McCain Knows Better

Via the Daily Background:

General James Jones recently returned from a Congressional-mandated trip to Iraq and reported that political reconciliation “is absolutely the key to measurable and rapid progress” and needed to happen before any significant reduction in violence could happen. On Meet The Press today, John McCain incorrectly claimed that General Jones did not conclude in his recent Iraq report that political reconciliation needed to happen before a drawdown in violence can be achieved:

MCCAIN: Tim, I’ve known Jim Jones for 30 years. That’s not what he’s saying.

In reality, this was exactly what Jones said, both in his report and on Meet The Press a week ago.

There's clips of McCain disputing what Mr. Jones said on Meet the Press at that link. It takes a certain amount of self confidence to say, on national television, something so clearly untrue. His reasons are obvious, the quote is unfavorable to his position of supporting president Bush's war. The biggest issue for the republican candidates will be their support for the war. While some of them have intelligently decided to distance themselves from Bush, others have latched themselves to Bush's policies in pursuit of appeasing the 29% that they perceive as the base. Hopefully, republicans will vote for change in the primaries instead of just more of the same.

D. None of the Above

Via the Detroit News:

The crowded field of presidential hopefuls isn't crowded enough to suit Michigan voters, who prefer two unannounced candidates for the Republican and Democratic nominations, a new Detroit News/WXYZ-TV poll shows.

Former Tennessee Senator and TV star Fred Thompson would lead the GOP pack and former Vice President Al Gore would top the Democratic slate should they decide to run, according to a statewide survey of 400 likely Republican and 400 likely Democratic primary voters in Michigan conducted last Wednesday through Monday by EPIC/MRA of Lansing.

Well, that's interesting. The best choice seems to be none of the above when talking about the current crop of candidates. The stats are listed below: With Al Gore as a choice:

• Al Gore - 36%
• Hillary Clinton - 32%
• Barack Obama - 16%
• John Edwards - 8%

Without Al Gore:

• Hillary Clinton - 45%
• Barack Obama - 26%
• John Edwards - 16%

Gore would be a great addition to the Democratic field and would have a very good chance of winning the candidacy. It would be interesting to see a Gore/Clinton ticket (as opposed to the Clinton/Gore ticket of '92 and '96), but the a Gore/Obama ticket would bring great change to presidential politics. With Fred Thompson (and Newt Gingrich - who is also not a current candidate) as a choice:

• Fred Thompson - 22%
• Rudy Giuliani - 19%
• John McCain - 16%
• Newt Gingrich - 15%
• Mitt Romney - 12%

Without Thompson (or Gingrich):

• Rudy Giuliani - 30%
• John McCain - 21%
• Mitt Romney - 21%

Fred Thompson has, at least, shown his intent to run although he has not officially thrown his hat into the ring. Newt Gingrich's intent has been more vague, but may include running for the Republican candidacy. This was a poll from Michigan only, but may represent a strong possible position for each of these non-candidates across the nation. There is still time before the primaries for each of these people to officially announce candidacy, only time will tell.