2003 Flashback: McCain Mocked Germany and France

Jon Perr
Crooks and Liars
July 27, 2008

In Berlin this week, Barack Obama capped his European tour with an address to an audience whose numbers reached tens of thousands. But while the media will focus on Obama’s call to strengthen America’s trans-Atlantic alliance with France and Germany, no doubt lost in the coverage will be John McCain’s essential role in undermining it. As it turns out, back in 2003 John McCain stood shoulder to shoulder with the Berlin-bashers and Paris-hating purveyors of “freedom fries” and “old Europe.”

As President Bush prepared to pull the trigger on the Iraq war in February 2003, John McCain was at the forefront of those browbeating the Chirac government for France’s refusal to back the U.S. at the United Nations. On February 10, 2003, McCain declared on MSNBC’s Hardball:

“Look, I don’t mean to try to be snide, but the Lord said the poor will always be with us. The French will always be with us, too.”

The next day on February 11, 2003, McCain co-sponsored a Senate resolution praising 18 European nations backing U.S. enforcement of UN demands for Saddam’s disarmament. In his press release, McCain echoed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in thundering at the France and Germany of “old Europe:”

“The majority of Europe’s democracies have spoken, and their message could not be clearer: France and Germany do not speak for Europe…most European governments behave like allies that are willing to meet their responsibilities to uphold international peace and security in defense of our common values. We thank this European majority for standing with us.”

McCain’s venom towards the French and Germans was on full display two days later during a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
(Read the rest of this story…)

Copyright ©2008 Crooks and Liars