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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Why isn't anyone surprised?</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Biden and McJerk exchange cooties in Baghdad on
Saturday.</FONT></DIV>
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<H1><FONT size=3>McCain: Steele’s Comments ‘Wildly Inaccurate’</FONT></H1>
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href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/07/04/mccain-steeles-comments-wildly-inaccurate/tab/print/">http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/07/04/mccain-steeles-comments-wildly-inaccurate/tab/print/</A></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<P>The heat keeps rising on Republican National Committee Chairman
<STRONG>Michael Steele</STRONG>. </P>
<P>The gaffe-prone <A
href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/07/02/gops-steele-caught-in-war-of-words-on-afghanistan/"
target='_"blank"'>Steele was caught on tape </A>Thursday saying the Afghanistan
war was “of Obama’s choosing” and implied it was unwinnable, and on Sunday the
party’s 2008 presidential nominee said Steele should consider resigning.</P>
<P>“I think that Mr. Steele is going to have to assess as to whether he can
still lead the Republican Party as chairman of the Republican National
Committee,” Sen. <STRONG>John McCain </STRONG>(R., Ariz.) said today on the ABC
News program “This Week.”</P>
<P>Although he fell short of directly calling for Steele’s ouster, McCain is the
highest-profile Republican to withdraw his support from the party chairman.
Other Republican grandees – including prominent conservative writer
<STRONG>William Kirstol </STRONG>– have begun to call for Steele’s
resignation.</P>
<P>McCain, speaking from Kabul where he was visiting American troops over the
July 4th holiday, said he had received an email from Steele in which the party
chairman insisted his remarks were “misconstrued.” But McCain, a staunch
supporter of the Afghan war effort, seemed not to accept the explanation.</P>
<P>“I think those statements are wildly inaccurate and there is no excuse for
them,” McCain said.</P>
<P>South Carolina Sen. <STRONG>Lindsey Graham</STRONG>, another leading
Republican war supporter on the Armed Services Committee, also lambasted Steele,
saying he was “dismayed, angry, upset” about the Republican chairman’s
remarks.</P>
<P>Graham, in Kabul on the same trip as McCain, called on the Republican Party
to support Obama in his war effort, even if it occasionally criticizes the way
the war is being prosecuted. </P>
<P>“It was an uniformed, unnecessary, unwise, untimely comment,” Graham said on
the CBS News show “Face the Nation.” “This is not President Obama’s war; this is
America’s war.”</P>
<P>Like McCain, Graham fell short of actually calling for Steele’s resignation,
saying he would leave it up to the Republican National Committee. But he praised
Steele for clarifying his remarks. </P>
<P>“The good news is Michael Steele is backtracking so fast he’s going to be in
Kabul fighting here pretty soon,” Graham said. “I don’t think he should be
talking about Afghanistan in such <STRONG><EM><FONT
color=#000080><U>uniformed</U></FONT></EM></STRONG> terms. I hope he can get it
behind him. We’ll see if he can get it behind
him.”</P></DIV></DIV></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>