Re: What must the Republicans do to win?

Description: Republicans have to show that they're willing to turn the page on Iraq, says Kuhn.

Transcript: Republicans I actually think have really clear things they have to do.  They must put forward . . . They must not be seen to champion the war in Iraq, the failures of the war in Iraq.  They must show that they’re going, to borrow from Barack Obama, “turn the page on Iraq”.  So McCain . . . There is no way John McCain will pull troops out of Iraq next month.  Or excuse me, will say next month that he wants to pull troops out of Iraq.  But if it is John McCain, he certainly has to acknowledge . . . He certainly should continue to re-emphasize that he was against the way Bush administered this war; that he was one of the early oppositional voices to how Bush was administering this war under . . . with Donald Rumsfeld at his side.  While he also must not appear to want American troops to be there for 100 years, he had this one verbal gaff where he said, “It doesn’t matter if they’re here for 100 years,” because simply he’s saying that it’s not having . . . It’s correct.  He’s saying it’s not having troops in Iraq that’s the issue.  It’s troops dying.  Because we’ve had troops in Japan and Korea for a long time, and Bosnia.  So it’s not the troops being there that anger Americans.  It’s when troops are dying.  So his . . . John McCain’s point is that you simply must not have troops continue to die at the same levels.  But in doing that . . . In making that point he must also appear to wanna end the war.  And that doesn’t necessarily mean pulling troops at a rapid rate out of Iraq.  But it certainly must show that he wants to win but end.  And he wants to, you know, command Afghanistan and find bin Laden.  And he should tout his national security credentials.  But they have very real problems domestically.  They really lost the fiscal conservative moniker that really aided Republicans for a long time.  McCain will have to show that if he’s a nominee.  He’ll have to explain small cases where he veered from his straight talk mantra; where he changed stances slightly, such as his support of Bush’s tax cuts.  And he should probably run, if you’re John McCain, on character.  There’s no doubt.

Recorded on: 2/5/08