Wonk Room » Third Bush Term Watch: McCain Advocates ‘Transforming The World’

Third Bush Term Watch: McCain Advocates ‘Transforming The World’

By Matt Duss on Mar 26th, 2008 at 9:15 pm

Third Bush Term Watch: McCain Advocates ‘Transforming The World’

Today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) made his first major foreign policy address since clinching his party’s nomination. Claiming to be a “realistic idealist” McCain laid claim to many of the traditions of liberal internationalism, referencing Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy in pledging to “work very hard and very creatively to build new foundations for a stable and enduring peace“:

I believe it is possible in our time to make the world we live in another, better, more peaceful place, where our interests and those of our allies are more secure, and American ideals that are transforming the world, the principles of free people and free markets, advance even farther than they have. [...]

America must be a model citizen if we want others to look to us as a model.

If you think this sounds familiar, you’re right. George W. Bush made many of these same noises about freedom and democracy, such as this from his 2003 State of the Union:

Americans are a resolute people who have risen to every test of our time. Adversity has revealed the character of our country, to the world and to ourselves. America is a strong nation, and honorable in the use of our strength. We exercise power without conquest, and we sacrifice for the liberty of strangers.

Americans are a free people, who know that freedom is the right of every person and the future of every nation. The liberty we prize is not America’s gift to the world, it is God’s gift to humanity.

….right before he hauled off and invaded Iraq. There’s no reason to believe that McCain will behave any differently, especially since many of the neoconservative ideologues who advocated Bush’s disastrous Iraq misadventure are now advising McCain. We don’t have to imagine what a John McCain foreign policy might look like, we’ve seen it.

Comments
8

8 Responses to “Third Bush Term Watch: McCain Advocates ‘Transforming The World’”

Namtillaku Says:

The best thing that these old white men could do for their country is keel over.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
williamf Says:

I don’t care what anybody says McCain, you’re crazy as a bat. It’s nice to know now that you’ve got all the little nazi neocon gestapo workin’ fer ya but it’s a shame the scum will be out of job soon.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Marie Says:

Puhleeze!
I don’t think we can survive 4 more years of a Bush-like administration.
I saw this guy giving a speech today and he couldn’t keep his eyes off the teleprompter – it was like seeing to a kid read his essay in front of the class.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
fletc3her Says:

This is so reminiscent of George W Bush’s run for the Presidency. Remember how he evoked JFK’s tax cuts? How he pledged a humble foreign policy? How he railed against nation building? How he pledged to regulate carbon dioxide emissions and conserve the environment? How he pledged to help bring us energy independence. And, how he pledged to keep our nation safe? Lies. All lies.

McCain is no different. He’ll read his flowery speeches now. We’ll learn that he’s an environmentalist. That he believes in enlightened foreign policy. That he knows how to solve the housing crisis. Etc. Etc.

But in the end, a McCain Presidency would just be term three of the current administration. Same disastrous foreign policy. Same disastrous defense of our nation. Same disastrous financial policies. Deficits without end.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
thirdparty Says:

Describing a McCain admin. as a “third Bush term” is simply a gross mischaracterization. Difference that start with global warming and include closing Gitmo are substantial, deserving more than your conspicuous neglect. Plus, let’s not forget that McCain spent a good deal of time saying the Bush/Rumsfeld strategy was failing.
March 27th, 2008 at 4:06 am
missmolly Says:

Oh, God help us from any more American “transformation” of the world. The more transforming we do, the more the world hates us. And while some neocons think this is a good thing, it’s only going to hasten the crumbling of the American Empire.
March 27th, 2008 at 9:44 am
christopher wiwi Says:

Peace and role model coming from a Warmongering old billy goat. This guy is as big a contradiction as BUSHCO. Once again he does not know which side of his mouth to open.The “straight talk express” has derailed, he is either for war or peace you can`t have both.This guy means for more years of BUSHCO. Corruption, cronyism and more contradictions.
March 27th, 2008 at 10:26 am
georgia Says:

Nice group of advisors. I guess they’ve found another puppet in John McCain.

Gary Schmitt, The Weekly Standard, November 20,2000:

“The most President Clinton and this team of advisers wanted to do was “contain” Hussein. Pursuing evidence that Iraq was behind an attempt to kill thousands of Americans in New York City on the anniversary of Iraq’s defeat in the Gulf War was an investigative road they didn’t want to go down. If it had been shown that Baghdad was involved, the administration would have been forced to take action. For Saddam Hussein, the Gulf War never ended. Coming to terms with that fact would require the American government to take steps to remove him and his regime from power.”

- http://www.newamericancentury.org/Schmitt-112000.pdf
March 27th, 2008 at 10:36 am