As Chris notes below, most Americans support the Iraq Study Group report. Americans want to change the course in Iraq -- and get the hell out. Not John McCain. John McCain has become the leading opponent of the report. And, the Senator from Arizona/2008 GOP presidential candidate has appointed himself Bush's wingman on Iraq. That position got McCain some press in the big papers today.
Washington Post:
Many Republican and Democratic lawmakers have embraced the panel's report, but the almost uniformly negative reaction from some of Bush's strongest conservative supporters means the president may have some political flexibility to depart from the group's major recommendations, according to some GOP operatives.The New York Times:
Notably fueling the skepticism has been Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has raised pointed questions about the Baker-Hamilton panel's unwillingness to prescribe more troops, as McCain has urged, and its embrace of a regional conference with Syria and Iran.
The divisions could make it more difficult for Republicans to coalesce on national security policy and avoid a bitter intraparty fight going into the 2008 campaign.If McCain wants to make the 2008 campaign a referendum on Bush and Iraq, so be it.
Senator John McCain of Arizona, a leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, rejected the major recommendations of the group because they did not present a formula for victory. Mr. McCain, hoping to claim the Republican mantle on national security issues, has staked out a muscular position on Iraq, calling for an immediate increase in American forces to try to bring order to Baghdad and crush the insurgency.
