Seth Colter Walls has a fascinating article over at HuffPo, entitled
Richard Clarke: "Quick Draw John" McCain Wanted War Before Bush Did
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Former NSC advisor to the Bush administration, Richard Clarke, dubbed John McCain "Quick Draw John" for his eagerness to go to war with Iraq in the days right after 9-11 -- even before Bush had made up his mind.
The Walls article is filled with interesting tidbits relating to a campaign conference call focusing on national security. But the money quote is the moniker "Quick Draw John", which sounds like something we want to keep repeating every time McCain's experience is mentioned.
According to Walls, both the Obama and McCain campaigns held conference calls today to discuss national security.
According to Walls:
McCain's message came a bit muddled. His campaign's call -- which took as its focus the a new report that one of Obama's advisers spoke with Syria's foreign minister last month -- started out with a factual error and ended by cutting off a critical-sounding question from a journalist.
. . .
when Ron Kampeas from Jewish Telegraphic Agency asked how the McCain could square its critique of Obama's adviser with senior foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann's own lobbying work on behalf of foreign governments, he was suddenly disconnected from the call in mid-sentence. Kampeas told the Politico he thought he was "cut off."
On the Obama campaign call, foreign policy advisor Susan Rice was joined by Richard Clarke. Here's the money quote from Walls' article.
Joining Rice on the Obama call was former National Security Council counter-terrorism adviser Richard Clarke, who dubbed the presumptive Republican nominee "Quick Draw John." Clarke drew on his experience on the NSC to talk about McCain's own judgment after Sept. 11, 2001, saying that McCain was pushing for war with Iraq before the Bush administration had even made its own mind up on the matter. "Sen. McCain had already decided," Clarke said. "He and his neoconservative foreign policy types that he agreed with are one of the reasons that George W. Bush decided to go to Iraq."
Clarke blasted McCain in an area that most Obama surrogates have feared to tread -- patriotism:
When asked by a reporter whether it was inconsistent for Obama surrogates to accuse McCain of misleading the public while also saying that discussion of patriotism should be out of bounds, Clarke had a retort ready. "I'm sure he [McCain] loves his country. It's just that loving your country and lying to the American people are apparently not inconsistent in his view."
Wow! We need to keep hammering at this theme -- which the Obama campaign and its surrogates have delineated -- McCain's hair trigger temper and fondness for use of military force in any and all situations needs to be framed as a negative. What better way than to spread the moniker "Quick Draw John".