Bush neocons ever-present in McCain camp

[Janett_Reno]

McCain advisors step away from Bush, but not too far

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/McCain_..._06232008.html

The Republican party's presumptive presidential nominee John McCain is engaged in a delicate dance, distancing himself from US President George W. Bush while courting the conservative ideals of the outgoing president's party.

Few of McCain's top advisors are well known to the general public, and even fewer are directly linked to the highly unpopular Bush administration.

However neoconservatives, whose thinking has directed Bush's foreign policy following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, are ever-present and powerful in McCain's inner circle.
Randy Scheunemann, McCain's chief foreign policy spokesman, in 2002 founded the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, which agitated for the US invasion that was launched in 2003.

Scheunemann and Robert Kagan, another McCain advisor, head the neoconservative Project for a New American Century, which takes a hawkish line on foreign policy issues.

Their influence helps explain McCain's hardline stance on Iraq, where he has vowed to keep American troops for "as long as it takes," as well on Iran, Cuba, North Korea and even Russia, which he wants tossed out of the Group of Eight industrialized nations club over an erosion of democracy.

McCain, who has a reputation for being more independent-minded than most right-wing Republican leaders, is also close to independent Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman, the 2004 nominee for vice president, alongside failed presidential contender Al Gore. Lieberman's support for the Iraq war has put him starkly at odds with liberal Democrats.

When it comes to the economy meanwhile, McCain has sought a range of diverse opinions, and has not drawn from the ranks of Bush economic advisors.

According to author Matt Welch, who wrote a critical biography of McCain called "Myth of a Maverick," the economy is of secondary importance to the 71-year-old Arizona senator.

"On the economy, he's just throwing (in) anyone who's around ... His approach on the economy is not based on principles," said Welch, adding that McCain's only general principles are free trade and his call for reform of th national Social Security pension system, and the Medicare health insurance scheme.

"He's much more interested (in foreign policy) than Bush," the author said, pointing out that neoconservatives have surrounded McCain since the 1990s. "He's running on foreign policy this year."

In fact, the range of his advisors' views on the economy was startling enough to conservative writer Andrew Ferguson of the Weekly Standard that he wrote: "Those people aren't like each other at all."

"A couple of them, if you put them in the same room, would set off an intergalactic explosion like the collision of matter and antimatter," he added.

The main sources of their differences come down to whether to lower taxes (which McCain criticized at the beginning of the Bush presidency) and to balancing the budget (McCain supports amending the Constitution to mandate a balanced federal budget).

His main spokesman on economic matters is Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former Director of the Congressional Budget Office, who takes a stringent view on budgetary matters and is quick to denounce the social programs promised by Democrat Barack Obama.

McCain has largely allocated the public communication role of his view on economic matters to Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard who oversaw the complicated merger with computer maker Compaq.

In regular television appearances, Fiorina touts the positive economic impact of lower taxes.

On legislative matters, McCain has allowed former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Hollywood actor Fred Thompson, a former US senator, to speak on his behalf.

Both promote firm approaches to the "war on terror," and Thompson in particular is committed to naming right-leaning Supreme Court justices to the bench, similar to conservatives John Roberts and Samuel Alito chosen by Bush.

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Just more neocon bs. Republicans better take their party back and kick the neocons to the curb. It looks like more and more republicans are comming to Obama, instead of staying the same neocon course.

It's also funny in the article, Rudy and Fred are trying to go around and speak for John i need a nap McCain as they tell John to not talk so much.

[Maringa]

Definition of neocons=?????????

This one?

Neo-conservatism is a term almost exclusively used by the enemies of America's liberation of Iraq. There is no 'neo-conservative' movement in the United States. When there was one, it was made up of former Democrats who embraced the welfare state but supported Ronald Reagan's Cold War policies against the Soviet bloc. Today 'neo-conservatism' identifies those who believe in an aggressive policy against radical Islam and the global terrorists.

or this one?

First, 'neo-conservative' is a codeword for Jewish. As antisemites did with big business moguls in the nineteenth century and Communist leaders in the twentieth, the trick here is to take all those involved in some aspect of public life and single out those who are Jewish. The implication made is that this is a Jewish-led movement conducted not in the interests of all the, in this case, American people, but to the benefit of Jews, and in this case Israel.

[dude1394]

Janet's really not sure. She thinks it began and ended with cheney/rumsfeld. Her political knowledge only goes back about 7 years or so.

[Janett_Reno]

Neo Conservatives feel they have a global plan. As where most want the best for the country here, neocons have a plan globally.

It is aggressive policy and it might not be aggressive policy against one thing or one people but what they have their mind set on the policy they want and go all out for it. Neocons are trying to make us one country tied together, Mexico, USA and Canada. It doesn't have to be a label of republican or democrat behind the name. Libberman is one and is a democrat, bush, chains and rams are all one and have republican behind their name. McCain is not certain what he is. One week he is a democrat, next week a republican and the next he is with the neocons. He is trying to be elected under neocon because he feels that is where his money comes in.

[dude1394]

Originally Posted by Janett_Reno

Neo Conservatives feel they have a global plan. As where most want the best for the country here, neocons have a plan globally.

It is aggressive policy and it might not be aggressive policy against one thing or one people but what they have their mind set on the policy they want and go all out for it. Neocons are trying to make us one country tied together, Mexico, USA and Canada. It doesn't have to be a label of republican or democrat behind the name. Libberman is one and is a democrat, bush, chains and rams are all one and have republican behind their name. McCain is not certain what he is. One week he is a democrat, next week a republican and the next he is with the neocons. He is trying to be elected under neocon because he feels that is where his money comes in.

As I said, she's not really sure.

[Flacolaco]

The definition of a neocon is someone that has Janett constantly putting words into their mouth.

And the term is really starting to grate.