December 2007 Archives

From Stratfor.com, Net Assessment: United States

The latest American foreign policy actions began after 9/11. Al Qaeda posed two challenges to the United States. The first was the threat of follow-on attacks, potentially including limited nuclear attacks. The second and more strategic threat was al Qaeda’s overall goal, which was to recreate an Islamic caliphate. Put in an American context, al Qaeda wanted to create a transnational “Islamic” state that, by definition, would in the long run be able to threaten U.S. power. The American response was complex. Its immediate goal was the destruction of al Qaeda. Its longer-term goal was the disruption of the Islamic world. The two missions overlapped but were not identical. The first involved a direct assault against al Qaeda’s command-and-control facilities: the invasion of Afghanistan. The second was an intrusion into the Islamic world designed to disrupt it without interfering with the flow of oil from the region.

The whole report is outstanding, essential reading, worth signing up for Stratfor's 7-day trial.

If you even look okay when they make fun of you, that's a good thing.

McCain on torture

McCain on Iran/Iraq

McCain on campaign issues

Kissinger: "I believed then and I believe now that he's the best candidate to serve our nation in an extremely difficult and complicated period . . . This is why I think John McCain will be the best person to lead America through this turbulent but also hopeful period that is ahead of us, in which we have the unique opportunity to defend American values and to bring about a better world."

From NYTimes: The Character Factor, by David Brooks

About six months ago, I was having lunch with a political consultant and we were having a smart-alecky conversation about the presidential race. All of sudden, my friend interrupted the flow of gossip and said: “You know, there’s really only one great man running for president this year, and that’s McCain.”

The comment cut through the way we pundits normally talk about presidential candidates. We tend to view them like products and base our verdicts on their market share at the moment. We don’t so much evaluate their character; we analyze how effectively they are manipulating their image to appeal to voters, and in this way we buy into the artificiality of modern campaigning.

My friend’s remark pierced all that, and it had the added weight of truth.

[...]

And now he pushes ahead, building momentum, but desperately needing a miracle win in New Hampshire. Everyone will make their own political choices, and you might plausibly argue that the qualities John McCain possesses are not the ones the country now requires. But character is destiny, and you will never persuade me that he is not among the finest of men.

That human point seemed worth remembering, even amid the layers of campaign pretense.

Read the whole thing here.

From WashingtonPost.com: Iowa, Boston Papers Make Endorsements

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Des Moines Register's editorial board is endorsing Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton ahead of the state's Jan. 3 presidential caucuses, contending they top the field in competence and readiness to lead in a time of dissension at home and distrust and peril abroad.

[...]

McCain, an opponent of ethanol and crop subsidies important to Iowa, has not mounted a serious challenge in the state's close GOP contest, pinning his hopes on New Hampshire's Jan. 8 leadoff primary and elsewhere. But the board cited his deep knowledge of national-security and foreign-policy issues, and his honesty.

"The force of John McCain's moral authority could go a long way toward restoring Americans' trust in government and inspiring new generations to believe in the goodness and greatness of America," the board wrote on the paper's Web site.

The editorial board of The Boston Globe, closely watched in the New Hampshire campaign, came out in favor of Obama and McCain in its endorsements Saturday.

[...]

McCain was praised by both newspapers as a straight talker who could help a polarized nation. The Globe's board said the Arizona senator could be an antidote to the "toxic political approach" of the last two presidential elections. The Globe also endorsed McCain before the New Hampshire primary in 2000.

The Register endorsed Democrat John Edwards in 2004 and, in the 2000 GOP race, backed George W. Bush over McCain.

"He doesn't parse words," The Register's board said Saturday of McCain. "And on tough calls, he usually lands on the side of goodness _ of compassion for illegal immigrants, of concern for the environment for future generations."

Important endorsements keep rolling in for McCain, especially the kind that matter to moderate independents who are key in the general election and the New Hampshire primary. But surprisingly here—for the first time in a long time—even some good news out of Iowa.

From WashingtonPost.com: McCain Advocates New Tactics

COLUMBIA, S.C., Dec. 15 -- Republican White House hopeful John McCain said he wants "a crash program" in civilian and military schools that emphasizes language and creates a "new specialty in strategic interrogation" so the nation never feels the need for torture.

McCain, a former Vietnam prisoner of war who suffered mistreatment, talked about the new proposal at a Columbia campaign stop Saturday.

The Arizona senator said he wants to create an Army Advisory Corps of 20,000 soldiers to act as military advisers and a new Office of Strategic Services to fight terrorists. He said he wants them to pursue "a crash program in civilian and military schools" to prepare more experienced speakers in strategically important languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Farsi and others, and to "create a new specialty in strategic interrogation -- a new, . . . group of strategic interrogators so that we never have to feel motivated to torture anyone ever again."

As mentioned here previously, McCain's leadership "flows like water" because leadership is real.  Some have it, some don't.  McCain makes news when he speaks.  Couple that with political timing and you have a candidate who can peak on the day of the New Hampshire primary, and change all the dynamics of this race in a few days.  Just wait and see.  Romney and Huckabee have been badly damaged by this inter-religious fighting.  McCain is the "back to principles" candidate for Republicans, the one Republican independents will choose over the rest of the field.

From UnionLeader.com: John McCain is the man to lead America

What is most compelling about McCain, however, is that his record, his character, and his courage show him to be the most trustworthy, competent, and conservative of all those seeking the nomination. Simply put, McCain can be trusted to make informed decisions based on the best interests of his country, come hell or high water.

Read it all here.