Tampa, Florida
FOR TWO DAYS, John McCain and Mitt Romney have traded accusations on what was, until recently, the most important issue in the Republican presidential primary: Iraq. And while Romney attempted Sunday to diffuse the growing dispute, McCain escalated his criticism.
Talking to a handful of reporters on his campaign bus, McCain said that Romney had used “code words” to call for withdrawal from Iraq. “At the time [of Romney’s remarks] it was whether we were going to stay or go. And that’s what it was all about. ‘Timetables’ was the buzzword and everybody knows it . . . Timetables’ was the codeword for ‘bailout.’ . . . It has to be viewed in the context of the time and what was going on at the time–that was everybody wanted out. Nobody but a few of us said we not only can’t get out, we can’t set timetables, we’ve got to increase troops. We’ve got to have the surge.”
