McCain to be in Alexandria and will also advocate for larger military next week
By JR Hoeft | Friday, March 28th, 2008 | PoliticsSen. John McCain is coming to Episcopal High School in Alexandria Tuesday at 10:15 a.m. as part of his “Service to America” tour that he is conducting next week. McCain was a student there.
“I doubt I will ever meet another person who has the impact on my life that my English teacher at Episcopal High School did,” Sen. McCain will say next Tuesday. “But I know there are many Americans who should teach and can influence children as beneficially as he did me. All children should have a teacher like I had, who they remember when they have children and grandchildren as one of the most fortunate relationships in their lives.”
The tour seeks to “re-introduce” McCain to the American people. On the tour, stories of McCain’s life will be told and how those experiences have shaped his values. “Values,” according Steve Schmidt with McCain 2008 who led a conference call for bloggers, “that inspire [McCain] to change America and move America forward as the 44th President of the United States.”
For more on the tour, visit the McCain web site.
Also during the conference call, Schmidt said that McCain next week will advocate for increasing manning in the Army and Marine Corps. When asked by Hugh Hewitt if he would have anything to say about the Navy and shipbuilding (of obvious concern to us in Hampton Roads), Schmidt said that there would be more on that issue later.
In other McCain news, in Mike Allen’s “Playbook” on Politico describes McCain’s new 60-second ad “624787″ that airs today in New Mexico:
John McCain: “Keep that faith. Keep your courage. Stick together. Stay strong. Do not yield. Stand up. We’re Americans. And we’ll never surrender.”
Announcer: “What must a president believe about us? About America? That she is worth protecting? That liberty is priceless? Our people, honorable? Our future, prosperous, remarkable and free? And, what must we believe about that president? What does he think? Where has he been? Has he walked the walk?”
Interviewer: “What is your rank?”
John McCain: “Lt. Commander in the Navy.”
Interviewer: “And your official number?”
John McCain: “624787.”
Announcer: “John McCain. The American president Americans have been waiting for.”
John McCain: “I’m John McCain and I approve this message.”
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Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
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3 Responses to "McCain to be in Alexandria and will also advocate for larger military next week"
He is absolutely right, we need a significantly larger military if we are going to be able to adequately engage in the GWOT. My, and other peoples’ opinions aside on the initial invasion of Iraq, he’s also right there. We need more troops on the ground if we are going to continue stabilizing Iraq.
I’ll confess that there are days when I don’t think Iraq is worth the loss of another single American soldier, or the injury to another American, or even the divorce of another military family. But, I’ll also confess, we don’t know what will happen in Iraq if we just leave.
We do know what is happening now – which isn’t good (five years after we got into WW2 where were we, and were are we in Iraq?) – the question is how do we fix it. Sen. McCain may be right, more troops may be the answer – of course Sen. Obama and Hillary may also be right. The fact is we just don’t know, but we need to try something different.
Regardless of why, we will need more troops b/c our military has been run into the ground, and whether or not Iraq is in the equation, we will need GWOT deployments to Afghanistan, HOA, etc. As well as the ability to stand up to the PRC.
Kudos Sen. McCain for speaking what’s on my, and many other American minds.
The way to grow our military is to continue increasing pay, re-enlistment bonuses, and covering the cost of tuition for our service personnel.
The cream will rise to the top. Look for the Dems to drop another draft proposal in the MSM, like they did before, or through lackeys like Rep. Dingell.
The Navy is expanding it’s Riverine Forces to get into the fight, and although reinventing the USMC is more than problematic, it is manifesting itself into reality.
Every service branch is trying to justify it’s budget. Rumsfeld for all his shortcomings did push the Army out of it’s large formation tactics mindset. We need another daring Sec. of Defense…
Someone like Rep. Duncan Hunter. A no BS approach to the new realities of 21rst century warfare, and a President to back him. I would be more supportive of McCain if he pursued this approach, that should have started during the Vietnam War.
We need to approach low intensity conflicts, with an eye to maintaining Divsion level maneuver if necessary. I am afraid the Air Force will be caught in this budgeting reality. We maintain air superiority, while supporting, (gasp) the ground game, ala Afghanistan and Iraq, along with Strategic Airlift.
It’s reality, but who will stand up to the Military Industrial Complex? We should bust up General Dynamics like we did the baby bells… innovation doesn’t come from conglomerates. It comes from small companies delivering ideas, and new weapons platforms.
We also need to stand up – split up, and possibly eliminate Haliburton and KBR, they are too much the exact danger of a Military Industrial Complex Eisenhower warned us about. Their profits rely upon war.
Of course, what Eisenhower never could have forseen (who would have believed the US would turn to mercenaries?) is the rise of Blackwater and their ilk – companies that are making billions on this war. As soon as we are able to increase the military sufficiently, every military contractor – who swears alegience to no one other than the $$ – needs to stop receiving government contracts.
Not only are they only in it for the money, but Blackwater has a 6,000 + private army. I honestly can’t imagine anything more dangerous to our democracy than a private army willing to go where ever the money is.
Quick point on the draft issue. While a draft is bad militarily (talk to anyone who served during the Vietnam draft, we were not getting the cream of the crop), I would argue for a small draft. Say .1% of the male 18-20 population (no exceptions) each year for the simple reason that it ensures that the political class is not immune from the cost of war. It is depressing how few politicians have children who are serving or have served in the military.
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