There was lot to chew on from tonight’s GOP debate, but let’s focus on the main point of disagreement between Sen. John McCain and Mitt Romney.

Who do you agree with on the question of whether Romney favored a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq?

This question surfaced days before Florida voted, and it flared up in the debate. McCain argues that Romney supported timetables when, in April, as President Bush was about to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Al-Malaki, Romney said Bush and Iraqi leaders “have to have a series of timetables and milestones that they speak about” in private.

The comment came during an interview on Good Morning America by Robin Roberts.

Here’s the conversation.

ROBERTS: “Do you believe that there should be a timetable in withdrawing the troops?”
ROMNEY: “Well, there’s no question that the president and Prime Minister al-Maliki have to have a series of timetables and milestones that they speak about. But those shouldn’t be for public pronouncement. You don’t want the enemy to understand how long they have to wait in the weeds until you’re going to be gone. You want to have a series of things you want to see accomplished in terms of the strength of the Iraqi military and the Iraqi police, and the leadership of the Iraqi government.”
ROBERTS: “So, private. You wouldn’t do it publicly? Because the president has said flat out that he will veto anything the Congress passes about a timetable for troop withdrawals. As president, would you do the same?”
ROMNEY: “Well, of course. Can you imagine a setting where during the Second World War we said to the Germans, gee, if we haven’t reached the Rhine by this date, why, we’ll go home, or if we haven’t gotten this accomplished we’ll pull up and leave? You don’t publish that to your enemy, or they just simply lie in wait until that time. So, of course you have to work together to create timetables and milestones, but you don’t do that with the opposition.”

Romney says now that he was referring to benchmarks that would need to be met before troops are withdrawn, and that McCain is twisting his words.

In the debate, Romney said McCain raised the allegation only days before Florida’s vote, deliberately leaving him no time to respond and correct the misinformation. McCain’s action “sort of falls into the dirty tricks that I think Ronald Reagan would have found reprehensible,” Romney said tonight.

McCain insisted that his interpretation was correct. He also criticized Romney for declining to take a stand on the timetable question when he was asked about it in December 2006 — taking a pass on the grounds that he was just a governor.

McMain reminded everyone that this happened right after Democrats won sweeping victories in the 2006 election, and timetable was the Democratic buzzword.

McMain said that he put his political career on the line by rejecting timetables, pushing for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s removal and advocating the troop-level surge, because he was certain those steps were the right things to do.

McCain’s point is that he proved his courage, leadership and acumen on Iraq while Romney at best dodged the issue and, according to McCain, actually endorsed setting timetables. (Here’s McCain’s press release supporting his argument.)

This is a classic case of the facts not being in dispute. Romney is correct that he never talked about a date or a specific timeframe for withdrawal, like many Democrats were. But McCain is also correct in saying that he has been clear and unwavering on the topic, and that Romney has been less so.

So how would you referee this dispute? Who’s telling the truth, or is at least closest to it?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 at 11:24 pm and is filed under Debates, John McCain, Main, Mitt Romney, Presidential Republican. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.