An Epiphany? John McCain Was For Benchmarks In Iraq Before He Was Against Them
McCain’s Obfuscation Express keeps on rolling along.
John McCain considered Benchmarks in Iraq as early as January of 2007. McCain is becoming the flip flopper that was John Kerry in 2004. Problem is that McCain doesn’t claim to be for them before he was against them. McCain just lies about his previous statements.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., one of the most stalwart supporters of the war in Iraq, said Thursday that he might propose that the Iraqi government meet certain benchmarks for the United States to continue its engagement.
Fellow senators and independent political scientists said McCain’s thinking reflected growing concerns within the Republican Party about the course of the war, and also might mark a turning point for the likely 2008 presidential contender, whose previous unconditional backing of the war may have hurt his prospects.
McCain said Thursday that he hadn’t yet decided on precise benchmarks. “They’d have to be specific, and they (Iraqi government officials) would have to meet them,” he said.
Asked what penalty would be imposed if Iraq failed to meet his benchmarks, he said: “I think everybody knows the consequences. Haven’t met the benchmarks? Obviously, then, we’re not able to complete the mission. Then you have to examine your options.”…
Even Joe Biden was surprised about McCain’s Statements:
… several Senate Demo-crats who oppose the troop buildup and also may seek the presidency said they were struck by McCain’s comments.
“We Catholics call that an epiphany,” said Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del., who is sponsoring the main Democratic resolution opposing the troop buildup.
John McCain… What will he lie about the next time? Immigration? Oh wait he already has…
McCain on immigration
Voted on Senate floor in favor of guestworker-amnesty bill by voting in favor of cloture motion to end debate and bring bill to a vote in 2007
Sen. McCain voted in favor of a motion to invoke cloture and limit debate on S. 1639, thereby preventing it from moving toward a final vote. S. 1639 is the “corrected and updated” version of S. 1348, the guestworker-amnesty bill that would: grant an amnesty; authorize the importation of millions of new foreign workers; and do little to curb our illegal immigration crisis. Two days prior to this vote, the Senate had voted to invoke cloture and move forward with the debate on S. 1639, outside normal channels and bypassing the committee process. Two weeks prior to this vote, the Senate rejected cloture on the “grand bargain” substitute amendment to S. 1348 by a 45-50 margin, thus halting – for the time being – the bill’s progress toward final passage. President Bush then stepped in to plead with Senate Republicans to give the “compromise” another look. Senate Majority Leader Reid chose to bring the proposal back to the Senate as a new bill, S. 1369. This motion to invoke cloture on S. 1639 (the second motion) failed by a vote of 46 to 53.Voted on Senate floor in favor of guestworker-amnesty bill by voting in favor of a motion to bring bill to the Senate floor for a debate and a vote in 2007
Sen. McCain voted in favor of a motion to invoke cloture and bring S. 1639, the “corrected and updated” version of S. 1348, the guestworker-amnesty bill that would grant an amnesty, would authorize the importation of millions of new foreign workers, and would do little to curb our illegal immigration crisis, to the Senate floor. Two weeks prior to this vote, the Senate rejected cloture on the “grand bargain” substitute amendment to S. 1348 by a 45-50 margin, thus halting – for the time being – the bill’s progress toward final passage. President Bush then stepped in to plead with Senate Republicans to give the “compromise” another look and Senate Majority Leader Reid then brought the proposal back to the Senate as a new bill, S. 1369. The motion to invoke cloture passed by a vote of 64 to 35.Voted on Senate floor in favor of guestworker-amnesty bill by voting in favor of motion to limit debate and move to vote in 2007
Sen. McCain voted in favor of the second cloture motion on the “grand bargain” substitute amendment (SA 1150) to S. 1348, the guestworker-amnesty bill that would grant an amnesty, would authorize the importation of millions of new foreign workers, and would do little to curb our illegal immigration crisis. The motion to invoke cloture would have ended the debate on the “compromise” proposal and limited further discussion of amendments to a previously-agreed upon set of proposals — thus a vote against cloture was effectively a vote in favor of killing the amnesty-guestworker bill. The motion to invoke cloture failed by a vote of 45 to 50.Voted on Senate floor in favor of amendment to kill border fence in 2006
Sen. McCain voted in favor of the Manager’s Amendment (SA 4188), offered by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), to S. 2611, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006. The Manager’s Amendment made many minor changes to S. 2611, none of have significant numeric impacts on the overall bill. However, the Manager’s Amendment included a provision that requires consultation with the government of Mexico concerning the construction of additional fencing and related border security structures along the international border between the United States and Mexico. This would virtually guarantee that the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border would never be completed. The Manager’s Amendment passed by a vote of 56 to 41 to 1 (the 1 denotes a “present” vote).Voted in favor of bill to increase immigration and grant amnesty to illegal aliens in 2006
Sen. McCain voted in favor of final passage of S. 2611, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006. S. 2611 would dramatically change most occupations and communities in America with the largest movement of foreign workers in world history. Specifically, S. 2611 would: reward approximately 10.2 million illegal aliens with an amnesty allowing them to permanently take American jobs and become U.S. citizens; entice millions more foreign workers to illegally enter our communities, crowd the housing and schools, take the jobs and depress the wages because they reasonably can believe they eventually will be given an amnesty, too; double legal immigration from 1 million to 2 million a year; give out permanent green cards to up to 66 million foreign workers and dependents over the next 20 years. The main difference in terms of numbers between the final version of S. 2611 and the version of the bill when the cloture motion was invoked was that the Bingaman Amendment to cap the number of employment-based visas for workers, spouses and children at 650,000 was adopted after cloture but before final passage. Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation estimates that the Bingaman Amendment would reduce employment-based visas available under S. 2611 by about 150,000 a year. S. 2611 passed by a vote of 62 to 36.
t/b: Captain’s Quarters, Stop The ACLU, Michelle Malkin
h/t: Hot Air, Ace of Spades
Sphere: Related ContentTags: 2008 Elections, Iraq, John McCain, National Politics, RINO, War On Terrorism
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This does not surprise me in the least bit. John McCain ought to run as a VP on the Democratic ticket.
31 Jan 08 at 6:20 pm
Wow! You took the words right out of mouth. I was mumbling that very thing to myself yesterday afternoon. That between mumbling, “What the hell is really going on here?” It’s still many months until a candidate really needs to be picked; I haven’t even voted yet myself but the worthy candidates, (except Allan Keyes), are gone already! I was for Duncan Hunter and when he quit early I figured well, there’s still Fred Thompson but then he quit. So, holding my nose, I was figuring Romney is at least smart enough to be leader of the free world. That but now McCain comes back from the dead? Why do we accept a system where only a few states get to set the stage so that over 80% of us don’t get to vote from a full ballot? We are all being ripped off here - disenfranchised! Maybe we should just let the people in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida be the only voters in the presidential election too? Oh but wait, MSM wouldn’t be happy with that idea because the rest of us would all turn off our TV’s.
1 Feb 08 at 2:20 am
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1 Feb 08 at 9:41 am
Thanks for sharing this! I honestly don’t remember this. As if I needed another reason to not vote for McCain in the general election.
2 Feb 08 at 8:43 am
[...] on February 2, 2008 by mpinkeyes I was surfing through the blogs this morning and I came across this post on Stuck On Stupid that I found rather [...]
John McCain Supported Timetables for Withdrawal in Iraq « Wake Up America
2 Feb 08 at 9:25 am
[...] Stuck on stupid written: John McCain considered Benchmarks in Iraq as early as January of 2007. McCain is becoming the flip flopper that was John Kerry in 2004. Problem is that McCain doesn’t claim to be for them before he was against them. [...]
at-the-water-cooler.com » Blog Archive » McCain’s Dirt.
2 Feb 08 at 10:19 pm
Let’s not play dead and act like our country is NOT in danger of a Hillary/Obama ticket that would not be good for America in so many different ways, I couldn’t possibly mention them all here quickly.
If you STILL love America… if you STILL love the Conservative Movement, America, your children and your spouses, and Mitt’s message… then join with us to form a blog roll for a McCain/Romney ticket!
Please read my previous article entitled, “Why I think Gov. Mitt Romney Should Be John McCain’s V.P. Choice.”
Don’t give up the fight when we are almost there!
McCain/Romney 2008!
There seem to be very many pluses to picking Gov. Romney as John McCain’s V.P. running mate.
1)There is widespread agreement that if John McCain loses this year, Gov. Romney will run in 2012. If Gov. Romney were on the ticket as V.P. next in line for the GOP nod in 2016, Mr. McCain would not have too worry about whether Mr. Romney would work as hard as possible for a McCain/Romney win this year.
2)Governor Romney is very intelligent, and I think would be very comfortable dealing with foreign dignitaries.
3)Governor Romney is very rich and has a well-oiled fund-raising circuit that would be very beneficial to Mr. McCain.
4)Governor Romney would bring expertise to economic matters that Mr. McCain seems to be lacking.
5)Governor Romney would bring executive experience as a Governor to the ticket.
6)Governor Romney would bring almost all of his supporters to help with a McCain/Romney ticket, thereby assuring that his supporters aren’t trying to bring him attention to a potential 2012 run, nipping such conversation quickly, before it takes root and is hard to break apart.
7)Governor Romney appeals to social, economic and defense conservatives, bringing the whole Party and most of the Conservative Movement, including talk radio, on board with the ticket.
8)Romney supporters are very enthusiastic and dedicated. You cannot buy this kind of endearment, but McCain would be able to pick up his supporters, and their already-in-place organizational and other skills they would have to offer to the ticket.
9)Romney would help John McCain in purple states such as Michigan, Nevada and Minnesota, and could even put Massachusetts in place in November.
10)Governor Romney brings all the necessary ingredients to John McCain’s campaign that he so desperately needs against Hillary, and especially an Obama opponent.
You cannot buy loyalty like Governor Romney has with his supporters. You have to EARN it. By giving Romney the nod for the V.P. slot, McCain would be showing the Conservative Movement in America that he will not abandon them in the future. If he does this, he will almost be unstoppable in the fall.
11)Governor Romney is now widely seen as heir next in line to be the GOP nominee if McCain were to be defeated, or if McCain served two terms,then 2116, if Romney stays in the game that long. The move to make Romney V.P. would silence many evangelical and social conservatives who now would support Gov. Romney including Dr. Dobson and others. This would shore up support among Mr. Huckabee’s supporters to Mr. McCain, endearing McCain as the one who actually DID bring the Party and Conservative Movement together to defeat the Democrats and take BACK both Houses of Congress!
12)Gov. Romney was the clear “change” candidate and ran on that theme. The move to make Romney V.P. would be a tough ticket against a Hillary/Obama ticket. Change wins almost every time. We would now be able to bring that on-the-ground message IMMEDIATELY!
13)As the man who actually did something about - and has earned him a wide recognition of - healthcare reform, he is the ideal man to blunt the Democrat’s BillaryCare proposals. This item would essentially be OURS as Republicans, which would deflate much criticism against the Republicans for not adequately addressing this critical issue thus far!
Governor Romney told us through CPAC that he does NOT want to cede the White House to the Democrats so that our nation becomes more suseptable to Islampfascist jihadist attacks.
Gov. Romney may NOT have a chance at the White House again!
Gov. Romney WILL be meeting with John McCain in a few days. Let’s give John McCain our voices of support of a McCain/Romney 2008 ticket!
8 Feb 08 at 3:06 pm
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - About Louis Kestenbaum - A teenage girl has filed a $50 million lawsuit against a New York billionaire, saying he sexually abused her when she was 14.
Louis Kestenbaum”s attorney says the allegations are false and motivated by money. Kestenbaum is also the CEO of Fortis properties and the ODA a goverment funded organisation in the williamsburg section of Brooklyn NY
The girl, now 17, claims Louis Kestenbaum invited her to his Florida mansion in 2005 to perform a massage for $300. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, claims he demanded she remove her clothes, then sexually assaulted her.
The girl, her father and stepmother are seeking more than $50 million.
I just want to add that this louis kestenbaum is the father of JOEL KESTENBAUM
11 Feb 08 at 11:38 am