Republicans Blast Clinton, Obama for Anti-War Vote

May 25, 2007 — -- Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., have abandoned the troops with their opposition to a recently passed Iraq War funding bill, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani told ABC News Radio in an exclusive interview Friday.

Obama and Clinton have "moved from being not just anti-war, but to being anti-troops," Giuliani said.

Republican presidential candidates have been lining up to criticize the two leading Democrats of turning on the troops by voting against the compromise Iraq War supplemental bill that Congress passed Thursday night.

In an interview with ABC News' Jake Tapper on Friday, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called the Democrats' vote "the height of irresponsibility."

At a campaign appearance in Iowa Friday, Clinton said she voted against the spending bill knowing it was going to pass in the Senate "overwhelmingly."

"I think it is important for someone like me who has been a strong supporter of the military -- the best thing we can do right now is get [the troops] out of the middle of this sectarian war in Iraq," Clinton told the crowd.

But Giuliani, in a telephone interview with ABC News Radio, accused Clinton of flip-flopping on her support of the troops.

"On May 7, three weeks ago, she said she would vote in support of the troops. And then on May 24, she voted against them," Giuliani noted. "Only she can explain what happened in that three week period to get her to change her mind."

The New York senator was quoted by The Associated Press on May 7 that "of course" she would eventually back a troop funding bill.

McCain said he couldn't "fathom the motives" behind the Democrats' "nay" votes, either.

"It's obvious that there's influence by the extreme left wing of their party," McCain said. "But it is so irresponsible to tell these young men and women who are serving in uniform with the orders of their commander in chief that you're not going to give them the necessary ability to defend themselves. In my view it's terribly misplaced priorities."