It’s bizzarre that John McCain would repeat this line in an op-ed after the Georgian President basically scolded McCain in a CNN interview for his earlier remark. Basically, the President wanted deeds to go along with McCain’s words.
The Georgian president made an incredibly stupid mistake, and he apparantly did so with the belief that the United States would back him up if he took on Russia. The Russians have been ruthless, and the Georgian president had to resort to pleading his case repeatedly on CNN while Bush partied in Beijing and McCain made silly comments about our solidarity with the Georgians.
McCain’s credibility is further tainted by the fact that his foreign policy advisor was a paid lobbyist for the Georgian government. Could you imagine the hackles from the GOP if Barack Obama had someone advising him who had been paid to lobby for a foreign government? It’s simply galling that McCain, a self-proclaimed reformer, would put himself in a position where his judgement on an important national security issue is questioned because his advisor was once on the payroll of a foreign government. How does this fit into his disgusting “Country First” slogan? We’ve spent eight long years with an incompetent administration full of cronies who know how to use their influence to cash in. In this respect, McCain is a worthy heir to the Bush legacy.
We know McCain can be tough with Putin, but the question is whether he can be smart. His behavior during this campaign has demonstrated that he lacks judgement. He makes statements like “We are all Georgians” yet he is clearly unwilling to go to war with Russia over Georgia. It was a stupid comment. The Georgian president called him on it, and now he’s chosen to say it again. Unbelievable.
