Is McCain open to reenacting the draft?

August 20, 2008

At a town-hall event in New Mexico today, John McCain was asked about veterans’ care, but the questioner added a provocative point at the end of her question. Take a look:

For those of you who can’t watch clips online

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, a woman in the audience told the presumptive Republican nominee

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, “Senator McCain I truly hope you get the opportunity to chase Bin Laden right to the gates of hell and push him in as you stated on your forum. I do have a question though. Disabled veterans

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, especially in this state, have horrible conditions…. I think it is a sad state of affairs when we have illegal aliens having a Medicaid card that can access specialist top physicians, the best of medical and our vets can’t even get to a doctor. These are the people that we tied yellow ribbons for and Bush patted on the back. If we don’t reenact the draft I don’t think we will have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell.”

McCain, without hesitation, responded, “Ma’am, let me say that I don’t disagree with anything you said and thank you and I am grateful for your support of all of our veterans.”

Now, it’s likely McCain was just being polite. But the woman who spoke at the event insisted we have to “reenact the draft,” and McCain said he didn’t disagree with anything she said.

And that is bound to cause some headaches for the McCain campaign.

Frankly, I find it unlikely that McCain would ever seriously propose reenacting the draft, but he has said a few things on the subject that have raised eyebrows. A year ago, for example, McCain told a New Hampshire audience

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, “I might consider [a draft], I don’t think it’s necessary, but I might consider it if you could design a draft where everybody equally would serve.”

VoteVets.org pounced this afternoon.

Jon Soltz , Iraq War Veteran and Chairman of VoteVets.org said, “At least Senator McCain is being honest. A vote for him is a vote for the draft. Period. Unless Senator McCain radically changes his worldview, there would be a draft to implement his plans.”

Soltz added, “When you take into account his indefinite military commitment to Iraq, his desire to send more troops to Afghanistan, record lows in recruiting and retention, and possibly more wars he is looking to get into, like “Bomb Bomb Bomb” Iran, his numbers don’t add up without a draft. Whether America likes it or not isn’t relevant — a draft is the only way to do everything Senator McCain wants to do. I give him points for being honest and upfront, though, that we’re going to need a draft if he is elected.”

I’m not sure if I agree with every word of this — I suspect McCain would be content stretching our military even further, and extending tours of duty to ridiculous lengths — but with his comments in New Mexico today, McCain has opened the door.

But in a day or two, his staff will tell the press what he REALLY meant (i.e. that he would never bring back the draft).

  • A draft?

    OK, here’s what you do if McMaverickety* wins (assuming you don’t curl up and sob for four years):

    Take your money out of your 401K and find someone who’ll take the bet on some sort of military service requirement by 2010. Don’t put it on “McCain will reinstate the draft,” because they won’t call it that and you’ll have a big hassle getting your piles o’ cash. But you can bank on it because that’s what he knows. Why do you think all the brave troops of the 101st fRightened Keyboardists were pissing their pants before he got the nomination?

    Between now and then you can place a smaller bet on that woman being a plant.

  • He did not address her concerns for the treatment of veterans. He agreed with her and offered no solution. And, he cares for the veterans? Bull Shit! He is a traitor and a coward. I’d say that to his face. Would you, Barack?

    I am committed to Oneness through Justice and Transformation

    peace,
    st john

  • If you check his website – Issues > National Security it’s says right there that McSame is committed to increasing membership in ALL branches of the military – the statement does leave out an actual plan for doing this, though.

  • If he does not advocate bringing back the draft while advocating an increasingly confrontational foriegn policy he is a hypocrite.

    You see you can’t do one without the other. Otherwise you end up looking as incompetent as Bush, Rice and Saakashvili when Putin calls your bluff.

    McCain either needs to come up with a foriegn policy not based upon preemption and bluster or STFU.

  • Pt 2. Was he smiling that creepy weird smile when facing a woman actually telling him to his face that, in real life, he has not done anything to improve ‘the horrible conditions’ disabled Vets have to live with.

  • On the clip. McCain seems to be straining to hear the woman. His people will probably say he misheard the question. He followed her and agreed about the poor care of wounded vets, but didn’t quite hear the end.

    But I do think this is what he really believes. It does give Obama an opening to say that we can’t keep all the commitments McCain wants to make (stay in Iraq unitl we “win,” get bin Laden, pacify Afghanistan, save Georgia and free the remaining captive nations, as well as be alert to roll back the renascent Russian Empire and of course there’s China and N. Korea. We can’t do all these things without a draft and without bankrupting our country. McCain really can’t prioritize, and he tends to grandiosity. But this is the logical conclusion. Along with “Which wars have you won?” one of the biggest questions to ask McCain is “What does victory in Iraq look like?”. (How will things be at that point?)

  • Do you think that John “Zinger” McC*nt actually mentally processed the whole question and got the part about the draft?

    I don’t.

    So I don’t think it is fair to hold that against him.

    But as St. John says, he didn’t really answer her question either. But then, she didn’t ask a question.

  • We should be like Israel and have mandatory service for everybody. Cross your fingers we aren’t at war while you are 18-21. Russia wants to expand? Iran gets frisky, we got a huge army waiting for action.

    Or give qualified illegals citizenship in exchange for five years of service. Reread that sentence… qualified. Not advocating the Mexico North Army.

  • No Draft!! Absolutely no! I do not want a 100-year war, and I know that is just a general figure that is tossed around now-a-days. But I do not want any of my future children being forced into this stupid war that was started when I was seventh grade!

  • No Draft!! Absolutely no! I do not want a 100-year war, and I know that is just a general figure that is tossed around now-a-days. But I do not want any of my future children being forced into this stupid war that was started when I was seventh grade!

  • I didn’t get that the woman was suggesting we bring back the draft; I thought she meant that we couldn’t sustain an all-volunteer force if we continue to treat them badly.

  • “Frankly, I find it unlikely that McCain would ever seriously propose reenacting the draft…”

    Gotta disagree. I believe that McCain would institute a draft as part of his “national greatness” outlook on the de facto American Empire he wishes to expand. It’s the Teddy Roosevelt in him.

    I am in no way being hyperbolic on this, it’s pretty consistent with his message and policy. He’s likely to obfuscate now and propose a draft after he’s elected, but I believe it actually is a McCain priority.

  • Draft? not a surprise with McBush. We don’t need another warmongering president. Just think were the US would be today, if diplomacy would have prevailed with Iraq? The US would not be going down the toilet.

  • If he does not advocate bringing back the draft while advocating an increasingly confrontational foriegn policy he is a hypocrite.

    There are a handful of names you can call a Republican and cause them pain.

    “Hypocrite” isn’t one of them.

    I mean, hell, McCain was tortured, spoke out against torture, and then “compromised” to allow the Bush administration to perform the same kinds of torture he himself was subjected to. This is not the mark of a man who cares about being called a “hypocrite”. “Old fart”, maybe, but not “hypocrite”.

    OTOH, the label “hypocrite” seems to do well to dash the political careers of Democrats. So I can see the attraction to using it against Republicans. But they don’t give a damn and neither does their base. It only works on Democrats because Democrats actually care that a pol’s actions match his words. Republicans don’t. And to a large degree, most of the population of the US doesn’t care either as long as those words are words they want to hear.

  • Do you think that John “Zinger” McC*nt actually mentally processed the whole question and got the part about the draft?

    I don’t.

    So I don’t think it is fair to hold that against him.

    Do you think that would stop the GOP if the Democratic candidate (any Democratic candidate!) made such a misstep? Of course not. There’d be ads up before the weekend running the footage and warning us in a stern voice that we can’t vote for Democrats or we’ll end up with a draft.

  • The only way McWar-Without-End-Amen gets his Forever Forrestal Fantasy is to bring back the draft, doubling down with compulsory military service for all, and probably upping infantry rotations up to 18 months. Skyjocks like to fuck over smack down the ground-grunts, y’know.

    What—you maybe think he’s going to settle for being McPrez with Bush’s Broken Brigades?

    Please….

  • Bring back the draft and that would be the end of these wars of choice. Nothing clarifies the public’s ability to pass judgment on policy like the obligation to die for it. So I say, uh, bring it on!

  • You know the military closed quite a few bases, in fact most of them. Has anyone told McCain how expensive it would be to actually re-enact the draft? To reestablish the draft would be a massive undertaking, and it would probably be more cost efficient to gain energy independence through green technology, rather than to resurrect an incredible money boondoggle known as universal military service. Please, even Mc Cain should know better.

  • Both presumptive presidential candidates have hinted if not espoused a greater foreign military obligation. Obama sees us less in Iraq and Iran, but his intentions in Afghanistan and Pakistan could easily overwhelm current US ground forces by at least a single magnitude. How will these commitments be achieved without a draft? Since 2001 Bush has proudly seen himself as a “wartime” president, yet not since 2001 has the Bush administration done the single thing it has needed to do to win in either Iraq or Afghanistan, that is, grow our ground forces to become competitive with our presumed enemies.

    The reason for our current and future failures is hidden in plain view. All around you, Americans are in no mood to participate in the military adventures of a Bush, McCain or even an Obama. All around you, Americans don’t recognize any military solutions to their various domestic and economic dilemmas. Our armies are staffed by our economic underclass and led by the remnants of the failed southern aristocracy.

    The drafting of sufficient numbers of youth to accomplish our future military needs will – as it has in the past – finally engage the attention of the greater American public. There will be serious discourse. There will be a moderate amount of rioting in the streets as our national priorities are at last determined by the millions of Americans who have been sitting dormant for the several decades.

    Since the end of World War II, the big gains in the world stage have been accomplishments of democracy and economics…globalization, like it or not. You’ve got to think that Americans know that, and don’t need or want a draft. And you’ve got to think that the next president is going to be confronted with that fact, and that our future foreign military adventures will be as anemic as the current administration’s forays into foreign lands.

  • Prince, all due respect, you’re wrong. Obama may want to increase our military presence in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but that’s nothing compared to what McCain wants to do with our military:

    * Troops in Iraq indefinitely, even post-war … probably wants permanent bases like Korea
    * Bomb Iran … enough said.
    * Georgia/Ukraine … look, he’s taken a very hard line and if NATO continues to say no, McCain might have to put boots on the ground to deter a Russian attack.

    McCain’s past record is just as over-extending of our forces. At one point in 1999, McCain simultaneously endorsed:

    * an all-out ground war in Kosovo, saying that the air war would fail
    * a war to topple Saddam’s regime
    * an attack on Iran to avenge the Khobar Towers attack

    He has a history of letting his mouth get ahead of our ability to use force globally. So either McCain is going to learn to stop acting like John McCain or he’s going to need a draft.

  • Of course McCain would bring back the draft. Draftees are dirty enlisted people, not Academy graduates from well-connected Rethuglican officer families. Why should he care about draftees?

  • He obviously wasn’t paying attention. I strongly doubt he actually was professing support for the draft. Hell, the woman who asked the question wasn’t even supporting the draft, just pointing out the sorry state of our military.

    I really hope that people don’t jump on this, because it’s not an honest attack.

  • At least McCain’s opposition to the GI bill makes sense through the lens of support for a draft — who needs education benefits to entice enlistees when you can just draft them?

  • You are completely taking McCain out of context. But what else is new from the nutroots.

    McCain has many times said he is against the draft.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BxXsZMlyXM&feature=related

    The lady was talking about how bad the care for vets is. That was the context.

    McCain has said many times he believes in an all volunteer force.

    Why didn’t you post the youtube above of McCain addressing how he is opposed to the draft.

    Anyway the whole draft issue has nothing to do with the presidency.

    The president has no control over the draft.

    You know that the only body that has a say on the draft is congress. Why are you lyiing Steve Benen to your audience.

    State to the nutroots very clearly that the laws were changed and congress has the only say on a draft.

  • At least McCain’s opposition to the GI bill makes sense through the lens of support for a draft — who needs education benefits to entice enlistees when you can just draft them? — MLE, @ 28

    Not only that… But think how expensive it would be to have to provide free education and healthcare to *everyone*.

    McCain has many times said he is against the draft. — wes, @29

    So what? He has said, many times, that he’s against graft. And now employs creme-de-la-creme of lobbyists. And he’s said, many times, that he’s against drilling for oil in ANWAR. But now is all for it. And he’s said, many times, how much he despised the “agents of intolerance”. But that was before he thought that losing his virginity to them wasn’t as dreadful as he had previously thought.

    And he’s said, many times… Before he said — many times — the total opposite of what he had said the first many times… on more than 70 distinctly different issues. I refer you to the upper left corner of the screen; click on the weather vane and you’ll see the full list.

    The McCain whose Maverickety word you could trust died in 2000, *if* he ever existed (I’m no longer sure). All that’s left of him now is the “rickety” part, which topples with every breath of wind.

  • All that would be necessary to reinstate the draft is for Congress to pass a bill renewing the draft as it was in 1971-1973. Does anybody think, if President John McCain requested it, citing military necessity, that Congress would not pass such a bill? This is the same Congress that is so fearful of being attacked as “soft on defense” that it’s passed every single military entitlement requested by every administration since 1960?

  • wes said:
    “You are completely taking McCain out of context”

    How ironic, considering all of the taking-out-of-context and lying that McCain and the rightwing have done to Obama.

    Personally I would give McCain the benefit of the doubt re his response to this woman’s question (and I’m glad she asked it), but I don’t trust him to lead our country AT ALL. The man is scary. BombBombBomb, DrillDrillDrill, Gates of Hell, Police on our Streets, etc. What in the world is going on in his head?

  • So is he for the draft? Or is this just another”senior moment”? How can we tell anymore? Can we believe anything he says? Ever?

  • After his Vietnam experience you’d think he’d be against war …instead he has an itchy trigger finger. He’s predicted many more wars in our future, perhaps 100 years in Iraq and is now saber rattling with Russia.

    Send this warmonger on his way, it’s a new day!

  • Oh, CBR, quite the misleader, especially with comments like this:

    “Now, it’s likely McCain was just being polite. But the woman who spoke at the event insisted we have to ‘reenact the draft,’ and McCain said he didn’t disagree with anything she said.”

    “Frankly, I find it unlikely that McCain would ever seriously propose reenacting the draft, but he has said a few things on the subject that have raised eyebrows. A year ago, for example, McCain told a New Hampshire audience, ‘I might consider [a draft], I don’t think it’s necessary, but I might consider it if you could design a draft where everybody equally would serve.'”

    “I’m not sure if I agree with every word of this (VotVets’ comment on McCain reinstating the draft).”

  • If you listened closely to McCain at the Saddleback church on Saturday night, he also made a comment that sounded like he was talking about the draft. He was talking about the sacrifices that he and other war veterans made for their country and he said something along the lines of asking the young people of today to make the same sacrifice. It seemed pretty clear to those of us in my house that he was making a carefully worded allusion to the draft.

    How else would he be able to fight a war in Iran and Russia at the same time?

  • They will just tell the press that he doesn’t want a draft… and the press will leave it at that… because McCain was a POW.

  • As much as I’d like to take a shot at the tired old war horse, I tend to think that he either didn’t hear that part of the question or that he tuned out momentarily before she got in her comment about the draft. On the other hand, with McCain’s heavy handed shoot from the hip confrontational foreign policy approach, I can see where he could get things in enough of a jam for the issue of a draft to arise.

  • If McCain gets the presidency, he will be a one term president. He will have nothing to lose. He will want to go out with a bang. He is grandiose and won’t care who he hurts in the process. Oh and the draft, it will not be limited to just those between 18 and 21. It will not be just limited to men either. Pack up your kids.
    You know what they call a politicians gaffe? The truth slipping out of them.

  • Let’s face it, the old man was leaning into the question, probably couldn’t hear and said something to sound like he heard. BUT, on day two of his administration the draft comes back. Period.

  • Why reenact the draft? Because a million plus volunteer army isn’t enough to cover all the misadventure JMcC has planned.

    Problem with the bully kicking sand in the dweebs face? Dweebs gonna hack your network- forget Charles Atlas. Look what Russia did to Georgia, and what China tries to do to the US on a daily basis? Our enemies aren’t in the hills of Pakistan in a cave- they’re out in the open having a beer next to the President in Beijing…or maybe they’re just trying to keep the world in a perpetual state of unrest so they can take advantage of the chaos and act like LA Riot/New Orleans looters.

  • We need some one in office that is strong and will not roll over when a threat to our country pops up! Not like the democrats that will roll over and let whatever happen to our country. If we had pulled out of the Iraq when the dems wanted we would have another training ground for our enemy. I agree with “sparrow” in that McCain did not hear the last part of the question. Also, since this site is anti-McCain they didn’t let the video run so you get the whole story of what McCain said. STAND-UP AND GET THE WHOLE STORY!

  • RE #45: I’ll take it, Rick, that you’ll be the first in line at the local recruiting office when the next dust up happens rather than “rolling over and let whatever happen to our coutry” like those wussie Dems?

  • If only we could institute a system like days of old, where those that declared the war actually LEAD it from the front.

    We might find out how many of these bastard pols were real heroes, then.

  • Man, its funny to watch the desperation setting in on the left. This is just silly. McCain has always been against the draft:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BxXsZMlyXM&feature=related

    Bills to re-instate the draft have been introduced a couple of times in the last several years, each time by democrats. Try again. Perhaps you can claim McCain cheated in the debate. Too funny…

  • I was at the Town Hall meeting in Las Cruces and (as usual) only a small part was reported. Sen McCain stated that he felt people needed to volunteer in a number of various organizations such as the Peace Corp, United Way and other great community volunteer organizations. He never said or hinted to reinstating the draft…his response to the female’s question was just a polite one

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