FRANKLIN, N.H. (AP) – Republican presidential hopeful John McCain told New Hampshire voters that Friday’s House vote to set a deadline for withdrawing troops from Iraq marked a “shameful and disgraceful day.”
The legislation approved along party lines includes $124 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year, but would require that combat troops return from Iraq before September 2008. Though Democrats cited the mandate of their election sweep in November, McCain accused them of buying votes to pass the measure.
He said the bill included at least $20 billion for pork-barrel projects ranging from salmon fisheries to spinach farmers.
“This bill was supposed to be emergency funding for the war in Iraq,” he said. “Here’s a real emergency for you: $3.5 million for guided tours of the Capitol building.”
“This is not what America’s supposed to be all about,” he told about 125 people at the Franklin Opera House. “It’s a shameful and disgraceful day in the United States of America when this kind of thing goes on.”
If Democrats truly feel that not another life should be sacrificed, they should vote to cut off all funding for the war, McCain said.
“If you think it’s a failure, why would you have them stay over there and have their lives be in danger for another year and a half?” he said. “My friends, it’s not courage. It’s a shameful day.”
Though McCain defended President Bush’s plan to send more troops to Iraq, he agreed with one audience member who criticized Bush for urging Americans to do little more than “go shopping” to stimulate the economy after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“If I had been president after 9-11, I wouldn’t have told them to go shopping. I would’ve told them to serve America, I would’ve told them to join the military,” McCain said, adding that he also would have expanded the Peace Corps and other volunteer programs.
McCain defended Bush again, however, when the same questioner argued that the nation’s overall response to the attacks was insufficient.
“What are you going to do to make us stop being afraid in this dangerous world? I’m not afraid, but I turn on the TV and I see fear,” the audience member said. “Our major response to terrorism was the Department of Homeland Security. Our major response was to start a bureaucracy – I bet that really scared ’em.”
McCain noted that experts around the world believed there would be another major attack on the United States after Sept. 11.
“I think our government deserves some credit for the fact that we haven’t had another attack,” he said.
The town hall forum in Franklin was McCain’s first stop in a two-day trip that came less than week after his last visit to the state where he beat George W. Bush in the primary before losing the nomination. After answering about a dozen questions, he invited Judy Tilton to join him on the stage.
As a child, Tilton wore a POW bracelet with McCain’s name on it. Her father was a lieutenant colonel in the New Hampshire National Guard, and the family took the bracelets very seriously. She said she remembers seeing pictures of McCain after his release, standing in the doorway of an airplane and leaning on his crutches.
“This wonderful person when she was very, very young purchased a bracelet with my name on it,” McCain said as Tilton held up the bracelet. “I want to thank you.”
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