Hello Everyone:

Below are the link and transcript of John McCain being interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN from Tuesday, March 27 along with Michael Ware's "fact checking" on McCain's comments right after the interview.

Here are 3 points where John McCain was very mistaken in the comments that he made in the interview below:  

1) McCain quoted Joe Lieberman's 2006 Senate race to try and deny that most Americans want us out of Iraq:

MCCAIN: "And Joe Lieberman could never have been reelected in Connecticut if it was as clear cut as some describe it that Americans just want us out. Because his opponent, clearly that was his position."

McCain is mistaken about this assumption because Lieberman won that race with MANY REPUBLICAN VOTES that he would not have normally received if he was not endorsed by Sean Hannity and if he was not up against a very weak Republican opponent in Alan Schlesinger who was not even being supported by Bush and by the Republican Party establishment: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_United_States_Senate_election,_2006

Connecticut United States Senate election, 2006

"From the results as compared to their change in support from the 2000 election, where Lieberman overwhelmingly won alongside a weak Republican challenger, the support from Republicans and Democrats for Lieberman can be gathered. The Democratic vote for Lieberman in 2000 was 63.2%, and fell to 39.7% for Lamont...

It can then be stated that Lieberman received about half his support from people that voted for the Democrat (him) in 2000, and about half his support from people that voted for the Republican in 2000."

2) McCain says about Iraq that "we are achieving success" and that "I'm confident we can succeed if we stay with this strategy:"

MCCAIN: "What I'm saying is we are achieving success...

BLITZER: If the situation a year from now, Senator, is what it is basically today, what will that say to you?

MCCAIN: It won't be. It won't be. It will be better or worse. No military person...

BLITZER: Well, what if it is worse?

MCCAIN: Then obviously we are going to have to examine a set of bad options. But I'm confident it won't be. I'm confident hell won't freeze over. I'm confident we can succeed if we stay with this strategy. And if I'm wrong, we have got a lot more problems than anything it does to my political reputation..."

McCain thinks that we can win this militarily by following Bush's strategy when there has been no political or diplomatic solution yet! 

3) McCain is totally disconnected from reality when he admits to this quote and then tries to defend it: "There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today. The U.S. is beginning to succeed in Iraq:"

BLITZER: "Here's what you told Bill Bennett on his radio show on Monday. "There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today. The U.S. is beginning to succeed in Iraq."

Everything we hear, that if you leave the so-called Green Zone, the international zone, and you go outside of that secure area, relatively speaking, you're in trouble if you're an American.

MCCAIN: You know, that's where you ought to catch up on things, Wolf. General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in a non-armed Humvee. I think you ought to catch up. You see, you are giving the old line of three months ago. I understand it. You certainly don't get it through the filter of some of the media.

But I know for a fact that much of the success we're experiencing, including the ability of Americans in many parts. Not all. We have got a long, long way to go. We have only got two of the five brigades there to go into some neighbors in Baghdad in a secure fashion..."

Michael Ware of CNN, who reports on the ground from Baghdad, has these very blunt comments to say in response to McCain's assertions:

BLITZER: "So is Baghdad really getting safer? A very different view of the reality there from our own reporter on the ground who says Senator McCain couldn't be more wrong. Let's go back to CNN's Michael Ware.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Michael, you've been there, what, for four years. You're walking around Baghdad on a daily basis. Has there been this improvement that Senator McCain is speaking about?

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'd certainly like to bring Senator McCain up to speed, if he ever gives me the opportunity. And if I have any difficulty hearing you right now, Wolf, that's because of the helicopter circling overhead and the gun battle that is blazing just a few blocks down the road.

Is Baghdad any safer? Sectarian violence, one particular type of violence, is down. But none of the American generals here on the ground have anything like Senator McCain's confidence.

I mean, Senator McCain's credibility now on Iraq, which has been so solid to this point, has now been left out hanging to dry. To suggest that there's any neighborhood in this city where an American can walk freely is beyond ludicrous. I'd love Senator McCain to tell me where that neighborhood is and he and I can go for a stroll.

And to think that General David Petraeus travels this city in an unarmed Humvee? I mean, in the hour since Senator McCain has said this, I've spoken to some military sources and there was laughter down the line. I mean, certainly, the general travels in a Humvee. There are multiple Humvees around it, heavily armed. There are attack helicopters, Predator drones, sniper teams, all sorts of layers of protection.

So, no, Senator McCain is way off base on this one -- Wolf...

No way on Earth can a Westerner, particularly an American, stroll any street of this capital of more than 5 million people.

I mean, if al Qaeda doesn't get wind of you, or if one of the Sunni insurgent groups don't descend upon you, or if someone doesn't tip off a Shia militia, then the nearest criminal gang is just going to see dollar signs and scoop you up. Honestly, Wolf, you'd barely last 20 minutes out there.

I don't know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad."

I said last year that John McCain "has virtually no chance to become President in 2008" and I fully stand behind that right now:

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/5563

ANALYSIS: John McCain has virtually no chance to become President in 2008!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on April 17, 2006 - 12:09am.

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/11165

ANALYSIS: Why I think John McCain's Presidential campaign is in big trouble now!

Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on February 23, 2007 - 5:34pm.

John McCain is hated by the vast majority of the Neocon GOP activist base so he will not get the 2008 GOP nomination short of a huge miracle happening in his favor!  

He has also lost a lot of support among Independents and Democrats for his strong support of Bush's Iraq war policies so there are not many people left in the country who will vote for him where he would have any serious chances of winning even if he ran as an Independent! 

If McCain wanted to go to the White House so badly, he probably should have accepted Kerry's VP offer back in 2004! I wonder if he regrets not accepting that offer right now?

Mitch Dworkin

http://www.securingamerica.com/

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/10756
StopIranWar.com: "War is not the answer"
Submitted by Wes Clark on February 21, 2007 - 11:40am.

http://www.securingamerica.com/ccn/node/7191
Listen to Gen. Wes Clark fight for Dems on Sean Hannity's radio program: An excellent example for all of us to follow and what we all need to be doing to help fight back against extreme right wing Neocon smear propaganda! 

--------------------

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0703/27/sitroom.03.html

THE SITUATION ROOM

Aired March 27, 2007 - 19:00 ET

BLITZER: Tonight, Democrats say they're taking a new step toward bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq. The Senate voted 50-48 in support of a timetable for withdrawal of the U.S. forces in defiance of a presidential veto threat, but some Republicans calling it a surrender date. The debate is weighing very heavily on the race for the White House and Republican Senator John McCain. I pressed the Arizona Republican about his support for the president's troop buildup and Democrats demands to begin a pullout.

But the Democrats, or at least some of them are saying, you know what, let's say you're right. Maybe you give them another year, the Iraqis -- it's now year five of this war -- give them another year to get their act together, strengthen their military, strengthen their police force, strengthen their whole political environment there and then you begin to leave. Do you think they can get their act together over the next year?

MCCAIN: I'm sure. I'm confident that they can to a large degree, but that's like saying after the Korean War, after we had a cease-fire that we would immediately pull out. We kept our troops there and we keep them there as a stabilizing force. I think that there's no doubt that we may require troops there for a long period of time, a long period of time, but at the same time we can achieve success and American troops withdraw from the front battle lines...

BLITZER: How much time do you think, Senator, the Iraqis need to be really in charge of their own security?

MCCAIN: I don't know the answer to that. And when I venture a guess, then we have a date for withdrawal. What I'm saying is we are achieving success. The key to it is not U.S. presence. It's U.S. casualties and if we can keep U.S. casualties down as we did after the Korean War, obviously, Americans won't mind that and Americans have got to understand the consequences of failure.

Failure is catastrophe. Failure is genocide. Failure means we come back. Failure means they follow us home. The consequences of failure that one of the most disingenuous -- two disingenuous aspects about the Democrats' position -- one is what do you do if we leave? What do you do if Iraq deteriorates into chaos? And second of all, if you really feel this way, if you really feel it, then bring them home tomorrow. That's the intellectually honorable thing to do.

BLITZER: Here's the latest poll in the "USA Today"/Gallop poll asked about setting a timetable for withdrawal by fall of 2008. Sixty percent say they favor such a timetable. Thirty-eight percent say they oppose it. You would be in the 38 percent. Why is the American public or at least the majority of the American public disagreeing with you?

MCCAIN: Because the American public is frustrated and angry and saddened by our failure and mismanagement of the war for nearly four years. And they would like to see us be out of there, but they also want us to succeed. You know better than I do, it's how you ask the questions in a poll. If I ask the question, if I can show you a path to success that involves maintaining a U.S. presence there for an extended period of time, you have 80 percent of the American people say yes, if we can show them path for success. And Joe Lieberman could never have been reelected in Connecticut if it was as clear cut as some describe it that Americans just want us out. Because his opponent, clearly that was his position.

BLITZER: If the situation a year from now, Senator, is what it is basically today, what will that say to you?

MCCAIN: It won't be. It won't be. It will be better or worse. No military person...

BLITZER: Well, what if it is worse?

MCCAIN: Then obviously we are going to have to examine a set of bad options. But I'm confident it won't be. I'm confident hell won't freeze over. I'm confident we can succeed if we stay with this strategy. And if I'm wrong, we have got a lot more problems than anything it does to my political reputation.

BLITZER: Here's what you told Bill Bennett on his radio show on Monday. "There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today. The U.S. is beginning to succeed in Iraq."

Everything we hear, that if you leave the so-called Green Zone, the international zone, and you go outside of that secure area, relatively speaking, you're in trouble if you're an American.

MCCAIN: You know, that's where you ought to catch up on things, Wolf. General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in a non-armed Humvee. I think you ought to catch up. You see, you are giving the old line of three months ago. I understand it. You certainly don't get it through the filter of some of the media.

But I know for a fact that much of the success we're experiencing, including the ability of Americans in many parts. Not all. We have got a long, long way to go. We have only got two of the five brigades there to go into some neighbors in Baghdad in a secure fashion.

BLITZER: Let me refer to a few of your colleagues in the Senate and the House. Chuck Hagel, John Murtha, former Senator Max Cleland, the current Senator Jim Webb, they're all like you, Vietnam War veterans. You say this is potentially a worse situation if the U.S. were to withdraw from Iraq as opposed to when the U.S. withdrew from Vietnam.

Why are -- because they're saying, just get out, basically, and you're saying you have got to say. Why do you think these Vietnam War veterans, decorated just as you are, disagree?

MCCAIN: Well, because I hope that all of our experience, knowledge, background and decision-making is not driven by the experience of the Vietnam War. I hope it's an accumulation of all the training, experience and knowledge I had, including 22 years in the military and 24 years in the Congress and the Senate. But, look, don't take my word for it that they'll follow us home. Look at what they say. Look what bin Laden says. Look what Zarqawi says. Look at what Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said at his tribunal down in Guantanamo. They all say the same things. Go on their Web sites. They'll tell you. They want to follow us home. We're their enemy. They're the ones we want to destroy.

They win in Iraq the way they won in Beirut and the way that they won in Somalia, then they will be following us home.

Again, it's not my stated -- not from anything I've written or said. It's what they're saying and writing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: So is Baghdad really getting safer? A very different view of the reality there from our own reporter on the ground who says Senator McCain couldn't be more wrong. Let's go back to CNN's Michael Ware.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Michael, you've been there, what, for four years. You're walking around Baghdad on a daily basis. Has there been this improvement that Senator McCain is speaking about?

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'd certainly like to bring Senator McCain up to speed, if he ever gives me the opportunity. And if I have any difficulty hearing you right now, Wolf, that's because of the helicopter circling overhead and the gun battle that is blazing just a few blocks down the road.

Is Baghdad any safer? Sectarian violence, one particular type of violence, is down. But none of the American generals here on the ground have anything like Senator McCain's confidence.

I mean, Senator McCain's credibility now on Iraq, which has been so solid to this point, has now been left out hanging to dry. To suggest that there's any neighborhood in this city where an American can walk freely is beyond ludicrous. I'd love Senator McCain to tell me where that neighborhood is and he and I can go for a stroll.

And to think that General David Petraeus travels this city in an unarmed Humvee? I mean, in the hour since Senator McCain has said this, I've spoken to some military sources and there was laughter down the line. I mean, certainly, the general travels in a Humvee. There are multiple Humvees around it, heavily armed. There are attack helicopters, Predator drones, sniper teams, all sorts of layers of protection.

So, no, Senator McCain is way off base on this one -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Michael, when Senator McCain says that there are at least some areas of Baghdad where people can walk around and whether it's General Petraeus, the U.S. military commander, or others, are there at least some areas where you could emerge outside of the Green Zone, the international zone, where people can go out, go to a coffee shop, go to a restaurant, and simply take a stroll?

WARE: I can answer this very quickly, Wolf. No. No way on Earth can a Westerner, particularly an American, stroll any street of this capital of more than 5 million people.

I mean, if al Qaeda doesn't get wind of you, or if one of the Sunni insurgent groups don't descend upon you, or if someone doesn't tip off a Shia militia, then the nearest criminal gang is just going to see dollar signs and scoop you up. Honestly, Wolf, you'd barely last 20 minutes out there.

I don't know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And we have just learned that two Americans were killed tonight in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad...