New York Times bashes the "McCain doctrine"

The New York Times continues it's flimsy relationship with Mr. McCain with this piece charting his reactions to 9/11 right after it happened and using it as a standard to how a McCain administration would deal with foreign threats and the issues of national security.

Some highlights include him saying "This is war," immediately after he found out about the attacks and saying "Next stop, Baghdad," to a crowded deck of seaman aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theofore Roosevelt.

From the paper: "To his admirers, Mr. McCain’s tough response to Sept. 11 is at the heart of his appeal. They argue that he displayed the same decisiveness again last week in his swift calls to penalize Russia for its incursion into Georgia, in part by sending peacekeepers to police its border."

At the time, people were desperate to put a face on those villainous attacks and McCain's comments and attitude were very common and popular amongst millions of grieving and frustrated Americans, now I think that the rhetoric displayed in this article may be a little wincing to most readers and will remind them of a lot of things that George W. Bush said around the same time. With McCain trying to run as far away from President 25% as he can, it may be a little hard for him to try and frame the foreign policy debate on his own terms when articles like this are printed.
Obama, desperate to keep the focus on the ailing economy, where he is seen by most Americans as much stronger than McCain, has made very few references to the Georgian conflict and has continued -- as witnessed today when he stumped in New Mexico -- hammering home his themes on energy and economic recovery.
When articles like this surface, it may show that the McCain campaign is in danger of overplaying it's hand on foreign policy and national security and should be cautious of sounding too eager and hostile to engage other countries when America has grown weary of war and recession.