Obama Foreign Policy Adviser Likens Clinton Remarks to McCarthy

[GaryC 7]

Obama Foreign Policy Adviser Likens Clinton Remarks to McCarthy

Julianna Goldman Fri Mar 21, 9:20 PM ET

March 21 (Bloomberg) -- A top foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama compared former President Bill Clinton's remarks seeming to question Obama's patriotism to those made by Joseph McCarthy.

``It sounds more like McCarthy,'' retired four-star General Merrill ``Tony'' McPeak, who also is a campaign co-chair, said after a rally today in Salem, Oregon. McCarthy, a former Republican senator from Wisconsin, was known for his extreme anti-communist suspicion amid Cold War tensions in the 1950s.

``I grew up, I was going to college when Joe McCarthy was accusing good Americans of being traitors,'' McPeak said. ``So I've had enough of it.''

Clinton said today in Charlotte, North Carolina, that it would be great if the general election were between his wife, Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, and Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona. The vote would involve ``two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country,'' Bill Clinton said.

``People could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics,'' he said.

Obama, 46, is the current frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, vying against Hillary Clinton, 60. McCain, 71, is the presumptive Republican nominee.

`Disappointed'

McPeak, a former Air Force chief of staff who served under Bill Clinton and former President George H.W. Bush, said he didn't know what Bill Clinton's intentions were when he made the remark.

``But I'm disappointed in the statement,'' he said. ``I think Bill Clinton is, or ought to be, better than that.''

Phil Singer, a Clinton campaign spokesman, called the comparison with McCarthy ``absurd.''

``We respect General McPeak's service, but he is clearly misinterpreting what President Clinton said, and some might even say he is intentionally doing so to help the Obama campaign's desperate effort to divert attention away from its recent political troubles,'' Singer said.

Clinton's campaign released a statement on its Web site, saying the former president wasn't questioning Obama's patriotism: ``President Clinton was talking about the need to talk about issues, rather than falsely questioning any candidate's patriotism.''

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20080322...rg/asnmt2zmnztc

[SnowyTater 0]

The McCarthey analogy seems kind of out of nowhere to me o_O

Maybe there's some context missing but yeh, think it sounds like the General was reading too much into this. Just because Hill and John care about the issues doesn't mean Obama doesn't.

Though Bill has been running around being all cheeky this whole campaign ain't he

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Though Bill has been running around being all cheeky so not presidential this whole campaign ain't he

There, fixed that for you.

[HAL 9000 96]

Could be a little too far out there to make such an assessment. So what? Who is still interested in playing the petty politik game?