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Blunt: Dem Caucus Resorts to ´Patent Falsehoods´ in Mischaracterizing McCain´s Position on Iraq

WASHINGTON, Apr. 08 /PRNewswire/ --

WASHINGTON, April 8, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) issued the following statement this afternoon in response to the decision by the House Democratic Caucus to distribute a series of political talking points peddling patent falsehoods about U.S. Sen. John McCain's position on securing victory in Iraq:

"Sen. McCain's position on Iraq is well known; as is his commitment to returning our troops home safe, secure and successful - on the terms of generals, not of our enemies. That the House Democratic Caucus would find it necessary to distort that position, at best -- and outright lie about it at worst -- says an awful lot about the underhanded methods they're willing to employ. And perhaps it says even more about the level of desperation they're encountering in trying to tear down an American hero."

NOTE: During a town hall meeting in New Hampshire this January, Sen. McCain was asked about President Bush's comments that American troops could still be in Iraq for 50 years. McCain responded, drawing from his extensive military service, with this:

"Make it 100. We've been in South Korea . . . we've been in Japan for 60 years. We've been in South Korea for 50 years or so. That would be fine with me. As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed, that's fine with me. I hope that would be fine with you, if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where al-Qaeda is training, recruiting and equipping and motivating people every single day."

The attacks on Sen. McCain's commitment to our national security were quickly seized on and taken out of context by Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Just as quickly, however, came the denunciations from the media elite -- historically, no friend of Republicans -- for the duplicitous comments Democratic presidential hopefuls had continued to propagate at Sen. McCain's expense.

The Columbia Journalism Review characterized the attacks as "seriously misleading voters--if not outright lying to them--about exactly what McCain said."