US News
Bush gives McCain a starting block boost (Roundup)
Mar 5, 2008, 19:42 GMT
Washington - US President George W Bush Wednesday gave a spirited endorsement to Republican presidential nominee John McCain, citing his commitment to keeping the country safe.
'He's going to be the president who will bring determination to defeat the enemy,' Bush told reporters at the White House after the two men had lunch with their wives.
Senator McCain, 71, sealed his hold on the Republican Party nomination Tuesday night in party primary voting in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont.
Despite past differences between the two men, Bush's approval gave McCain a head start off the starting block in campaigning for the November 4 presidential election, while Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama continue their tense tug-of-war over the Democratic nomination.
In recent weeks, Clinton has emphasized national security in her campaign, saying the Democrats need a candidate who can go 'toe to toe' with McCain, the Vietnam War hero and one-time prisoner of war.
McCain understands 'this is a dangerous world' and the country needs 'someone in the Oval Office who understands the stakes,' Bush said, playing on the national security theme.
Bush said he planned to retire in 2009 to his Crawford, Texas ranch with full confidence the country was in McCain's hands.
'He's going to be in the Oval Office making decisions about war and peace. I'm going to be in Crawford with my feet up,' Bush quipped.
Bush laughed at questions about whether his declining popularity over the war in Iraq could have a back-lash effect on his endorsement of McCain.
'If he wants me to show up, I will. If he wants me to say I'm not for him, I will,' Bush retorted.
Bush and McCain duelled bitterly for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination, and McCain - a party maverick who is a hawk on security issues but more liberal on domestic themes - has challenged Bush on the conduct of the war in Iraq.
McCain said he hoped Bush would 'find time from his busy schedule to be out on the campaign trail with me.'
'I will be very privileged to have the opportunity being again on the campaign trail with him, only slightly different roles,' he said.
McCain straggled last year among the 13 men who started the race for the Republican nomination, being forced to operate on a shoe- string budget and cut staff, and Bush's power as a fund raiser will help boost his coffers.
'A while back, I don't think many people would have thought that John would be here as nominee of the Republican Party,' Bush said.
From the beginning of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, McCain called for a much greater troop strength than Bush had approved, and saw his stance confirmed as the Iraqi insurgency and chaos grew out of control.
But he has remained committed to the war, saying it is vital for US security, and at one point in the campaign even said the US role in Iraq could last 100 years.
With Clinton and Obama running on an end-the-war platform, McCain had altered his stance somewhat by the time he gave his victory speech Tuesday night in Dallas.
'The next president must explain how he or she intends to bring that war to the swiftest possible conclusion without exacerbating a sectarian conflict that could quickly descend into genocide, destabilizing the entire Middle East,' McCain said.
Although Obama and Clinton have drawn the media spotlight at home and abroad, McCain's independent streak could resonate well enough with centrist and independent voters to make him a formidable candidate on November 4.
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Older Talkback
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that's what the country needs right now.
a bush clone ...
please for Gods sake someone shoot this ass-hole before he does get to be president .the man is no beter that his lover bush..
the Bev1 from Alabama??
....for the knock at your door Bev...
The fact is, McCain isn't all that republican, if yuo bothered to read anything about the man, instead of porking your brother...
pork you...this is my view
nope im bev1 from arizona..
at least they both begin with an ''A''. I got that part right. At any rate, I agree that McCain is a whiny, sniveling ass-hole. The things he says with that squeaky little voice just don't command respect , nor project the image of leadership. It would be great if someone were in the mix worth even 1 vote. Maybe next time.
...after all, in the Britney Spears - image-is-everything world you live in, McCain's voice is a much higher priority that his stellar service record, his tireless contribution to legislation (that's the stuff congressmen are supposed to be doing) and individualistic political stance that has bucked both democratic and republican malaise' for the last 20 years.
Your perspective of presidential material is lacking. That and your views on the war in Iraq. You get pretty tiring saying the same old crap day in and day out. In addition to that, you constantly change course.
My view McCain is that he shouldn't even be in the arena. He's not got the right stuff and he's a liar. My view of you is that you should go suck a fattie.
'You get pretty tiring saying the same old crap day in and day out.'
It is pathetic that you stalk him like some teenage girl with a crush. It is creepy as well.
would be a yes man for bush .
bush would sit in texas and pull the strings .
and mccain would be the head whimp..
things are said on here to piss off sp4,,lol
sp4 said mccain isn't all that rebublican.
well duh what is he then? how stupid is this sp4 guy .
And I agree with SP4. McCain is not 'that Republican'. He tells the truth most of the time, he tried to fight the war the war it should have been fought and not like all of Bush's minions messed it up, and I believe he is about as honest as a Republican't can be, and is not on the payroll of the Saudi's or Halliburton. Not 'that Republican' at all.
then perhaps mccain would be an ok president .
right now everyone is just so feed up with bush and his lies...
...none of those comments above still make me wrong.
MCCain is hardly a Bush slave. He's bucked him on a whole lot of legislation i.e. campaign finance reform, the Mid-Air Refueling contract, etc. There ain't no love lost i.e. the 200 election, where Bush dealt him out for being middle of the road.
McCain's pro-abortion, goes to the dems to get support for legislation, etc. He and Hillary both voted for the war, so it's a short debate there, right? No one, except a fool, is going to say he's either dumb or stupid, like they do with Bush, so the only thing left is to call him old or a radical, and he's not a radical.
McCain's not a conservative, and we don't do very well unless we run a conservative, or a conservative poser like Bush. These middle-of-road wags in the GOP never do very well, but we're in a new era. MCCain might just be the new face of the republican party! Running as a senator is tough, made easier by the fact that all the candidates are senators and all will have to defend their records. This is why Hillary is creeping back: she's now defining Obama's positions.
McCain...not the candidate we'd like, but the one we've got. He'll stay right on judgeships and appointments, but go to the middle on legislation. He's proactive on terror and his record is plain.
In any other world, this guy would not be a bad dem candidate in say, 1960.
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''It'sMar 6th, 2008 - 05:08:08
all about the war I started'', says dummy...er Bush. ''My very close and good dear friend John says it's OK to keep it going for a hunert years so I here-by give him my royal blessing''.
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