Blogger call with John McCain

I participated in a blogger conference call with Senator John McCain this afternoon. He wanted to call his attention to his opposition to the Democratic sham ethics reform bill.

He started off by telling us about the vote on the Senate vote on what he called a "sham and a joke" ethics reform bill. He particularly objects to the change that had been originally voted on 96 to 2 that the parliamentarian would certify the transparency on earmarks to now having the Majority Leader or a committee chairman certify. He acknowledged that there were a few good things in the bill. He expressed his disappointment at the missed opportunity to attack earmarks. He thinks that the Congress has failed the American people and will increase cynicism about Congress.

He also spoke about the upcoming debate on General Petraeus's report and scheduling his testimony a few days early because of Rosh Hashana. He is urging Senator Reid to hurry up to schedule consideration of the Department of Defense bill. Senator McCain repeated his commitment to fight any move towards withdrawing from Iraq. He thinks progress is being made despite our disappointment in the Maliki government. He believes that in upcoming months we'll see American forces withdrawing and turning over more responsibility to Iraqi forces.

He was asked about the Rupert Murdoch WSJ deal and if it should be necessary for Congress to look into it. Senator Kerry has said that they should investigate such consolidation of the media. SEnator McCain challenged the idea that we should be concerned about media consolidation given the expansion of new media in such ways as this blogger conference call. He doesn't think that Congress needs to do anything about this and that the WSJ will maintain its reputation.

Jennifer Rubin asked if it was appropriate for Senator Stevens should still sit on the Appropriations Committee. Senator McCain said that he'd like to give Senator Stevens an opportunity to defend himself. She also asked about Judge Southwick's nomination. McCain repeated his support for Judge Southwick and warned, along with Senator McConnell that the Democrats will face similar obstruction if there should be a Democratic president. When pressed if there was anything the Republicans could do, he spoke of pressuring the Democrats to give Judge Southwick a vote. He said he'd hate to bring the Senate to a halt and gridlock - there comes a time when that might be necessary - maybe not now, but at some time. I'm not sure what that means. He also reiterated his pride in the Gang of 14.

Philip Klein asked about Barack Obama's speech about pursuing Al Qaeda into Pakistan if there is intelligence about such terrorists there and if Musharraf doesn't ask, the US under Obama would. McCain thinks that we have to think about the ultimate security of the US. If we knew about a high value target we should go after him, but not publicize it. He said that we don't have to declare that we will bomb a sovereign country in order to pursue such operations. He criticized Obama announcing our belligerence ahead of time. He said that weakening Musharraf would be catastrophic. When asked about Obama's campaign, McCain said he hadn't followed Obama much but he would say that we'll pursue Bin Laden to the ends of the earth but that we'll do it in ways that pursue our goals. Our enemies must know that, just as the Israelis do, that we'll retalliate until we catch them.

James Joyner asked why the GOP didn't accomplish any reform when they had the majority. McCain said that he thought that was why the GOP lost the 2006 election - spending, out of control earmarks, plus scandals like Duke Cunningham were more of a problem for the GOP than Iraq. He said that there were 3 kinds of senators: Republican, Democratic, and Appropriators. He thinks that we can have real meaningful earmark reform some time in the future.

Joyner also asked if he saw was any political signs of success in Iraq. He said that there were signs of greater cooperation even though he's still disappointed in the Maliki government. Joyner asked how we can give the Iraqis the confidence that we (the US) will be around for a while. McCain thinks that sign of progress might be bringing some politicians around. He expressed confidence in General Petraeus's report and that if Petraeus asks for some months that we will be able to give him more. McCain said that it our and his job to keep publicizing the consequences of withdrawl - that parties and administrations don't lose wars; nations lose wars.

Michael Goldfarb asked about his Senate colleagues' prejudging Petraeus' report and what the mood in the Senate was. McCain said that some senators were honestly agonizing over this. He thought that some of those senators were willing to give the situation a second look. He doesn't want to say that everything is going great, but he hears from so many soldiers in Iraq and he's noting a real turn around in their morale.

I asked him if he would favor continuing federal subsidies for corn ethanol. He said he never supported any federal subsidies, but he did support ethanol in general. He just doesn't see why the federal government should be supporting it. Hear, hear.

I also asked what he thought about the ad in the WSJ ad of 1028 economists opposing protectionist legislation in the Senate to punish China. He said that he firmly opposed such legislation. He thought that he was the most free trade senator that we could find. He said that was near the bottom of his class in West Point, but that he can learn from history the terrible effects of interfering with free trade. (Full disclosure: my husband was one of the economists signing the petition.)

Paul Mirengoff asked what McCain can do to appeal to independents. He said that he would stress his honesty that independents could depend on him to do what he thought was right even if they didn't agree with him. He acknowledged that the immigration bill really hurt him much more than the war had. He thought that people didn't trust him or the bill to secure the border and that, when he brings up immigration as president, he will be sure to assure Americans that he would be securing the border. He stressed that voters will have to trust and have confidence in his integrity. He bemoaned the loss of confidence in the Congress and Washington was the reason for the failure of the immigration bill.

Patrick Curley asked how he voted on the ethics bill. He said he voted against cloture. He was also asked if it was really possible to ban earmarks. He said that transparency was the important issue. He said that there might be good earmarks but transparency would allow people to judge. He also said that the ethics bill did nothing about earmarks in conference bills.

He was asked about two soldiers who are missing/captured. The Defense Department has changed the classification from POW/MIA to missing/captured. Does the Senator think that we should go back to calling them POWs? McCain that POW status was very important and he can't figure out why there is this new category and he favors giving them the presumption of POW status.

He was asked about a statement that Mitt Romney made today saying that, if Petraeus's report is positive that we can start to pull out and about Obama's statement ruling out using nuclear weapons. McCain said that we should never rule out using nuclear weapons under any circumstances. He said that he just doesn't get it (Obama's statement). He said he hadn't heard that quote but he's a bit taken back by it. But that he would regard the use of a nuclear weapon as the ultimate last result. Regarding Romney's statement, McCain doesn't think that Petraeus's report next month will mean that we can withdraw, but that perhaps in months ahead we can start moving into bases. He believes that Petraeus will give us a positive report.

Finally, he reiterated his disappointment in the ethics reform bill and that we would continue the fight under the leadership of his role model on this issue, Senator Tom Coburn.

Once again, I really appreciate the opportunity to hear McCain's answers to each of our questions. He does give open and forthright answers. I would have liked him to be more specific about what the GOP will do if Judge Southwick is voted down by the Judiciary Committee Democrats, but I guess that would fall under the same principle of not announcing your attack strategy in advance, whether in Pakistan or in the Senate.

UPDATE: Good news on Judge Southwick. The Judiciary Committee just voted his nomination out to the floor. Senator Feinstein supported it giving him a 10:9 win. He is sure to win confirmation on the Senate floor. Now, we'll have to see when Reid brings his nomination up for a vote.