Sam, A Moderator just Finished shout Ing you down So w Hat do you hav E to say fo R yourself? C An you Seriously beli Eve for one se Cond that your platter of humi Liation has no Ot been S Erve D?
TJ: seriously, cut it out. I don't need you antagonizing Sam. That's extremely unlikely to help matters here.
1. Did I say I even wanted McCain or Powell in the cabinet? I've actually met McCain before and am not as enamored with him as some. As an aside, I fail to see any irrefutable evidence as to who Colin "Pottery Barn" Powell is voting for in November and doubt we ever will....I don't think I'd want him to be secretary of the treasury either. 2. I called you uninformed, though more in the sense of selectively informed, because it's no secret that there is a good deal of circumstantial evidence regarding McCain's affinity for Kerry and dislike for the current administration, leading people to discuss and speculate regarding such openly and seriously. I don't think you missed any of that talk. I note again that he does not appear to have categorically ruled out serving in a Kerry administration, has he?
WOW McCain `Categorically' Rules Out Running With Kerry (Update2) May 16 (Bloomberg) -- Republican Senator John McCain ``categorically'' ruled out running for vice president with Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in November. ``I've said categorically -- categorically -- I will not be vice president of the United States,'' McCain said on NBC's ``Meet the Press'' program today. McCain, 67, of Arizona, has repeatedly denied any interest in serving as Kerry's running mate against President George W. Bush, a Republican whom McCain challenged for the party's nomination in 2000. McCain was responding to a report in the New York Times on Saturday that cited an unidentified Democratic Party official as saying Kerry ``continues to be interested'' in him. ``I'm a loyal Republican,'' McCain said today. ``I am supporting President Bush's re-election.'' Bush, 57, and Kerry, 60, are tied for voter support if the election were held now, according to a Newsweek magazine poll of 1,010 adults nationwide. Kerry would get 46 percent to Bush's 45 percent in a two-way race. The survey, conducted May 13 and 14, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. McCain and Kerry both are veterans of the Vietnam War and McCain calls Kerry, a four-term senator from Massachusetts, ``a close friend.'' In March, McCain said he would ``entertain'' an overture from Kerry based on that friendship. When Vice President Dick Cheney, 63, said in a March speech that Kerry had voted against defense programs in the Senate, McCain said he didn't believe Kerry is ``weak on defense.'' Potential Defense Secretaries Kerry's search for a vice presidential candidate is being run by former Fannie Mae Chief Executive Officer James Johnson. Among those being considered are Senators John Edwards, 50, of North Carolina and Bob Graham, 67, of Florida, Richard Gephardt, 63, a congressman from Missouri, retired General Wesley Clark, 59, and Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, 53, according to campaign and Democratic Party officials familiar with the selection process. ``As for the Kerry campaign, we're categorically declining to comment on the vice presidential selection process at all,'' spokesman David Wade said in Las Vegas, where Kerry was addressing the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Kerry last week said McCain would be on his list of potential defense secretaries, along with Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia and Democratic Senator Carl Levin of Michigan. Warner, 77, McCain and Levin, 69, are members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Speeches, Ads Kerry has cited McCain in speeches, such as one he gave on the budget on April 7, in which he mentioned McCain four times. A television commercial being run by Kerry's campaign highlights his work with McCain on a commission of soldiers missing in action from the Vietnam War. Democratic Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, also interviewed on the NBC program, said having McCain on the Democratic ticket with Kerry would help unify a ``divided country.'' The U.S. is politically polarized as shown by the 2000 presidential election, Biden, 61, said. In 2000, Democrat Al Gore, 56, won the national popular vote by 0.5 percentage points and lost the Electoral College count to Bush after the U.S. Supreme Court stopped a recount of ballots in Florida. McCain said he agreed with Biden that ``there's too much partisanship in America'' and that has resulted in government gridlock. ``John could go a long way to heal that rift,'' Biden said. ``Do I think it's going to happen? No.''
Jorge, Did you not read this or do you realize that it is possible to serve in an administration without running for VP? EDIT: did somebody block further IMG in this thread? I guess it's for the best though my smilies are busted, I'll just have to write ?confused? from now on...
Actually, I've heard him say he would not SERVE under Kerry and that he supports President Bush. He said he feels he can do more for the country as a Senator.
Nothing more needs to be said here. Here is a statement that directly refutes and debunks your suppositions.
You know I made the VP caveat clear several posts up, how could you have missed it and started parading around with the cubic zirconium? You're slippin, georgie...
McCain clearly supports John Kerry for president, he can do a great deal more damage to the Bush reelection machine as a republican 'supporter' than he would jumping over so early to the Kerry team. While he obviously won't be Kerry's VP his smirking categorical denials on "Meet the Press" along with bucking the republican party on several major issues place him firmly in the running for a Kerry administration cabinet post. Yes SamFisher Secretary of Defense would be a nice fit... To believe otherwise is to ignore the subtleties of politics.
wasn't about kerry, it was clark, and it's possible i conflated my ex-generals in zinni's case, mistaking him for shalishkashvilli (sp).
Battle Ready (A book in the Commanders series) (2004) A non fiction book by Tom Clancy and General Tony Zinni In his first three Commanders books, Tom Clancy teamed with Generals Fred Franks, Jr., Chuck Horner, and Carl Stiner to provide masterful blends of history, biography, you-are-there narrative, insight into the practice of leadership, and plain, old-fashioned storytelling. Battle Ready is all of that-and it is also something more. Marine General Tony Zinni was known as the "Warrior Diplomat" during his nearly forty years of service. As a soldier, his credentials were impeccable, whether leading troops in Vietnam, commanding hair-raising rescue operations in Somalia, or-as Commander in Chief of CENTCOM-directing strikes against Iraq and Al Qaeda. But it was as a peacemaker that he made just as great a mark-conducting dangerous troubleshooting missions all over Africa, Asia, and Europe; and then serving as Secretary of State Colin Powell's special envoy to the Middle East, before disagreements over the 2003 Iraq War and its probable aftermath caused him to resign. Battle Ready follows the evolution of both General Zinni and the Marine Corps, from the cauldron of Vietnam through the operational revolution of the seventies and eighties, to the new realities of the post-Cold War, post-9/11 military-a military with a radically different job and radically different tools for accomplishing it. It is an eye-opening book-a front-row seat to a man, an institution, and a way of both war and peace that together make this an instant classic of military history.
The Bushies just announced a press conference on Monday to do some damage control on whatever Zinni says, i.e. new Iraq policy. Very canny. Hope they actually come up with something besides repeating pablum.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Tom Clancy, that unreconstructured leftist, thinks enough of General Zinni and his opinions to right a freakin' book with him... it "follows the evolution of both General Zinni and the Marine Corps, from the cauldron of Vietnam through the operational revolution of the seventies and eighties, to the new realities of the post-Cold War, post-9/11 military-a military with a radically different job and radically different tools for accomplishing it. It is an eye-opening book-a front-row seat to a man, an institution, and a way of both war and peace that together make this an instant classic of military history." Facinating.
As Bama would say why is Zinni a limp dick who hates America? Zinni said on 60 Minutes: "One thing that bothers me more than anything else is the idea that when the troops are in combat everyone has to shut up
From Reuters... Ex-Centcom Chief Zinni Blasts Pentagon for War Woes Sun May 23, 2004 09:24 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Retired Marine General Anthony Zinni, former chief of U.S. Central Command, accused senior Pentagon officials of failure in executing the Iraq war and told CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday they should resign. "Somebody has screwed up. And at this level and at this stage, it should be evident to everybody that they've screwed up. And whose heads are rolling on this? That's what bothers me most," Zinni said without naming names. Zinni, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Central Command from 1997 to 2000, said planning for the Iraq war and its aftermath had been flawed from the start. Zinni's scathing critique of the Pentagon and its handling of the war in Iraq are included in a new book about his career, co-written by Tom Clancy, called "Battle Ready," CBS reported. Zinni told "60 Minutes": "I think there was dereliction in insufficient forces being put on the ground and (in not) fully understanding the military dimensions of the plan." "If you're the secretary of defense and you're responsible for that. If you're responsible for that planning and that execution on the ground. "If you've assumed responsibility for the other elements, non-military, non-security, political, economic, social and everything else, then you bear responsibility," Zinni said. Zinni did not refer to the current secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, by name. Before his retirement in 2000, Zinni drew up invasion plans that called for deploying 300,000 troops, more than double the roughly 140,000 now in Iraq. "Certainly those in your ranks that foisted this strategy on us that is flawed. Certainly they ought to be gone and replaced," he added. "If I were the commander of a military organization that delivered this kind of performance to the president, I certainly would tender my resignation. I certainly would expect to be gone," Zinni said. The four-star Marine general broke ranks with the Bush administration over the war and has since expressed concern about the security situation in Iraq and about what he said was a lack of planning for the postwar era. Zinni told "60 Minutes" it was time to change course in Iraq. "The course is headed over Niagara Falls. I think it's time to change course a little bit or at least hold somebody responsible for putting you on this course. Because it's been a failure," he said. He said the United States is now viewed in the region not as an entity that is promising positive Democratic change but as "the modern crusaders, as the modern colonial power in this part of the world." "60 Minutes" said Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz had declined a request to respond to Zinni's remarks. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....LBADJCCRBAEZSFEY?type=topNews&storyID=5229590
