McCain Relaunches Campaign Ship

April 25, 2007 — -- By the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth, N.H., former Navy pilot and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., tried Wednesday to restore his campaign to even keel.

He did so by attempting to cast himself as an independent conservative who could appeal not just to Republicans but to the nation.

"Ours are not red state or blue state problems," McCain said before a crowd of approximately 300 well-wishers underneath an overcast sky. "We can't muddle through the next four years, bickering among ourselves and leave to others the work that is ours to do."

McCain's selection of the Portsmouth locale was no coincidence.

Seven years ago in the Granite State, McCain's maverick message led to an astounding 18-point underdog victory over then-Gov. George Bush. The weekend before that victory, McCain held a rally that drew more than a thousand.

With no small irony, McCain now finds himself losing support among independents, Democrats and Republican donors for showing too much support for President Bush's 2004 re-election and the war in Iraq.

McCain lambasted the Bush administration by deed though not by name, most notably for that bloody conflict.

"America should never undertake a war unless we are prepared to do everything necessary to succeed, unless we have a realistic and comprehensive plan for success, and unless all relevant agencies of government are committed to that success," McCain said. "We did not meet this responsibility initially. And we must never repeat that mistake again."

But he didn't stop there. McCain also singled out the Bush administration for failing veterans and the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

"When Americans confront a catastrophe, natural or man-made, they have a right to expect basic competence from their government," he said.

"They won't accept that firemen and policemen are unable to communicate with each other in an emergency because they don't have the same radio frequency. They won't accept government's failure to deliver bottled water to dehydrated babies or rescue the infirm from a hospital with no electricity. They won't accept substandard care and indifference for wounded veterans," the Arizona Republican continued.