An Awkward Alliance
HAYES, STEPHEN F.
An Awkward Alliance McCain neither embraces Bush, nor criticizes him. BY STEPHEN F. HAYES Shortly after 1 P.M. on March 5, 2008, John McCain strode into the White House Rose Garden with...
...The president’s mentioned a couple of times the breakup of plots, both here and in other countries in the world...
...McCain anticipated my next question...
...McCain says he’s concerned the country has grown “complacent” about the possibility of another attack and says he intends to keep talking about threats even if it means aligning himself with Bush...
...The previous evening, McCain had captured enough delegates to win the Republican nomination that he had lost to Bush eight years earlier...
...At the Democratic Convention in Denver this week, Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats will continue to do everything they can to suggest that electing McCain will result in a third Bush term...
...The president grinned broadly and seemed relaxed, almost playful...
...I asked McCain what specifi c policies Bush has pursued that have kept us safe...
...And so I welcome you here...
...He’s going to be the president who will bring determination to defeat an enemy, and a heart big enough to love those who hurt,” he said of his former rival...
...And I give the president credit all the time...
...The two men had battled one another in an unexpectedly fierce Republican primary in 2000...
...I think there’s just been general progress...
...His central point—that he is better qualifi ed to keep the country safe from another attack—rests on the singular accomplishment of the Bush administration...
...The George W. Bush issue is about to get much more complicated for McCain...
...For McCain, it should have been a moment of triumph, even joy...
...I intend to have as much possible campaigning events together, as it is in keeping with the president’s heavy schedule...
...They chuckled before it occurred to them that McCain’s history might make such a joke inappropriate...
...I think that we have increased our border security, but we have a long way to go in that respect...
...The expression on his face suggested he understood that the pictures being snapped by the photographers on risers just 15 feet away would one day be used against him...
...And McCain is also right that he often goes out of his way to credit Bush for keeping the country safe...
...And beginning with the Republican National Convention a week later, McCain will make what amounts to a two-month closing argument to the American people...
...McCain followed...
...And Bush will almost certainly be “very busy” through November...
...I asked McCain about this in midAugust...
...Bush spoke fi rst...
...I read his words back to him and reminded him that he had said Tom Ridge deserved credit for keeping us safe...
...And I look forward to that opportunity...
...The reorganization of our intelligence capabilities...
...I also think it might be nice for President Bush to get a little credit that there’s not been another attack on the United States of America,” McCain said in Tyler, Texas, one week before he appeared with Bush at the White House...
...One day earlier, at a town hall meeting in York, Pennsylvania, McCain had praised Tom Ridge for his work as secretary of homeland security under Bush...
...I hope that the president will fi nd time from his busy schedule to be out on the campaign trail with me, and I will be very privileged to have the opportunity of being again on the campaign trail with him...
...He sure would be getting the responsibility if there had been...
...Bush, it seems, has had a very busy schedule...
...So does the president,” he said before I could ask...
...on March 5, 2008, John McCain strode into the White House Rose Garden with George W. Bush...
...I look forward to the chance to bring our message to America,” he said...
...I wish you all the best, and I’m proud to be your friend...
...Well, I’m very honored and humbled to have the opportunity to receive the endorsement of the president of the United States, a man who I have great admiration, respect, and affection [for...
...A reporter watching McCain told a colleague that McCain looked like a man being forced to read a hostage statement...
...McCain wore a dark gray suit and a colorful, striped tie...
...I don’t mind reminding people that we have not had another attack,” he says, “nor do I mind giving credit to President Bush...
...Stephen F. Hayes is a senior writer at THE WEEKLY STANDARD...
...McCain continued...
...If Ridge were here I think he’d tell you that we’ve certainly increased our security at airports, we’ve cooperated with our friends and allies in identifying individuals and cells that have been formed or attempted to form both here and overseas...
...Bush appeared in a slate blue suit with his trademark light blue tie...
...It’s not been an accident that there’s never been another attack on the United States of America,” he said...
...McCain is right, of course...
...BY STEPHEN F. HAYES Shortly after 1 P.M...
...If there had been another attack, Bush’s critics would have laid the blame at the president’s feet...
...He reiterated the point in stilted language moments later...
...And yet he stood alongside Bush looking tense and uncomfortable...
...He also said that Texas has produced two of America’s “greatest” presidents and that “their name is Bush...
...The two men have not appeared together since then...
Vol. 13 • August 2008 • No. 47
