http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/990903.htm
| Last update - 17:50 07/06/2008 |
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| McCain calls for moving U.S. embassy to Jerusalem |
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| By Haaretz Service |
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Tags: John McCain, Barack Obama  |
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Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain on Friday said that he believes the American embassy in Israel should be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
“Jerusalem is undivided, Jerusalem is the capital and we should move the embassy to Jerusalem before anything happens,” McCain said while campaigning in Miami.
McCain stressed, however, that the “subject of Jerusalem itself will be addressed in negotiations by the Israeli government and people.”
The presidential hopeful was responding to comments made by Democratic rival Barack Obama, who told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Wednesday that he would not allow Iran to acquire nuclear arms, and that Jerusalem would remain the undivided capital of Israel.
“Let me be clear,” Obama said, “Israel’s security is sacrosanct. It is non-negotiable. The Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive and that allows them to prosper. But any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel’s identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders. Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided,” he added, in efforts to secure the Jewish vote.
But a campaign adviser clarified Thursday that Obama believes “Jerusalem is a final status issue, which means it has to be negotiated between the two parties” as part of “an agreement that they both can live with.”
McCain took the opportunity to criticize Obama for changing his position on Jerusalem, as well as on “sitting down and talking unconditionally with Ahmadinejad and other dictators.” |
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/06/05/
politics/horserace/entry4157027.shtml
CBS News has learned that John McCain raised $21.5 million in May, his best fund-raising month of the campaign. He will report having $31.5 million cash-on-hand.
Barack Obama’s fundraising numbers for May are not yet available. At the end of April he had $36.9 million cash-on-hand available for the general election.
Obama is expected to have a significant fundraising edge over McCain, and will likely be the first candidate to forgo public financing in the general election since the system the system was created in 1974.
As the Los Angeles Times reports today, Obama’s fundraising prowess will allow him to begin advertising far earlier than presidential candidates have traditionally been able to. As the newspaper points out, Obama has already raised three times as much as McCain – $265 million to McCain’s $90 million – though the Republican National Committee and outside groups are expected to spend hevily on McCain’s behalf. Both McCain and Obama are trying to win over donors to Hillary Clinton, who will officially suspend her campaign Saturday.
Also today, Politico breaks down the fundraising landscape facing the two presumptive nominees. The takeaway: “A review of campaign finance data offers not one ounce of good news and barely any hope for the McCain campaign’s ability to compete with Obama’s fundraising prowess.”
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/06/05/
mccain_wants_a_man_on_mars.html?hpid=sec-politics
McCain Wants a Man on Mars
By Robert Barnes
Sen. John McCain told Florida newspaper editors today that he thought it would be exciting to send a man to Mars. He did not specify whether that man should be Sen. Barack Obama.
McCain said in response to a question from the editor of Florida Today, published on the state’s Space Coast, that he was worried about future funding of the space shuttle program and that he would be willing as president to be a champion for NASA.
“Yes, I’d be willing to spend more taxpayers dollars,” McCain said, adding he thought Americans respond to setting goals for specific projects.
McCain said ever since reading Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles, “I’m intrigued by a man on Mars. I think it would excite the imagination of the American people . . . Americans would be very willing to do that.”
McCain is in the midst of a three-day visit to the Sunshine State, which he told the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors will be “one of the key states’ in November.’ He added that he had just watched the HBO film Recount, which he said he was sure brought back fond memories of the state’s cliffhanger 2000 presidential results.
But McCain’s past votes on issues important to the state have caused some problems for him here.
Rick Hirsch, a Miami Herald editor, noted that McCain is scheduled to tour the Everglades Friday afternoon, but asked why he had voted against an Everglades protection plan that had been “seven years in the making” and was supported by Republican Gov. Charlie Crist and the state’s entire congressional delegation.
McCain interrupted Hirsch to ask whether the plan was part of an omnibus spending bill, and when the editor replied that it had, McCain said : “You just answered your own question.”
McCain then apologized profusely for not letting Hirsch finish his question. The senator said he would support any standalone legislation to protect the Everglades but said he was proud to oppose omnibus bills that he said lead to out of control federal spending.
McCain seemed relaxed and comfortable in the “town hall” format he favors, repeating for them his mantra that the three most important issues in the general election battle will be “reform, prosperity and peace.”
He also noted the enormous transition in the newspaper industry, and expressed his sympathy. “I’m glad I don’t have some of your challenges,” he said, before adding he was sure the editors would meet them.
