McCain campaign "hits back" on the "not too important" remarks

[ErinBerin84]

pretty weak response. And is the "our friends" remark really necessary? SO LAME. I think the dismissiveness that McCain has shown about the timing of bringing the troops home IS important. No one is implying that he "doesn't care" about the troops, but I think that it shows an out of touch dismissiveness in families and soldiers that DO want to go home right now and are not buying into the "finish what we started because we are patriots" bullshit that Republicans/the white house try to insist is the uniform opinion of soliders and their families. If McCain wants to use Obama's "bitter" remarks to claim he's out of touch, they have no business whining that we are trying to twist his words.




http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06...


McCain Campaign Hits Back Over "Not Too Important" Quote
By Greg Sargent - June 11, 2008, 10:36AM
The McCain campaign has sent me a statement on the quote we posted on below, in which McCain appeared to say that the timing of when the troops in Iraq come home is "not too important."

"The story is snowballing rapidly. Dem leader Harry Reid has already hit McCain over the remarks today, and more Dems will be piling on shortly. Indeed, the Obama campaign is holding a conference call on this later this morning.

Here's what McCain's online guru, Patrick Hynes, sent over...

Sen. McCain has consistently opposed a timeline for withdrawing our troops from Iraq. And our friends on the opposite side of the aisle have a long history of attempting to twist Sen. McCain's words on Iraq. The fact that Sen. McCain opposes a timeline for withdrawal and is principally concerned about the safety of American troops and the security of Iraq is pretty much "dog bites man."
Of course, McCain did actually say the timing of when the troops come hope is "not too important." But in fairness to the McCain camp, they are arguing that he didn't say that the act of bringing the troops home is not too important.

Rather, they say, McCain merely meant that the timing of when they come home is not too important.

This strikes me as a not terribly meaningful distinction, and it isn't a great way to characterize the timing issue, given that it's obviously extremely important to many people. But it is a distinction worth noting nonetheless, because it's true that the question McCain answered was about the timing."

[ErinBerin84]

1. kick

also, McCain still has a son in Iraq, right? Do you think that the Republicans would politicize that eventually ? That would actually make me feel really badly for McCain, because I don't think that he wants to bring it up and it could become a safety issue for his son, but I wouldn't put it past Republicans because they tend not to think about those things. Just like I would be pissed if Democrats tried to politicize Jim Webb's son being in Iraq as a defense, because he is equally sensitive about the issue.