Fox News' Cameron touted McCain's "straightest of straight talk"

On the April 11 edition of Fox News' Special Report, Fox News chief political correspondent Carl Cameron reported that Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) April 11 Iraq war speech at the Virginia Military Institute "was billed as the straightest of straight talk." Cameron, however, left unchallenged McCain's attack on Democrats for "vot[ing] to deny our troops the support necessary to carry out their new mission," as well as McCain's assertion that "[e]very day that passes without the necessary funds appropriated to sustain our troops, our chances of success in Iraq dwindle and our military readiness declines further."

As Media Matters for America has noted, both houses of Congress have passed bills appropriating funds for military operations in Iraq. President Bush, however, has threatened to veto both the House and Senate versions of the appropriations bill because they establish timelines for the redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq. Further, as Media Matters also noted, McCain's claim that "every day that passes" without a spending bill affects the troops' "chances of success in Iraq" and hurts "military readiness" conflicts with a March 28 memo by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. The memo stated that the Army has adequate funds available through the previous year's defense appropriations bill to "finance the O&M [operations and maintenance] of both its baseline and war program ... through most of July 2007."

From the April 11 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:

BRIT HUME (host): John McCain, in a speech that reflected careful preparation and his own intense conviction, made the case for victory in Iraq in terms that made it clear he has now staked his presidential campaign on that cause. McCain acknowledged the unpopularity of the war, and the political risk he is taking, but he said he would rather lose a campaign then see his country lose a war. Chief political correspondent Carl Cameron was there.

[begin video clip]

CAMERON: It was billed as the straightest of straight talk. Arizona Senator, Republican presidential candidate, former Vietnam POW John McCain, at the historic 168-year-old Virginia Military Institute.

McCAIN: I'm grateful for your service, honored by your presence, and mindful that I speak to an audience that can discern truth from falsehood in a politician's appraisal of the war.

[...]

CAMERON: Then he unleashed the harshest attack yet on anti-war Democrats in Congress, who recently passed a timetable for withdrawal.

McCAIN: Before I left for Iraq, I watched with regret as the House of Representatives voted to deny our troops the support necessary to carry out their new mission. Democratic leaders smiled and cheered as the last votes were counted. What were they celebrating? Defeat? Surrender? In Iraq, only our enemies were cheering.

A defeat for the United States is a cause for mourning, not celebrating.

CAMERON: McCain flatly accused Democrats who backed that withdrawal timetable of undermining the mission, since the president has promised to veto it, and Democrats deliberately attached it to urgent war funding.

McCAIN: Every day that passes without the necessary funds appropriated to sustain our troops, our chances of success in Iraq dwindle and our military readiness declines further.

CAMERON: He repeatedly accused Democrats, including their presidential candidates, of attacking an unpopular war for short-term political advantage, and setting up the U.S. and the region with a terrible choice.

McCAIN: Watch the region burn, the price of oil escalate dramatically, and our economy decline, watch the terrorists establish new base camps, or send American troops back to Iraq, with the odds against our success much worse than they are today.

—S.S.M.