McCain raises impeachment - if boots hit ground in Syria
WASHINGTON (CNN) - After endorsing President Barack Obama's plan to launch military strikes against Syria, Sen. John McCain warned the president would face impeachment if he were to put "boots on the ground."
McCain told Phoenix radio host Mike Broomhead on Thursday that the president had "bungled" the entire handling of the Syria crisis and would open himself up to impeachment hearings if he overstepped the limits of the authorization before Congress.
[twitter-follow screen_name='politicalticker'][twitter-follow screen_name='jseher']
"No one wants American boots on the ground," McCain told the KYFI audience. "Nor will there be American boots on the ground, because there would be an impeachment of the president if they did that."
While McCain said he still supports the current plan to intervene in Syria, the Arizona Republican's statement seems to reflect his contentious Thursday town hall meeting with some Phoenix constituents. At the meeting, McCain, who has favored a more robust American response to the Syria crisis, faced intense criticism.
"We didn't send you to make war for us. We sent you to stop the war," one man said.
Despite his warning to the president, McCain spoke out in favor of the Syria authorization again Saturday, endorsing former Army Gen. David Petraeus' endorsement of the administration's plan in a tweet.
Only one of three Republicans in the Senate Foreign Relations panel to approve the measure, McCain has vocally advocated for a stepped-up American response to alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government. He even refused to pass the White House resolution out of committee until it included provisions to bolster Syrian opposition forces deemed moderate.
McCain's support for action hasn't stopped the Arizonan from blasting his former 2008 presidential rival for inaction.
In an interview on CNN's "The Situation Room" on Tuesday, McCain told Wolf Blitzer the president needed to "explain to the American people" why urgent action in Syria is necessary. The Republican senator also said President Obama made a mistake by consulting Congress instead of immediately launching a bombing campaign against the Syrian government.
"It's common sense you don't warn them and give them plenty of time to disperse," McCain said.
From CNN Politics
- Untitled
- 10 Cards Charging 0% Interest Until 2024
- Exclusive: Communications between Stormy Daniels and Trump attorney turned over to Manhattan DA
- Former Florida lawmaker pleads guilty in Covid-19 loan fraud case
- Untitled
- Justice Department convinces federal judge Trump used his attorney in furtherance of a crime in classified docs probe
GoInthere: Just because people do not support sending U.S. military personnel to fight someone else's war, does not mean they love seeing innocent men and children killed. If you want to fight the war, feel free to buy a plane ticket and go fight it. I am tired of seeing men in the U.S. military sacrificed in the name of colonialism and world-police powers.
Diplomacy? He laughs. What you think he is? A diplomat?
McCain needs to retire or better yet, resign.
This old warhawk needs to fade away - soon.
Bush II – LET BIN LADEN ESCAPE – Phony war in Iraq, war in Afghanistan, financial melt down, bungled Katrina.
Obama – GOT BIN LADEN, got us out of Iraq, Afghanistan is up in the air, stopped the financial meltdown, handled Sandy.
Foreign policy is all domestic politics now and less a matter of national interest.
If McCain really cared about the U.S. image in world's eye, he would express public support for the President and his personal outrage privately.
Here is our message to you McCain, if one missle is launched you will not be relected. Tell your neo-con oil pirate handlers we are not interested in paying for their wars. Rest asured that we have all let our congress and our senate representatives know how we feel. It's called democracy...
have a good sleep and his view will be different
Impeachment on what grounds? There isn't a constitutional issue here.
John is one of the few that have common sense and the experience to understand the situation and what to do about it!
McCain the collaborator
McCain needs to retire, unbeknownst to him, his time has come and GONE!
Sometimes he acts like a Liberal and then, 5 minutes later, he is tooting the Neo-Conservative horn. I'm not sure he knows which party he belongs to (or maybe he doesn't belong to either party).
McCain has always been an embarrassment, he should retire. The man who claims to hate war, cannot wait to get us into another one. He wants to keep all our wars going on forever!
Impeachment is used far too often and casually. It should be reserved for only the most serious of offenses. Not a change in strategy.
He's lost it.
McCain and his followers have and has put the president a big mess,ever since the beginning? true or not? I mean want orders or advices is he following???
“Common sense” is cultural.
Someone should check whether McCain is becoming senile,
In the same discussion he says Obama should be more aggressive in dealing with Syria and not go to Congress for approval and then says he would favor impeaching Obama if boots end up on the ground without Congressional approval
If Obama says we are not going to put boots on the ground, how does he plan to pull out any pilots who get shot down. In Libya, pilots were shot down and Marines got off helicopters ONTO THE GROUND to rescue them – or were they barefoot?
If you commence an attack where any American is placed above Syrian soil or territorial waters, youwill sooner or later have Americans on the ground.
A senile man threatening a distator
McCain and the rest of the GOP will say anything to tear down the president.
Obama only gets impeached AFTER Bush, Cheney and company are indicted for war crimes.
McCain needs to retire or better yet, resign.
Dave, Obama has not stopped the financial meltdown, he has prolonged it. He did not get Bin-laden, our military continued what Bush started to get Bin-Laden and succeeded, Afghanistan and Iraq are failures, there is more chaos in the region than before including the fiasco in Egypt. So far Obama has cost ATF agents lives with his lies on the drug war with Fast and Furious which is a joke, He has cost the lives of those in Benghazi with his lies and trying to spread misinformation with an internet film that had nothing to do with it as well as abusing his authority with the IRS scandals, and now the Syrian fiasco.