Obama discredits McCain, McCain fights back

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Doug Holtz-Eakin from Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) campaign team offer a rebuttal to Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) earlier speech. Burr and Holtz-Eakin explain McCain’s economic policy, saying that McCain is the presidential candidate with the better track-record, refuting Obama’s false claims. (22:00)
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McCain’s judgement challenged

Former Senator Bob Graham (D-Fla.) says that republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain was unable to rally support against the Water Resource Development Act and, though the federal government is now working to meet its obligations in the Everglades, questions what would have resulted had McCain’s judgement prevailed. (0:22)
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Obama campaign: No excuses for McCain

In an Obama for America conference call, Florida republican Dan Gelber says that he doesn’t know why republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain vote against the Water Resource Development Act but that there is no excuse for not understanding the bill, especially considering the amount of attention it received nationally. (0:50)

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McCain wants cheap healthcare

Paul Ginsburg of the Center for Studying Health System Change talks about the biggest difference between Republican presidential candidate John McCain's healthcare plan compared to both the healthcare plans of democratic senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. McCain's plan will, as Ginsburg says, "make people more sensitive, to what they pay for healthcare." (0:44)
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McCain: U.S.-Israel alliance is "forever"

At an American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says that the state of Israel is a "singular achievement" as a great democracy of the Middle East, and that critics of the U.S.-Israeli alliance perhaps "do not fully understand the love of liberty and the pursuit of justice." He said they should know, however, that "those ties will not be broken," because the two nations were brought together by "shared ideals and shared adversity." He said that the U.S. and Israel "are the most natural of allies and trusted partners in the quest for peace," and like Israel itself, "that alliance is forever." (0:54)
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McCain blasts Obama's foreign policy plans

At an American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says that America's progress in Iraq is a "direct result" of the new military strategies that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) "vehemently opposed" and that he predicted would fail. McCain says that Obama's plan to withdraw one or two brigades per month until they are all removed, "regardless of the conditions in Iraq, regardless of the consequences for our national security, regardless of the Israel security, and in disregard of the best advice from our commanders on the ground" will "surely result in catastrophe." McCain says that if U.S. troops are forced to retreat, the Middle East will be subject to "all-out civil war, genocide, and a failed state." (0:55)
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McCain: Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps are terrorists

At an American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says that the U.S. "must apply the full force of law to prevent business dealings with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps." He says he was "pleased" to back an amendment that called for the designation of the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization "responsible for killing American troops in Iraq." He says that while over three-quarters of the Senate supported this "obvious step," Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) did not because he thought it would send the "wrong message" to the world and to the region. McCain says that he is "mistaken," and that holding Iran's influence in Iraq in check and holding a terrorist organization accountable "sends exactly the right message" to Iran, the region, and the world. (1:03)
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McCain supports U.S. military aid to Israel

At an American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says that the threats to Israel are "large and growing," and that America's commitment to Israel must grow as well. He says he "strongly" supports the increase in military aid to Israel scheduled to begin in October, and is committed to making sure that Israel maintains its "qualitative military edge." He said that Israel's enemies are "too numerous, its margin of error too small, and our shared interests and values too great for us to follow any other policy." (0:35)
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McCain says "never again" to violence in Israel

At an American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says that when the U.S. and Israel join in saying "never again" to violence, it is not just a request or plea to the enemies of Israel, but a promise that the U.S. and Israel will honor against any enemy. (0:20)
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Despite McCain’s comments, Obama does support terrorist labeling

In response to Sen. John McCain’s address to The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Obama campaign held a conference call where Senior Foreign Policy Adviser Denis McDonough says that Sen. Barack Obama was a co-sponsor of the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act, which included a provision designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, and that his support for the bill continues today. He says that Obama did not support amendments of the bill that would have added a mission of countering Iranian influence inside of Iraq. He says that this would have given President Bush, and presumably McCain, additional rationale to keep the troops in Iraq. (0:54)

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Obama campaign attempts to correct distortion by McCain

In an Obama campaign conference call, Senior Foreign Policy Adviser Denis McDonough says that a spokesperson for Sen. John McCain asserts that Sen. Barack Obama does not support labeling the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp as a terrorist organization. McDonough says that Obama does support the label, and in fact co-sponsored a bill to make that point clear. He said that as much as the McCain campaign wants to distort that central fact, it is “indisputable.” (0:38)

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McCain campaign adviser: Ideals will win War on Terror

Richard Fontaine of John McCain for President says that John McCain (R-Ariz.) does not believe that the War on Terror will only be won through the force of ideals. (0:19)
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McCain makes a significant departure from Bush Administration

Senator John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) presidential campaign hosted a press conference call, which discussed McCain’s foreign policy remarks delivered today in Dever, Colo. McCain’s advisors said that John McCain has taken a “significant departure“ from the nuclear security policy of the Bush Administration with his willingness to have open talks with Russia and China, and the creation of global nuclear repositories, nuclear penetrators and other nuclear foreign policy issues.

Randy Scheunemann, senior foreign policy and national security advisor to the John McCain presidential campaign, spoke about McCain’s ultimate goal of a nuclear free world. McCain’s support for strategic arms reduction and treaties with Russia to ban and remove intermediate ranged ballistic missiles, his interest in strengthening non-proliferation regime and the ending of dangerous nuclear materials production are all steps away from the Bush Administration’s current and past foreign policy decisions.

With John McCain being seen as the “second Bush” by many members of the media and influential political figures, these statements by McCain and his advisors act as a step away from any associations with Bush’s policies and present a more open and “comprehensive” plan of action for the future than any other president has put out there, Scheunemann said. (24:00)
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McCain's age not a factor

Dr. John D. Eckstein, an internal physician, says that presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is in very good health and and that his age should not affect his ability to serve as President. (0:29)
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McCain has no evidence of skin cancer

Dr. John D. Eckstein, an internal physician, says that there is no evidence of recurrence of presidential candidate Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) invasive melanoma as the eighth anniversary of operation approaches. (0:39)
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Conference Call: Clinton Campaign says Florida and Michigan votes should count

Howard Wolfson of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) presidential campaign hold a conference call along with one of Clinton’s senior advisers, Harold Ickes, to discuss what should be done about the currently unseated delegates from the Michigan and Florida Democratic primaries. (51:14)
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Conference Call: New polls used to analyze possible Election 2008 outcomes

Ron Faucheux, associate professorial lecturer at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management, holds a conference call with Lake Research Partners Presiden Celinda Lake and Tarrance Group Vice President Brian Nienaber to discuss the implications of GWU's new Battleground Poll which evaluates national attitudes towards race, the economy, and the Iraq War. The participants use the data to analyze potential outcomes of the 2008 presidential election.
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Iranian film depicts American overthrow of Iran's government

At an American Enterprise Institute discussion on “The Ahmadinejad Presidency and its Impact on Iranian Civil and Political Society,” Tom Parker, executive director of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, describes an Iranian Ministry of Intelligence public information film in which American politicians, including Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) are portrayed plotting the overthrow of the Iranian government with the help of human rights advocate groups. (0:52)
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Clinton Campaign says Clinton can beat McCain in November

In a conference call with the Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-NY) presidential campaign, her advisers discuss new polls that demonstrate that she is better prepared than Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) to beat Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in the general election because of her strong position on the economy.
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Universality is the key to getting health care costs under control

Jacob Hacker, author and professor at Yale University, addresses remarks made by Sen. John McCain on health care. He says the key to getting costs under control is having universality and everyone in a common pool, but that McCain’s plan leaves private insurance companies in charge. He says to expect “a lot more of the same, but maybe even worse.” (0:44)
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