The Iraq war is to blame for high gas prices as its cost has weakened the dollar and driven oil speculation, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), a national co-chair of Barack Obama's presidential campaign, said today.
"We cannot economically afford to keep borrowing two to three billion dollars a week from China," McCaskill said on MSNBC. "That's why gas prices are so high. People are speculating in commodities because nobody wants to go near our dollar. We cannot--it is unsustainable to continue to prop up, in the middle of a civil war, an Iraqi government that will not step up and do what they need to do."
McCaskill appeared on MSNBC this afternoon to discuss Obama's planned trip to Iraq and Afghanistan. McCaskill is a national co-chair of Obama's campaign. When host Monica Novotny pressed McCaskill on Obama's plan to withdraw from Iraq despite recent security gains, McCaskill pushed back by saying the war's cost is unsustainable.
"If you can't leave Iraq when it's stable and you can't leave Iraq when it's not stable, that means that we're stuck with George Bush and John McCain--we can never leave Iraq," McCaskill said. See the video below.
John McCain beat Barack Obama by a margin of 25 percentage points when Gallup asked Americans whether each candidate could handle the responsibilities of commander in chief of the U.S. military.
Gallup reported today that 80 percent think McCain can handle the job, while 55 percent think Obama can.
Obama also faces a disadvantage in negative responses: 40 percent said Obama could not handle the responsibilities of commander in chief, while 17 percent said McCain could not.
Gallup polled 1,625 Americans aged 18 or older June 15-19 for the study.
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) sent a letter to John McCain Tuesday criticizing the Arizona senator for holding a closed-door meeting with Hispanic leaders in Chicago last week.
Calling reports of the meeting "troubling" given McCain's "past sponsorship of amnesty legislation," Tancredo asks McCain if the meeting was a sign that he plans to break his pledge to postpone comprehensive immigration in favor of border security provisions.
Tancredo also urges McCain advocate a security first approach to immigration when he speaks at the National Council of La Raza in July.
"I challenge you to deliver a message to that assembly which does not pander to their amnesty agenda," Tancredo writes. "You should speak to the La Raza convention and to all Hispanic audiences about America's need for secure borders as a priority above all other immigration reforms."
"Senator, you have said many times in recent months, 'I got the message' on border security.
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In a recent interview with Fortune Magazine, John McCain listed Islamic extremism as the greatest threat to the U.S. economy.
When asked about the "gravest long-term threat to the U.S. economy" by Fortune Editor at Large David Whitford, McCain replied, "Well, I would think that the absolute gravest threat is the struggle that we're in against radical Islamic extremism, which can affect, if they prevail, our very existence. Another successful attack on the United States of America could have devastating consequences."
The Fortune piece suggests McCain tries to tie national security to issues more prominent in voters' minds -- like the economy and the war in Iraq -- because those issues are problematic for him.
"When the topic is economics, the same fire isn't there--at least not yet," Whitford writes in the piece.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) is back in the mix as he surfaced today to attack Barack Obama over national security. John McCain's campaign released a statement from Giuliani to further recent attacks on Obama for his support of U.S. court jurisdiction over terrorism suspects.
"Throughout this campaign, I have been very concerned that the Democrats want to take a step back to the failed policies that treated terrorism solely as a law enforcement matter rather than a clear and present danger," Giuliani said. "Barack Obama appears to believe that terrorists should be treated like criminals--a belief that underscores his fundamental lack of judgment regarding our national security. In a post 9/11 world, we need to remain on offense against the terrorist threat which seeks to destroy our very way of life."
Giuliani has been largely absent from campaign talk since McCain clinched the GOP nomination, taking a back seat in national attention to other former GOP presidential hopefuls. Pundits have debated former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's VP stock, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee made waves by joking about Obama being shot at, but Giuliani has largely remained silent.
Today McCain utilized Giuliani as a leading conservative voice in national security. McCain has attacked Obama for a remark he made yesterday about suspected terrorists, calling the Illinois senator "naive."
Yesterday Obama said, "What we know is that, in previous terrorist attacks
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John McCain today called the Supreme Court's ruling to grand habeas corpus right to Guantanamo Bay detainees "one of the worst decisions in the history of the country," The Boston Globe's Political Intelligence blog is reporting.
The Arizona senator blasted the ruling at a town hall forum in Pemberton, N.J. today, saying it will "hurt our ability" to protect the U.S. from terrorists.
A proponent of closing the Guantanamo prison, McCain reacted more mildly to the ruling when asked about it yesterday.
"These are unlawful combatants, they are not American citizens and I think we should pay attention to Justice Roberts' [dissenting] opinion in this decision," McCain said yesterday. "But it is a decision that the Supreme Court has made. Now we need to move forward. As you know I always favored closing Guantanamo Bay and I still think we ought to do that."
See The Trail's report on McCain's initial reaction here.
Barack Obama applauded the 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision Thursday establishing that prisoners in Guantanamo Bay have the right to challenge their detention in civilian courts.
Obama attacked John McCain for supporting the "failed policy" of creating a "legal black hole" enacted by the Bush Administration.
"This is an important step toward reestablishing our credibility as a nation committed to the rule of law, and rejecting a false choice between fighting terrorism and respecting habeas corpus," Obama said.
"The fact is, this Administration's position is not tough on terrorism, and it undermines the very values that we are fighting to defend. Bringing these detainees to justice is too important for us to rely on a flawed system that has failed to convict anyone of a terrorist act since the 9-11 attacks, and compromised our core values."
Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) and his staff got involved in a physical altercation with a blogger asking the Congressman to clarify a statement made in August 2007 that Democrats during the 2006 midterm election "stretched the facts" in claiming they could end the war in Iraq.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that from what he has seen, both John McCain and Barack Obama would take a "sensible approach" to Iraq once in office.
"Based on what I read in the newspapers, I think either person who is elected president is going to come in and take a close look at it," Gates said during an interview with CNN.
Despite the wide distance between Obama and McCain on Iraq, Gates said both will heavily weigh the options when approaching the "endgame" in Iraq.
"I've said repeatedly we can't get the endgame wrong. The next president would suffer the greatest consequences if we do get the endgame wrong, so I think whoever's elected is likely to take a fairly sensible approach to it," Gates said.
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