Friday, June 13, 2008

In Nashua speech, McCain promises victory with honor in Iraq


By JOHN DISTASO
Senior Political Reporter
Nashua – In his second visit in three months to the state that sent sparked his successful run to the Republican presidential nomination, John McCain said today he is the true agent for the “right kind of change” and compared his general election opponent to Jimmy Carter.

The White House must not return “to the failed policies of the Sixties and Seventies -- not a second term of Jimmy Carter,” McCain told a crowd of about 700 at a gymnasium on the campus of Daniel Webster College.

McCain urged Obama to meet him face-to-face in a town hall-style meeting. He again pledged that would return U.S. troops from Iraq “with victory and with honor.

“We will do it and we will do it the right way,” McCain said.

He also said families should make health care decisions.

“If you want government-run health care, which will result from Senator Obama’s plan, please go to England and Canada and other countries, where the governments run the health care programs,” said McCain.

McCain, who won the first-in-the-nation primary in January, sandwiched the New Hampshire campaign visit between stops in Boston and New York City, where he held a town hall meeting at Federal Hall last night.

In Nashua, he spoke to a friendly audience, and took questions for more than an hour. He addressed topics ranging from education to health care to Social Security to national security.

McCain also strongly advocated a resurgence of a nuclear power program in the United States in order to address the nation’s long-term energy needs. But he admitted that there is no quick fix.

A full report on McCain’s visit to Nashua will appear in the New Hampshire Union Leader and on UnionLeader.com tomorrow.