By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, said Sunday that the leader for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, would be "absolutely" qualified to be president, should the voters elect him. But, he said, "I believe that my talent and my background and my experience, which has led to my judgment, ... qualifies me more."
In his first Sunday talk show appearance since locking up the GOP nomination last month, McCain criticized Obama and others for making too much of his comment that the United States could remain in Iraq for 100 years, or a period similar to the length of the U.S. presence in Germany and South Korea.
"Senator Obama and anyone who reads that [comment] knows that I didn't think we were in a 100-year war," he said on "Fox News Sunday."
Days after going to Memphis to mark the 40th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, McCain repeated that he "was wrong" to vote in 1983 against establishing a federal holiday to honor King. He added, as he did Friday, that he thought better of his mistake in time to back such a holiday in his home state of Arizona.
McCain also confirmed that he would meet next week with Secret Service officials next week and expects to have agents protecting him "shortly thereafter." McCain previously had refused such protection.
Appearing after McCain on Fox, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), an Obama supporter, was pressed about his consideration in 2004, when he ran for president, of McCain as a running mate or secretary of defense.
"Let me be very clear about John McCain in 2004," Kerry said. "John McCain in 2004 ... had opposed the Bush tax cuts, ... had indicated at that point in time a very different attitude on any number of subjects, from global climate change to how you treat the powerful in Washington. Nomination John McCain is a different person. He is now supporting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans."
Kerry and Fox host Chris Wallace got into a bit of a spat after Wallace asked Kerry if he believes McCain is a "blatant opportunist," as Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean described him late last month.
Kerry said he would not use those words but added, "John McCain has taken positions in the course of trying to win the Republican nomination - whether it's the reversal and flip-flop on the intolerant, with respect to Jerry Falwell and others, or whether it is the Bush tax cuts' flip-flop, or whether it is this flip-flop now on the issue of Iraq, or whether it is, you know, global climate change, where he has not yet signed on to Joe Lieberman and John Warner's bill. There is a clear indication of a Nomination John McCain versus the Senator John McCain."
Wallace asked, "Do you think John McCain was an opportunist when he refused to take early release from a North Vietnamese prison camp because he was the son of an admiral, because he said he was going to stay there for years, as long as all the other Americans did?"
"Chris, please. I think you almost insult my intelligence and my values and those of every American. Nobody ever would insinuate that John McCain is anything but a hero for his activities in the prison camp," Kerry said.
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), one of McCain's closest supporters on the war, was not warm to the idea of Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus as McCain's running mate.
"I have talked to General Petraeus about a lot of things, but not about politics. The best thing for General Petraeus is to stay exactly where he is," he said on ABC's "This Week."
Pa. Governor: Expect a Close Vote on April 22
Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell (D), a strong supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), downplayed the chance of her scoring an overwhelming victory in his state's Democratic primary on April 22.
"Anytime you're outspent three-to-one, you can't be overconfident," Rendell said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "She has some great advantages. ... I'm saying we will win this state, but we will win it somewhere between five and 10 percentage points."
Rendell's Pennsylvania colleague, Sen. Bob Casey Jr., who recently endorsed Obama, acknowledged on the same show that "it's going to be tough in the primary" for his candidate. But he said Obama's areas of strength in Pennsylvania - in small towns - "will lay a foundation for the fall" general election campaign.
Rendell argued that Clinton's likely victory in Pennsylvania and other big states augurs well for her winning those states in the fall. "She's running way ahead of [Sen. John] McCain" in those states, she said.
Casey retorted, however, that "you cannot predict a general election based on a primary," adding, "I think Senator Obama has the ability to get votes Democrats have not gotten before," including from Republicans and independents.
Dean wants compromise
Democratic Party chairman Dean, who was on ABC and CBS's "Face the Nation," shot down the hopes of both the Clinton and Obama campaigns when it comes to making the votes in Florida and Michigan count.
Barring a reprieve from the DNC, those states' delegates will not be seated at the Democratic convention in Denver because the states held their primaries in violation of the committee's timeline.
"Yes, we want them to be seated in some way. They obviously can't be seated as-is, which is what one campaign is saying. And they're certainly not going to be excluded, which is what the other campaign is saying," Dean said.
He added, without elaboration, "But there is a reasonable, thoughtful way to do this."
Dean said the Florida and Michigan "elections were flawed. There's no question about that, particularly in Michigan, where there was only one candidate on the ballot." But he said, "That wasn't the voters' fault. And the voters ought to have some say."
Dean said it is important for the party to quickly come together after voting is concluded to back a nominee.
"The only thing that can beat us is disunity in the Democratic Party," he said. "The one thing that can make Senator McCain president is if Democrats can't agree, and it's my job to try to keep them together."
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