The American Mind

The latest installment of Sen. John McCain’s weblogger efforts took place with a conference call.

In his introduction McCain reminded us about the difference between his and Sen. Obama’s Iraq strategies [via Hot Air]:

When he wins the nomination McCain will continue the campaign activities that have got him here. There will be more townhalls and continued media access to his campaign bus. He again invited webloggers to join him. A question came up about being more aggressive towards the Democratic nominee. McCain said he would engage in “respectful debate” while highlighting “stark contrasts.”

Townhall.com’s Matt Lewis asked McCain what President Bush could do in his final few months as President to advance the conservative cause and help McCain. McCain wants Bush to continue fighting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. At the same time he wants continued pressure on Iran and their desire for a nuclear weapon. Domestically McCain hopes President Bush will veto any bill that contains earmarks.

That fit well with Robert Bluey’s question. He asked if McCain would back Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) quest for a moratorium on earmarks. McCain would:

“I absolutely would support such an amendment — and abolish [earmarks] altogether,” McCain told conservative bloggers on a conference call this afternoon. “As I’ve said, I will veto any earmark project that comes across my desk.”

International affairs took up a large portion of the call. McCain said he had “grave concerns” about the North Korea six-party talks. He’s been “dissappointed with the Chinese” for not putting more pressure on North Korea, and wonders about the role the Stalinist regime had with a Syrian facility attacked by Israel.

On Iraq specifically NRO’s Jim Geraghty asked how long the American public should expect troops to be in Iraq and when will we see a turning point. McCain called the results of the surge a turning point. He can’t be sure when the U.S. could declare victory or give a time line. He could envision some sort of victory during a McCain administration. He could also see a time when U.S. forces would only need to give Iraqi forces air support.

Recently the Sens. Clinton and Obama have been stepping back from the free trade efforts of President Bill Clinton. McCain disagreed with the rhetoric coming from them. He called free trade a “fundamental component of American policy” while also calling for more training programs for displaced workers.

Other topics included William F. Buckley’s death (McCain called it an “enormous” loss), an incident mention in George Will’s latest column that McCain refused to shake the hand of McCain-Feingold critic Bradley Smith, and McCain correctly describing YouTube and MySpace.

Another coverage:

• Matt Lewis
• Jim Geraghty

[picture via snsanchor]