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Sen. McCain's military service is unquestionable and should be honored as such. That said, his advocacy of the Bush policy in Iraq of "stay as long as it takes" is wrong. It is this judgment, this assessment that we don't need to do anything differently in Iraq or in our foreign policy in the region that does question his capacity to lead as Commander in Chief.
The Republicans and some Democrats don't want to debate the War because they have no standing on it. They know that the American people favor a policy that will begin to withdraw our forces in Iraq. Republicans, and sadly even some Democrats, would rather launch personal attacks against Sen. Kerry than debate the policies that have left US troops in Iraq without a real plan for five+ years.
The RNC attacked Senator Kerry personally and did not address the merits of what he actually said. That is because they have no defense against the failed policies of George Bush which Sen. McCain wants to continue. Sad, but true: they attack this way because they have nothing else.
They are attacking Sen. Kerry because he is an effective spokesman for Sen. Obama and has consistently advocated for a better foreign policy for the Middle East that emphasizes diplomacy. Sen. Kerry, in effect, calls the question on Iraq: Why are we there now 5 years later, what is the goal of the occupation, what do we hope to accomplish there, how long will it take, what resources, personnel and money will we be spending to support this mission and how will it end? The Republicans can't answer that, they can only mumble vague platitudes about how things are now going well and they need more time to accomplish some unstated goal.
The attacks are going to get a lot worse. This is going to get real ugly as the year goes on.
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