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