# Why won't McCain pick up the phone and tell Bush how to "get" bin Laden? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 10, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276 "2008-10-10T02:46:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/21 "2008-10-10T13:36:27Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Well, remember, George Bush isn’t really interested in capturing bin Laden. “I truly am not that concerned about him,” he said two years ago. Of course, this is after he [rejected an offer by Taliban leaders to hand him over](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/oct/14/afghanistan.terrorism5) and long after saying that he is wanted, “dead or alive.” [Cue guitar riff] In fairness, the offer was not really on acceptable terms- the Taliban were willing to turn him over to a neutral third party, and there’s no telling what would have happened then. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/22 "2008-10-10T13:36:53Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > I wouldn’t read too much into this - Obama makes similar statements in debates. Yes, he does; unfortunately, Obama doesn’t have a President and a Congress who are in his party and theoretically on his side, with a vested interest in seeing the country not tank. Even one month’s worth of brilliant economic strategies could bring about enough prosperity & change to guarantee a landslide victory. Unfortunately, they’re not going to use Obama’s plan. What’s their excuse for not doing what McCain says needs to be done? ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/23 "2008-10-10T13:36:58Z")
Want to hear a better question? If Obama wins, do you think he’ll call up Obama and tell him the secret plan? ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/24 "2008-10-10T13:38:49Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Whenever I read the phrase “my friends” now, I hear it in my head in that fakey Reagan voice that McCain uses. Actually, I’m thinking more Anton Chigurh. “Call it in the air, my friend.” For the next debate drinking game, if McCain says “my friendo,” chug. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/25 "2008-10-10T13:45:51Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Well, remember, George Bush isn’t really interested in capturing bin Laden. “I truly am not that concerned about him,” he said two years ago. Of course, this is after he [Please provide specific citations. I’ve heard Obama say that we should devote troops, make a specific effort, and if necessary, cross into Pakistan to pursue bin Laden. Gladly. [URL=“[Transcript of second McCain, Obama debate - CNN.com](http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/07/presidential.debate.transcript/)”]In the last dabate,]([Bush rejects Taliban offer to hand Bin Laden over | Afghanistan | The Guardian](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/oct/14/afghanistan.terrorism5)) there was this exchange: > [@](#): > > Brokaw: Sen. McCain, thank you very much. > > Next question for Sen. Obama, it comes from the F section and is from Katie Hamm. Katie? > > Hamm: Should the United States respect Pakistani sovereignty and not pursue al Qaeda terrorists who maintain bases there, or should we ignore their borders and pursue our enemies like we did in Cambodia during the Vietnam War? > > Obama: Katie, it’s a terrific question and we have a difficult situation in Pakistan. I believe that part of the reason we have a difficult situation is because we made a bad judgment going into Iraq in the first place when we hadn’t finished the job of hunting down bin Laden and crushing al Qaeda. > > So what happened was we got distracted, we diverted resources, and ultimately bin Laden escaped, set up base camps in the mountains of Pakistan in the northwest provinces there. This makes it seem as if bin Laden had escaped Afghanistan after our invasion of Iraq, which isn’t so at all - he actually made it into Pakistan shortly after the American invasion of Afghanistan and more than a year before the Iraq invasion. It is believed to have been after the Tora Bora battle in December 2001. [This Time article from a year before the Iraq invasion shows American forces stepping up their search for bin Laden in the Afghan-Pakistani border region.](http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,230361,00.html) So when I say Obama makes similar statements - well, he does. It’s all just more political theater on both sides. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/26 "2008-10-10T13:56:35Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > So when I say Obama makes similar statements - well, he does. It’s all just more political theater on both sides. You seriously don’t see a difference between Obama’s assertion that you believe is wrong and what McCain said? ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/27 "2008-10-10T14:44:11Z")
[Blackadder] Does this plan involve a turnip? [/Blackadder] ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/28 "2008-10-10T14:49:39Z")
> [@Spartydog](#): > > I know this gloms off an earlier thread but this has bugged me for a long time. The guy says he knows how to get bin Laden. How does he know, yet the President and the Defense Dept. not know? McCain is a Republican and GWB is the Prez, yet he can’t pick up the phone and give a clue? It seems that if bin Laden was captured or killed it would give the bad Navy pilot a boost. Given the existing rancor between McCain and the party line, one may assume that Bush has not employed the McCain plan because he considers it inaccurate or impossible, not because McCain has never told him. I’m an Obama man, but this is a lame pitting and a waste of spew. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/29 "2008-10-10T14:56:37Z")
I think Mcwhatever fears that if he revealed his sure-fire absolutely guaranteed method to end this war, then Bush might seize the info, end the war and then take credit for it, leaving poor John to be only an asterisk in history . That’s the only reason I can come up with as to why a person sworn to do his best to protect the USA refuses to reveal exactly how to end this war that isn’t really a war but isn’t winnable anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_First_Time)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/30 "2008-10-10T15:00:34Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Weak and fearmonger, yes. Ineffective? I don’t know about that: his not-so-thinly veiled references to “another Holocaust” certainly have the Israeli boosters and many moderate and conservative Jews behind him, even when they might otherwise disagree with significant parts of his ideology. > > Stranger I don’t know about that. What not-so-thinly veiled references to “another Holocaust” giveth, the nomination of Sarah Palin taketh away. There is little American Jews are more suspicious of is folks who wear their evangelical Christian views on their sleeves and aggresively mix religion with politics. It’s not a coincidence that McCain lost Florida after Palin was put on the ticket. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/31 "2008-10-10T15:04:15Z")
> [@Cosmic Relief](#): > > Given the existing rancor between McCain and the party line, one may assume that Bush has not employed the McCain plan because he considers it inaccurate or impossible, not because McCain has never told him. I’m an Obama man, but this is a lame pitting and a waste of spew. It wasn’t originally a pitting as it was opened in GD and moved by the moderator, and anyway, I think it’s a legitimate question. McCain has been saying he "know"s “how to” [fill in the blank] quite a bit during his campaign, yet he’s never, to my knowledge, done any of the things he says he knows how to do, nor has he, as I understand it, telegraphed this great and important knowledge to anyone. If he actually knows how to do any of these things, one would believe it incumbent upon him to share now, for the sake of the country, wouldn’t one? I guess an alternative explanation is he has shared, but no one takes him seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/32 "2008-10-10T15:09:55Z")
I believe “hubris” is the word we are searching for here. To state the issues and present goals on solving them based on practical theories and viewpoints is one thing. To say, “I know how to do it,” without offering anything more is hubris. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/33 "2008-10-10T15:23:31Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > If he actually knows how to do any of these things, one would believe it incumbent upon him to share now, for the sake of the country, wouldn’t one? > > I guess an alternative explanation is he has shared, but no one takes him seriously. I don’t know about you, but I find it easy to accept “I told Bush but he wouldn’t listen” as a very likely situation. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/34 "2008-10-10T15:30:03Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > So when I say Obama makes similar statements - well, he does. How is your cite like McCain’s secret plan to get Osama? We can quibble about the timeline in Afghanistan, but that doesn’t equate to McCain boasting that he knows how to get Bin Laden through unspecified means. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/35 "2008-10-10T18:10:34Z")
Because they’re both rhetorical points in the debate intended to sway voters, but are largely bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/36 "2008-10-10T18:33:50Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > Because they’re both rhetorical points in the debate intended to sway voters, but are largely bullshit. This argument is weak as water, and I suspect you know it. McCain - “I have a plan to catch Osama.” I **HAVE** a plan. To catch him. NOW. Obama: “The situation in Pakistan is difficult.” THE REASON IT IS DIFFICULT IS BECAUSE WE “got distracted, we diverted resources, and ultimately bin Laden escaped, set up base camps in the mountains of Pakistan in the northwest provinces there.” If you think that these two statements are even remotely equivalent, then you are beyond hope, my friend. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/37 "2008-10-10T18:47:02Z")
> [@Cosmic Relief](#): > > Given the existing rancor between McCain and the party line, one may assume that Bush has not employed the McCain plan because he considers it inaccurate or impossible, not because McCain has never told him. I’m an Obama man, but this is a lame pitting and a waste of spew. If McCain never told Bush, then he is more of a piece of slime then I thought. I doubt this is the case. I’m sure Bush would love to have bin Laden caught during his tenure to slightly improve his place in history, so if there was a plan I agree it was an implausible one. “We just use the psychics the CIA recruited to find him, then get the Enterprise to send down a landing party to take him.” That kind of plan. Actually, I think the real problem is that McCain is getting forgetful, and he left the plan in another house - he can’t remember which one. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/38 "2008-10-10T20:22:56Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > This makes my top 10 things McCain says repeatedly that make no sense. He’s an expert on winning wars why? Because he demonstrated an ability to destroy government property during Vietnam? Maybe he means winning wars for the Vietnamese–you get the other side to hire unqualified, arrogant sons of officers to wreck enough valuable equipment, and you win, maybe? That’s his plan? > > Or did he come up with the plan to win Vietnam by cluttering up their prisons for 5 and half years, and force them to use valuable resources keeping him alive? Does he think that the US won the war he served in? > > Or maybe his plan relates to WWII? “Be a spoiled child and have temper tantrums–that’s how you win wars. I know, my friends, it worked for me.” Hey now, you read the [Rolling Stone article on John McCain](http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain) didn’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/39 "2008-10-10T20:23:36Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Whenever I read the phrase “my friends” now, I hear it in my head in that fakey Reagan voice that McCain uses. Man, I thought I was the only one who thought that McCain was deliberately trying to make his voice sound like Reagan’s. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276/40 "2008-10-10T20:25:46Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Nuking Afghanistan and Pakistan, no residual consequences there, nope. “They all hate us anyhow; let’s drop the big one now.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-mccain-pick-up-the-phone-and-tell-bush-how-to-get-bin-laden/467276.md?page=3)