Skagit County Democratic Party
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Issues from the DNC

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John McCain and General Petraeus' Testimony:

Main Point: John McCain should weigh in on General Petraeus' concern about the minimal political progress in Iraq and outline his plans for the future of Iraq. So far, his only plan is his willingness to keep our troops there for 100 years and launch political attacks at anyone who disagrees.

• McCain has not offered his plan for the future of Iraq and he has failed to answer key questions:
• -- As president, would John McCain build permanent bases in Iraq? In defending his comments about keeping our troops in Iraq for 100 years, McCain said he was talking about a long-term troop presence similar to our presence in Germany and South Korea.
• -- How will he pay for a prolonged engagement in Iraq, which today costs $12 billion per month, while making Bush's tax cuts permanent?
• -- What would McCain do to pressure the Iraqis to make the political progress the surge was supposed to enable?
• Last weekend, Senator Lindsey Graham said John McCain does not want to do in Iraq what the Soviets did in Afghanistan: leave a vacuum that was filled by the Taliban. If McCain is concerned about what is happening in Afghanistan today, why didn't he join in signing a letter urging President Bush to refocus our counter-terrorism strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan?
• McCain said he's willing to keep our troops in Iraq for 100 years. One hundred years in Iraq is not a plan.[NH Town Hall meeting, 1/3/08; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf7HYoh9YMM&e]
• John McCain offers nothing more than a third Bush term on Iraq, and that's the last thing the American people want.

John McCain, Sunnis, and Shiites:

Main Point: John McCain may say he's a foreign policy expert, but the fact is when it comes to Iraq he has repeatedly gotten key facts on the ground wrong and confused Sunni and Shiite extremists in Iraq.

• For the fifth time in five months, John McCain confused Sunni and Shiite extremists in Iraq, referring to al-Qaeda in Iraq as a Shiite group during the Senate hearing with General Petraeus.
• McCain has made this mistake on multiple occasions, including during a trip to the Middle East that was meant to burnish the Republican candidate's foreign policy credentials.
• The truth is, McCain isn't misspeaking when he makes these mistakes. He is either showing he doesn't understand the facts on the ground in Iraq, or he is purposely conflating the threats posed by Sunni and Shiite extremists for political gain.
• At the same time, John McCain has consistently attacked the intelligence and motives of people who disagree with his assessments of the situation in Iraq when he himself can't even get the basic facts on the ground correct.
• McCain has also yet to say if he agrees with Ambassador Crocker's assessment that al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan is a bigger threat to the United States than al-Qaeda in Iraq.
• John McCain has proven time and time again he offers nothing more than a third Bush term on Iraq-and that's the last thing the American people want.

John McCain and His Civil Rights Record:

Main Point: John McCain has distorted his record on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. While he says he championed establishing a holiday in honor of Dr. King, the truth is he has a long record of opposing the holiday.

• Last week, he acknowledged having made 'a mistake' when he opposed a federal holiday honoring Dr. King in 1983. But McCain fails to mention that after that he OPPOSED a state holiday for Arizona in 1987, OPPOSED a federal holiday in 1989, and voted to cut off funding for the Commission promoting Dr. King's holiday in 1994.
• With the 40th Anniversary of the 1968 Civil Rights Act April 11, it's worth noting that McCain was the deciding vote against overriding President Bush's veto of the 1990 Civil Rights Act—the first defeat of a major civil rights bill in a quarter of a century.
• Now McCain is trying to defend his vote by saying he opposed quotas, when the bill had nothing to do with quotas.
• -- In fact, the 1990 bill would have expanded the reach of several discrimination laws and authorized monetary damages under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prevents employment discrimination. [1990 Senate Vote #276, 10/16/1990; 1990 Senate Vote #304, 10/24/1990; 1990 CQ Almanac, p. 60-S]
• If McCain is such a champion of Martin Luther King, will he vote for the bill currently being considered in Congress to establish a commemorative coin honoring the civil rights leader?
• Though he'll embark on a so-called "Compassion Tour" later this month in an effort to reach out to African American voters, the fact is no campaign tour can make up for McCain's dismal record on civil rights issues during his 25 years in Washington.

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