Gee, what a surprise: John McCain as the guest on This Week with Christie Amanpour. It's always him or Liz Cheney every time you watch the Sunday shows, and here it's a twofer - Liz was on, too, although not in the same segment.
Listening to McCain today, I thought of the saying that "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away." John McCain is one of those old soldiers who's having a hard time accepting that military might isn't the best solution to every international problem. (As Defense Secretary Robert Gates has learned.) And he's certainly savvy enough to know that these wars aren't really about "standing up for freedom."
He also can't seem to make the connection that voters understand their lives are directly affected by the amount of money we pour into war:
Former Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) took aim at his party for what he called its growing movement towards isolationism, chastising the current GOP presidential field for not supporting U.S. military intervention in Libya and calling for speedy troop withdrawals from Afghanistan.
"This is isolationism. There's always been an isolation strain in the Republican party, that Pat Buchanan wing of our party," McCain told "This Week" anchor Christiane Amanpour. "But now it seems to have moved more center stage."
At the first major Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire last week, several candidates criticized U.S. military involvement in Libya, while on Afghanistan former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney said, "It's time for us to bring our troops home as soon as we possibly can" based on the advice of military commanders.
"I wonder what Ronald Reagan would be saying today?" questioned McCain, saying the isolationism is a stark departure from traditional Republican foreign policy positions. "That is not the Republican party that has been willing to stand up for freedom for people for all over the world."
