McCain More Hawkish Than Bush on Russia, China, Iraq If That’s Possible
Wow, Is It Possible to be more Hawkish Than George, What’s Next: “Salvation Through Thermo-nuclear Warfare?”
Yahoo News, Hans Nicols, March 12th
John McCain is at least as determined as George W. Bush to stay the course in Iraq and more confrontational than the president on foreign policy issues ranging from Russia and China to North Korea.
The perception that McCain is less bellicose than the administration is belied by his own positions. He’s skeptical about Bush’s plan to provide nuclear fuel to North Korea. He has signaled he would be tougher on China. And he called Russia’s elections “rigged” even as Bush said he wanted a “close” relationship with the president-elect.
“On Russia and China, he is clearly more hawkish than Bush,” said Ken Weinstein, chief executive officer of the Hudson Institute, a research group in Washington.
McCain, 71, an Arizona senator, departs for Europe and the Middle East this week, having weathered the contest for the Republican presidential nomination with his image as an internationalist on foreign policy largely intact.
Democrats are eager to challenge the notion of the former prisoner of war as a leader who understands the costs and consequences of armed conflict.
“This is a man who hasn’t seen a country he doesn’t want to bomb or invade,” said Ivo Daalder, a former National Security Council aide in the Clinton administration who has advised Democrat Barack Obama in his run for the White House.
By emphasizing his “more moderate approach on detainee policy and climate change,” the former naval aviator has been able to cloak his “more hawkish position on non-proliferation, China and Russia,” said Daalder.
Click here to read more about this “middle of the road” Republican at Yahoo News.