John McCain
Town Hall Meeting
Portsmouth, OH 07/09/08

TRANSCRIPT:
QUESTIONER: "Time after time, we hear that you're the third term of Bush. And I know you're not the third term of Bush. I'd like to know when you're gonna come out and say, 'Read my lips: I am not the third term of Bush'!"

JOHN MCCAIN: "[...] There are issues that I have agreed with the President on, and there are issues I have disagreed on. [...] And I respect President Bush. [...] But I believe that it's time for change in America. [...] We've gotta stop the out of control, pork-barrel spending. [...] It corrupted us. [...] We forgot that it's your money, not our money. [...]

"Let me just say one other thing too. When this war was conducted—the war in Iraq—and we succeeded initially with our initial victory at great sacrifice, as you know, of American blood and treasure; I went over there and I came back said it's not working, this is not gonna work. And I was criticized by Republicans for being disloyal. And I said, we've gotta have a new strategy and it's gotta be a surge. And I came here to Ohio, and I said we've gotta send more troops over there. [...]

"I said that this surge could succeed; it is succeeding. But it's fragile, it's fragile, my friends. [...] And if we set a date for withdrawal rather than conditions on the ground, [...] we could reverse all of our success, and we could lead to a wider war, increased Iranian influence, et cetera, et cetera.

"But I think we are—we should realize the benefits of winning. And that of course is a stable ally in the region, defeating and setting back Al-Qaeda and other jihadists, and our troops coming home [...] with victory and honor and not in defeat."

"Senator Obama has said that, after [...] more than 900 days, he is going to Iraq. I'm glad he's going. [...] I will wait and see what Sen Obama has to say when he returns."

LABEL: JM OH 7-9 (SD#25) GHBST-ClipL

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