Concord Monitor: McCain stumps for Romney
By Stephanie Dreyer | 9.18.12
Truman Project Vice President Mike Breen went to New Hampshire to defend President Obama’s record on foreign policy and veterans.
McCain stumps for Romney
Campaign veteran calls Obama’s foreign policy weak
By Ben Leubsdorf / Monitor staff
September 18, 2012
Arizona Sen. John McCain was back in New Hampshire yesterday, campaigning for one-time rival Mitt Romney by denouncing President Obama as a failure on foreign policy.
McCain, a Vietnam War hero and the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, made a one-day swing across the state as a week of unrest in the Middle East raised the profile of foreign affairs in a campaign that has been dominated by economic issues.
“Mitt Romney has the right instincts,” McCain told the Monitor. “He reminds me of Ronald Reagan. He knows that America should lead, not lead from behind as Obama does.”
But speaking to a crowd of about 75 people at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1698 in Franklin, McCain talked less about Romney’s foreign-policy credentials than what he described as Obama’s failures.
“This president I do not believe has the strength or the authority to lead this nation, and I believe that recent events have shown exactly how weak this president is,” McCain said in Franklin, his third of four campaign stops.
Democrats countered McCain’s visit by highlighting what they described as Obama’s record of foreign-policy success, including last year’s killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, and support for veterans and their families.
“Mitt Romney thinks he has a great line when he talks about, ‘Are you better off than you were four years ago?’ And I do national security and veterans’ work, and as a veteran, that’s a really easy question to answer,” said Michael Breen, vice president of the Truman National Security Project and a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan, at a news conference held at Obama’s Laconia campaign office.