McCain criticizes Obama over speaker
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/04/05/art.obama.ap.jpg caption="Obama campaigned in North Dakota Friday."](CNN) - John McCain criticized Barack Obama Saturday for not denouncing comments from a speaker at a North Dakota Democratic Party event calling the Arizona senator a "warmonger."
The comments in question came Friday evening at an event in North Dakota where Barack Obama also spoke. Radio talk show host Ed Schultz addressed the crowd, during which he criticized McCain's support of the Iraq war and called him a "warmonger." Obama was not present for Schultz's comments and spoke later at the event.
"I hope that in keeping with the spirit of Sen. Obama, that they condemn, that Sen. Obama will condemn such language since it was a part of his campaign," McCain said. "But that kind of language is unnecessary for this campaign. I think its very clear how I feel about war and my experiences with it."
Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Saturday McCain should not have been described that way.
"John McCain is not a warmonger and should not be described as such. He's a supporter of a war that Senator Obama believes should have never been authorized and never been waged," she said.
Obama's campaign also notes Schultz is not an official supporter of the campaign and was asked to speak by the North Dakota Democratic Party, not the Obama campaign.
Meanwhile, the McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds noted the Arizona senator denounced a radio-talk show host last February who at a campaign event repeatedly referred to Obama's middle name, Hussein, while criticizing him.
"The quickness he showed in rejecting the charged environment should reinforce in the minds of voters that there are some elected officials, like John McCain, that walk the walk, and others that are only talking," Bounds said.
(3:45: Updates with McCain comments)
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The truth is John McCain is a warmonger and there is no way to get around it.
Barack Obama has a good heart I am sure he would have condemn them words if he was present at the time that it was said. His campaign denounce him so McCain should not have nothing to worry about.
Well, his 100 years in Iraq statement hardly qualifies him as a peace monger does it?
Obama is above everyone else. He is the new Savior.
If McCain after being a prisoner of war can embrace any violent conflict,,let alone one which confers benefits on non-americans and profiteers at the expense of American lives can deny warmongering,,I'd expect no more from a politician.
I thought all the Obama supporters were uniters? It seems like calling Senator McCain, a POW for 5 1/2 years in Vietnam, a warmonger is idiotic and insulting. What branch of the military did Obama serve? Oh, that's right. And how long has he served in the Senate, excluding the two years he has been campaigning for president? One year? Great. And you expect this man to lead the country?
I'm glad Obama did disagree. We don't need name calling, etc.
I realize that McCain can't control the neocons, but if McCain does win the presidency, I'm glad he'll throw the neocons under the bus and support fair trade, universal health care, and abortion rights. In addition I'm sure he'll get us out of Iraq very quickly. He is not a conservative, he is a fiscal conservative, social liberal.
I will vote for Obama. But I used to like McCain, until he started pretending to be a conservative just to get the republican nomination, and fawned to the right.
Whether or not John McCain is a warmonger is beside the point. A vote for him is vote for continuation of the policy that will make war with Iran inevitable; a war that this country cannot afford morally or financially.
This from the guy who sang "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran"?
Obama ought to apologize, they have made Hillary do it for less than this...What is good for the goose, is good for the gander...LOL!!
It's not inappropriate to label McCain a warmonger if it is true. McCain has, after all, come out in favor of war with Iran. He's selling war as part of his campaign. That, to me, is a warmonger.
The man who sang "Bomb, bomb, bomb; Bomb Iran" is objecting to being called a warmonger? Go figure!?!
I don't understand why McCain, Bush, Cheney Clinton and others are still not on trial for invading a soverign country Iraq and responsible for the deaths fo thousands of innocents, McCain is not only a warmonger he should have been in the prison by now, he's a war criminal and it's indisputable, you killed innocent people and you should be punished no person is above law.
So They have to denounce radio talk show host now??? This is getting pretty rediculous
old man chill out and retire now before you force out in november obama 08
He is a warmonger! He should be called Lucas McCain-
(the rifle man)
Exactly as the last sentence read, so what is Mccain trying to explain, If someone is in support of a war, why cant he be referred to as a warmonger, As our senators losing it in English?
McCain is just plain lame...get a life!!!!
"But that kind of language is unnecessary for this campaign. I think its very clear how I feel about war and my experiences with it."
Yes, Mr. McCain, hence the name "Warmonger" given to you. A state of denial is your ostrich stance.
Hey Obama...when did you serve in the3 millitary????
Let's see... McCain has publicly stated his determination to keep U.S. forces in Iraq for a century, despite the fact that they have no achievable objective–or any kind of discernible, consistent, objective, for that matter–and that no matter which side of Iraq's civil war "wins," the U.S. loses. Waging a pointless war for no better reason than to avoid the appearance of losing it–which we've basically already done–sounds like warmongering to me.
McCain is thinking with his balls, not his brain, a process not known with coming up with sensible conclusions.
(I'm not, by the way, a peace-at-any-price kind of guy. There are circumstances when a country has to fight if it is to survive, but Iraq is a long, long, way from being that kind of circumstance.)
Yes, we all know John McCain and his attentions. He is warmonger and he will attack Iran and North Korea if he becomes president. America is eight years behind because of G Bush and McCain is the same like Bush
McCain is a warmonger. He's insane with having been held as a POW and called Asians 'gooks' until the year 2000, when an Asian-American group pressured him to stop. He supported George Bush in every military effort to date, condones torture and disdains international law.
John, you're a warmonger. Time to face reality, Hitler.
Guess I'll have to look this one up. I thought a war-monger was one who supports war. And last time I checked, the Republican Party is the War Party. Eisenhower, Reagan, Bush I and Bush II are examples.
Since the comment did not come from Obama himself, I see no reason that McCain would be criticizing Obama for it. Just another pathetic attempt to get the general public to vote for him and an extension of the war in Iraq. Whoever said war is hell just about summed it up, so why should we be put through 4 or even 8 more years of the war?
Obama '0