Speaker 1: Well. Senator McCain, who some are calling Senator mccrazy. Senator
Speaker 1: mccayn is uh is back. He's sucking up to the
Speaker 1: drive by media and taking cheap shots at President Bush.
Speaker 1: He was in Ohio yesterday campaigning four and with Senator
Speaker 1: Mike DeWine said this at a news conference. I think
Speaker 1: one of theest mistakes we made was underestimating the size
Speaker 1: of the task and the sacrifice that would be required.
Speaker 1: Stuff happens, mission accomplished, last throws a few dead enders.
Speaker 1: I'm as more familiar with those statements than anyone else
Speaker 1: because it greaves me so much that we have not
Speaker 1: told the American people how tough and difficult this task
Speaker 1: would be. I'm gonna go back. I have a quote
Speaker 1: here from President Bush on April of two thousand three, right,
Speaker 1: may I read that quote to you. Iraq can be
Speaker 1: an example of peace and prosperity and freedom to the
Speaker 1: entire Middle East. It will be a hard journey, but
Speaker 1: at every step of the way, Iraq will have a
Speaker 1: steady friend and the American people. I'm not I I
Speaker 1: am not aware of the President. I'm well, I'm not
Speaker 1: aware of myself. Ever thinking this was going to be
Speaker 1: a cake walk. Uh, And I'm not aware of the
Speaker 1: administration making the case. I think that mission accomplished. Banner
Speaker 1: on board the aircraft carrier. Uh. You know, some could
Speaker 1: say that was misleading. Uh, but the mission at that
Speaker 1: time was accomplished. That was getting rid of Saddam. The
Speaker 1: war in Iraq actually was quite successful and didn't take
Speaker 1: very long. It is the aftermath, the quest for peace,
Speaker 1: so to speak. Uh, that is taking a long time.
Speaker 1: I don't think the President misled anybody about it. Anyway.
Speaker 1: Here is what McCain wanted. He wanted coverage on all
Speaker 1: the evening news at cable channels, drive by media adulation, McCaine, McCain, McCain, McCain,
Speaker 1: and he got it. Here's a montage. Senator McCain says
Speaker 1: that the administration misled the public about the war, led
Speaker 1: the public to think it would be a day at
Speaker 1: the beach. War of words. Senator John McCain comes out swinging,
Speaker 1: accusing the President of misleading the American people, making them
Speaker 1: think it would be some kind of day at the beach.
Speaker 1: Tough talk. McCain ripped into the administration for painting too
Speaker 1: rosie a picture and trying to lead the American people
Speaker 1: into believing the war was some kind of day at
Speaker 1: the beach. President Bush faces tough criticism, and this comes
Speaker 1: from McKay supporter Republican Senator John McCain. McCain blamed the
Speaker 1: Bush administration for leading the American people to believe the
Speaker 1: war in Iraq would be a day at the beach.
Speaker 1: Senator John McCain is turning up the volume on his
Speaker 1: criticism of the war in Iraq. McCain blasted top Bush
Speaker 1: officials for painting to Rosie a picture in the war
Speaker 1: tough talk. One very prominent member of the GOP. Strong
Speaker 1: words from John McCain. John McCain has not simply been
Speaker 1: a cheerleader. He has told people a lot more the truth.
Speaker 1: Senator John McCain hit the administration hard. Could it be
Speaker 1: a revival of the straight Talk Express that was? That
Speaker 1: was our old friend Claire Shipment at ABC panting away?
Speaker 1: Are we going to get this dratark Express back? This
Speaker 1: is why Senator McCain is going to have trouble in
Speaker 1: the Republican primaries. He is appealing to the the base
Speaker 1: instincts of the drive by media. The Republican primary voters
Speaker 1: have no love for the drive by media. Anybody pandering
Speaker 1: to the drive by media is not somebody the Republican
Speaker 1: base is going to be excited about. Then you add
Speaker 1: to that the fact that McCain, in pandering to the
Speaker 1: drive by media, had to go out and tack the
Speaker 1: administration on an area in which the administration shows its
Speaker 1: strongest suit. The American people are behind well, that the
Speaker 1: Republican base was to stick with them, very much behind
Speaker 1: the president in this whole effort. In fact, USA Today
Speaker 1: had this poll out yesterday to confirms something that I've
Speaker 1: been thinking about for the longest time. Pole has his
Speaker 1: approval rating back up to and the excuse according to
Speaker 1: the poll, the reason that the approval numbers up is
Speaker 1: is that, Uh, the American people loved the response to
Speaker 1: recent acts and tempted acts of terrorism. Illustrating one of
Speaker 1: my theories that over the course of these recent months,
Speaker 1: where his approval numbers have been in the mid to
Speaker 1: high thirties, Uh, it's not because people disapprove per se
Speaker 1: of the way Bush is doing this or doing that.
Speaker 1: It's because they wish people would Republicans anyway, the Pole
Speaker 1: wish you would do more Project US power go in
Speaker 1: and kick butt and show the world what we're capable
Speaker 1: of and end this thing with a stunning victory and
Speaker 1: with a pole shooting up to overt two p in
Speaker 1: USA today, I think that view tends to be validated
Speaker 1: now in all fairness, uh and I want to mention
Speaker 1: this to you in in in conjunction with Senator McCain's
Speaker 1: pandering to the drive by media and criticizing this administration
Speaker 1: for its words about the war in Iraq, ABC last
Speaker 1: night had a very rare positive report on ABC's World
Speaker 1: News Tonight. Charles Gibson reported encouraging news from Baghdad. The
Speaker 1: decision was made to redeploy thousands of US troops from
Speaker 1: the Baghdad area from other areas of rock to secure
Speaker 1: the city and reduce a number of daily attacks. Well,
Speaker 1: the numbers are preliminary, but it seems to be working.
Speaker 1: After two weeks I Rocky authorities say that the number
Speaker 1: of vital attacks has gone down by thirty percent. ABC
Speaker 1: reporters said by saturating some of the most dangerous neighborhoods,
Speaker 1: they have reduced violence across Baghdad by almost a third.
Speaker 1: US figures calculated differently show it drop either way. The
Speaker 1: Americans are fired up. And my quote Lieutenant Patrick Patterson
Speaker 1: of the cavalry, who says, yeah, it's been great. We've
Speaker 1: got a lot of smiles, We've got a lot of waves. Still,
Speaker 1: despite the positive tone, ABC is McArthur concluded, hope has
Speaker 1: often gone sour in the rock. If they can't make
Speaker 1: their own peace, America's success in Baghdad could quickly be reversed. Well,
Speaker 1: that's the new, not new, that's the formulaic balance that
Speaker 1: the media has to put an egg or again. All
Speaker 1: kinds of great news, but but just so we're fair,
Speaker 1: it could all go to hell in a handbasket in
Speaker 1: the next five minutes. So on the day, Senator McCain
Speaker 1: goes out and uh and is critical in order to
Speaker 1: get this this loving slavish attention from the drive by media,
Speaker 1: the news out of a rock pretty good. That's almost
Speaker 1: the same kind of thing. It happens with Democrats opening
Speaker 1: a door right into their noses and so forth. Uh.
Speaker 1: And this, as I say, was reported on ABC's World
Speaker 1: News Tonight last night. Amy Louisville Open Line Friday on Wednesday, Hello,
Speaker 1: Hi Rush negative is from another rush baby. Thank you,
Speaker 1: um and I just had a comment quick comment Singer
Speaker 1: McCain what he said. I'm a military wife and my
Speaker 1: husband went over to Iraq as soon as the war
Speaker 1: and as Sissadam fell, and um, I all fail this,
Speaker 1: lad at all. He told me. My husband told me
Speaker 1: before he went over there that this would be the
Speaker 1: hard part. Um, not the actual itself, but the stabilization.
Speaker 1: And um, I personally have not heard any President Bush
Speaker 1: say anything, but it's going to be a tough road. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, look, the lid just something trying to make
Speaker 1: a big case out of this, uh bush lode. You
Speaker 1: know that the theme is bush lode. So when you
Speaker 1: have the banner that says mission accomplished, Bush, Lad, when
Speaker 1: Cheney says the insurgency is in its last throws Cheney
Speaker 1: laud um what what? What's uh? You know what? What's
Speaker 1: continued troubling about this? He is Senator McCain's pandering to
Speaker 1: the drive by media at the expense of his own party,
Speaker 1: uh and his own president. On the one hand, he's
Speaker 1: very supportive of the president, very supportive of the war.
Speaker 1: On the other hand, he thinks Rumsfeld because that fits
Speaker 1: and dovetails right with where the drive by media is
Speaker 1: on Rumsfeld to come out and say that the American
Speaker 1: people were misled on this. Why don't you tell us
Speaker 1: this at the beginning, senator, Why don't you go when
Speaker 1: the President said what he said or said what you
Speaker 1: thought he said, or when when when Cheney said what
Speaker 1: he said? Why didn't you stop what you were doing,
Speaker 1: stand up and say, wait a minute, I don't think
Speaker 1: this is right. American people need to be told something else.
Speaker 1: Why didn't you come in after the fact with armchair
Speaker 1: quarterbacking in hindsight like anybody can do. But we played
Speaker 1: for you the montage there, folks, all the coverage McCain got,
Speaker 1: and that's what he was angling for. And if he thinks,
Speaker 1: if he thinks that this is going to help him
Speaker 1: with the Republican base, I'm he's sadly, sadly mistaken. Marty
Speaker 1: in Washington, your next. Nice to have you on the program.
Speaker 1: Thanks for us pleasure. Listen, everything you're saying about McCain
Speaker 1: is right. He was a complete jerk and an idiot
Speaker 1: for saying what he did when he did. But you
Speaker 1: know now that the elephants on the table. I have
Speaker 1: felt this way for a long time. I mean since
Speaker 1: I saw those buildings, you know, five years ago, go
Speaker 1: down on the TV set, is it? I did not
Speaker 1: understand why in the ensuing days and in the past
Speaker 1: five years, the president hasn't beat the living daylights out
Speaker 1: of this to tell people this is gonna be hard.
Speaker 1: It just hasn't come across and and and I don't
Speaker 1: know if the fault his I think it is to
Speaker 1: a great degree or certainly, as you point out, the
Speaker 1: media's traditional media has got its own template on this thing.
Speaker 1: But I mean, this is why Democrats are so much
Speaker 1: smarter than Republicans. Their pr thing. They always prepare you
Speaker 1: for the worst. This is going to have to be
Speaker 1: a horrible sacrifice. And if if Butch had done that
Speaker 1: when he had the political capital of five years in
Speaker 1: the last five years and just hammered, hammered that home
Speaker 1: over and over again, and how desperately we need for
Speaker 1: our security to have a democracy in Iraq, he I
Speaker 1: don't think he'd be having the poll numbers that that
Speaker 1: he does. And again, you know, McCain was an idiot
Speaker 1: for doing it, But he's just saying something that every
Speaker 1: probably everybody in the Republican Party knows. Well, uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I think my memory is that when it comes to
Speaker 1: the entire war on Terror, which I've always considered a
Speaker 1: rock to be part of. I think the President has
Speaker 1: gone out of the way to talk about how long
Speaker 1: this is going to take, that it's going to go
Speaker 1: on longer than his administration. Now, if you separate the
Speaker 1: two and think I Rock is different, which is what
Speaker 1: what many of the President's opponents do, and say it's
Speaker 1: just an isolated little campaign over there that has no
Speaker 1: relationship to the war on terror. Uh, then you could say,
Speaker 1: you know, the president has come out and specifically said
Speaker 1: he has a couple of times. I gave you one
Speaker 1: quote from two thousand three, but he said it's going
Speaker 1: to be hard. It's not that he hasn't said it.
Speaker 1: Your point is he hasn't set it enough. Um Um,
Speaker 1: you know it's it's arguable you talk about the Democrats
Speaker 1: having great pr by telling people how rotten things are
Speaker 1: going to be. I don't know that that's great pr.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's uh, you know, a great way
Speaker 1: to boost morale of the fighting forces that are over there.
Speaker 1: At the same time, he's been great as far as
Speaker 1: boosting the morale of the troops. And maybe that's because
Speaker 1: he's too good of the commander in chief. But on
Speaker 1: the other hand, the downside of that is, you know,
Speaker 1: darn well when it drags on, then the public back
Speaker 1: at home, the upbeat messages just starting in sync with
Speaker 1: what's going on, and I just you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's it's a problem. He's too principal of a man
Speaker 1: to engage in these democratic pr things that they always
Speaker 1: seem to win. And now we're paying the price. We're
Speaker 1: gonna pay the price. Um, well, are they winning on
Speaker 1: what basis? Are you saying they're winning pulling data? Well,
Speaker 1: I'm just just pulling data that. Yeah, I'm wait till
Speaker 1: November to see if they're winning. I reject that. I
Speaker 1: don't think they're winnings. I think that is part of
Speaker 1: the mindset that many conservatives had that for forty years,
Speaker 1: the Democrats always seem to be Outsmartinus, they always seem
Speaker 1: to be a couple of steps ahead of us. There
Speaker 1: pr always seemed to be brilliant and coordinated and organized.
Speaker 1: I think they're not winning elections these days. There and there,
Speaker 1: there there. That party is falling apart, whether anybody wants
Speaker 1: to admit it or not. The Democrat Party is falling apart.
Speaker 1: The idea that the Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and John
Speaker 1: Kerry and Jack Mirtha represent a brilliant pr campaign and team.
Speaker 1: I just I reject that, and I don't fall prey
Speaker 1: to that. The one thing I do want to talk
Speaker 1: about though, before you go, and that is you wish
Speaker 1: the President had come out more often and uh and
Speaker 1: more forcefully reminding the American people is a worthy cause.
Speaker 1: And here's what we're doing. This is why it's gonna
Speaker 1: take a long time. We can't level a country because
Speaker 1: we're trying to establish a beacon of democracy there. We
Speaker 1: need to show the Iraqi people that we have nothing
Speaker 1: against them. We're not gonna blow up their buildings, are
Speaker 1: not gonna blow up their schools, We're not gonna level
Speaker 1: the country. Um. And and thus it's gonna take a
Speaker 1: long time. We're battling a number of surgencies and so
Speaker 1: forth terrorist actions. Uh, and it's a new kind of warfare.
Speaker 1: I would love for that to have happened as well.
Speaker 1: But more than that, I would have loved a really
Speaker 1: true American projection of power. Had there been a true
Speaker 1: American projection of power, had there really been shock and all.
Speaker 1: I think the American people would have a little bit
Speaker 1: more understanding or patients for this, and apparently the polls
Speaker 1: say that they have. I'm glad you called Marty. Thanks
Speaker 1: much