McCain Advisers Try To Dispel His Hawkish Image

There is a growing effort on behalf of McCain surrogates here in Minneapolis to paint the Arizona Republican as far less hawkish on foreign policy than his image and proposals suggest.

In a conference sponsored by the Center for U.S. Global Engagement on Wednesday, advisers to the presumptive nominee spoke openly about the politics of trying to avoid the war-hungry caricature that has come to define the Senator.

“The nature of politics is they are going to try to accentuate things and we are going to try and make sure the American people look at certain things. And the candidates themselves want to have a well rounded picture. That is the nature of good horse playing politics. That’s the nature of the game,” said Ambassador Richard Williamson, a former Reagan official and envoy to Sudan. “I do not think John McCain is too hawkish. John McCain is willing to say that diplomacy without force is going to be effective. You are going to need it.”

The remark reflects a semi-obvious reality that while the war in Iraq and a reliance on hard versus soft power tend to hold great sway within conservative circles, they are not necessarily wining arguments in a general election format. In a wonky, detailed forum on “what would a McCain presidency do,” participants insisted McCain was not (contrary to the campaign perception) completely dismissive of diplomacy, and, more importantly, was not blind to the personal costs of war.

Read More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/04/mccain-advisers-try-to-di_n_123925.html

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