GOP senators back away from Cheney's Afghan war of words

Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) both said they would not use the same language former Vice President Dick Cheney did to describe the president's decision making on the nation's Afghan strategy, but did not dispute the substance of his remarks.

Earlier this week, Cheney raised eyebrows saying that President Barack Obama has been "dithering" and "waffling" on deciding whether or not to send more troops to Afghanistan per commanding Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request. The Obama administration has said it will wait until after the Afghan election runoff to draft a final strategy but Cheney said by waiting, the administration is putting existing troops there in greater danger.

"Well, I would never want to call my president dithering. And I know it's a tough position that he's in, but why not follow the advice of all of his generals and especially General McChrystal?" asked Hatch on CNN's "State of the Union." "He hand-picked him and McChrystal is one of the best there is. He and Petraeus set up -- they're the masters of counterinsurgency. They need these troops, there's no question about it."

McCain, who is the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, echoed Hatch's comments, saying that " he wouldn't use that language."

"The Vice President is very well credentialed, has a long history of service and has the right to speak out, in my view, however he wants to," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation."  "Having said that, we should as much as possible say...we want this strategy and we want to support the president and unite the country behind it." 

McCain also said that adding more troops could cause a divide within his  Democratic support base and that providing bipartisan support for the strategy could help the president make the decision politically.

"Let's face it, when the president when he makes this decision, and again I believe he will,  will have trouble with the base of his own party...The more united we can be behind him, the more the chances are we can succeed."

But he added, "every day we delay will be a delay in this strategy succeeding."

Democrats however slammed Cheney's language as well as the content of his remarks.

Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said Sunday that former Vice President Dick Cheney was "totally out of bounds" for accusing the Obama administration of "dithering" on a decision on Afghanistan strategy.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) confirmed McCain's hunch, saying that "there will be resistance to this if necessary...We will act and we will do what we can," to stop Obama from sending additional troops.

Feingold said he was working with Democratic Reps. Jim McGovern (Wash.), Barbara Lee (Calif.), and Republican Walter Jones (N.C.) on such an effort.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee member argued for the implementation of a "flexible time-line" for withdrawal from Afghanistan. Feingold also credited Obama for taking time to make his decision.

"He's trying to get this right. But I got to thank God we have a president who is thinking about this instead of getting us into a further mistake
such as President Bush did with Iraq," he said.