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McCain: Hillary, Obama 'Waving White Flag'
Republican presidential candidate John McCain assailed Democratic rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama on Friday for voting against legislation paying for the Iraq war, accusing them of embracing "the policy of surrender." McCain, an Arizona senator who backed the measure, called their opposition to the spending bill "the equivalent of waving a white flag to al-Qaida." "I was very disappointed to see Senator Obama and Senator Clinton embrace the policy of surrender by voting against funds to support our brave men and women fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan," McCain said in a statement. Another Republican hopeful, Mitt Romney, also criticized the two - and used the largely derided term of "Democrat Party" instead of Democratic Party.
Story Continues Below "Voting against our troops during a time of war shows the American people that the leaders of the Democrat Party will abandon principle in favor of political positioning," said Romney, a former Massachusetts governor. On Thursday night, Clinton and Obama voted against a measure in the Senate that provides money for the war through September but that lacks a timeline for troop withdrawal, a provision for which anti-war activists had fought. Clinton, a New York senator and front-runner for the Democratic nomination, explained that she fully supports U.S. forces, but the measure "fails to compel the president to give our troops a new strategy in Iraq." "Enough is enough," Obama, an Illinois senator, declared, adding that President Bush should not get "a blank check to continue down this same, disastrous path." Both Clinton and Obama have faced intense pressure from the party's liberal wing and Democratic presidential challengers who urged opposition to the measure because it doesn't include a timeline to pull forces out of Iraq. A week ago, the two voted to advance a measure that would force the withdrawal of troops by cutting off funding. Last year, the two voted against setting a timetable for a pull out. With their "no" votes, Clinton and Obama earned praise from the party's left flank, which has been pushing for a quick end to the war and is an important part of the Democratic base in the primaries. But the two also opened themselves up to criticism from Republicans that they were denying 165,000 troops the resources they need - an argument that could be damaging in a general election.
© 2007 Associated Press.
Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
2008 Presidential Race Inside Cover Stories
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