Just a week ago, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was not only trying to destroy Susan Rice's reputation, he went so far as to say he doesn't want any Secretary of State to be confirmed next year until his still-vague Benghazi questions are answered.
Yesterday, making his 21st Sunday show appearance of the year, the senator read from a new script.
For those who can't watch clips online, Fox News' Chris Wallace asked McCain if there's anything Ambassador Rice "can do to change your mind." The senator replied:
"Sure. She can, I'd give everyone the benefit of explaining their position and the actions that they took. I'd be glad to have the opportunity to discuss these issues with her. Why did she say that, why did she say that al Qaeda has been 'decimated' in her statement here on this program? Al Qaeda hasn't been decimated. They're on the rise."
When Wallace followed up, asking if Rice "could conceivably get your vote" if she were nominated for Secretary of State, McCain said, "I think she deserves the ability and the opportunity to explain herself and her position."
Though hardly an endorsement, this is a significant departure from the line McCain had previously embraced. In recent weeks, the Republican insisted that Rice is guilty of "not being very bright," accused her of being "incompetent" and "not qualified" for the position, and vowed, "I will do everything in my power to block her from being the United States Secretary of State."
After McCain's recent tantrums, it's very hard to believe he's sincere about giving her a fair hearing, but at least he seems to be publicly backing off his indefensible smear campaign.
That said, what's with the Republican preoccupation with the word "decimated"?
The right has been endlessly fascinated, for example, by the fact that intelligence agencies changed the word "terrorist" to the word "extremist" in talking points as part of a larger national security strategy. Likewise, when Rice appeared on Sunday shows in September, she noted that al Qaeda has been "decimated" in recent years. Conservatives are now hung up on that, too.
McCain was eager to complain about it yesterday on Fox, but he's not the only one. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) demanded answers about Rice's word choice last week, and Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) complained about it last week on "Meet the Press."
There's no great mystery here. "Decimated" does not mean "permanently destroyed." Rice said al Qaeda's network has been decimated because it really has been decimated.
For someone like John McCain, who's eager to see new and expansive wars, these details are apparently inconvenient, but as Ian Millhiser noted, the National Counterterrorism Center reported this year a sharp drop in the number of al Qaeda attacks, and 22 senior-level al Qaeda operatives and leaders were captured or killed -- including Osama bin Laden -- between May 2011 until May 2012.
Leave a Comment:
Rice has often referred to a certain "President Obama". The GOP objects to this, as well.
Has anyone thought of "decimating" the Republican party. I'd vote to fund a new American Colliseum just to watch that. American Idol meets World's Dumbest Criminals meets Old Testament Justice. Sweet irony for the religious right. This idea just gets better and better.
The Repubs only latched onto this to try to win the election. Now, they can't let the issue rest for fear of looking craven.
They've been briefed on everything, but why let facts get in the way of a good show?
Getting briefed is not the same thing as believing the brief. The Ambassador wanted more security, was denied, got killed, and Obama lied about it trying to deflect the blame onto some poor schlub now languishing in jail.
People died, Obama lied.
Good point Shooter - The GOP has displayed some healthy skepticism recently, when confronted with them pesky facts. Some recent examples of the GOP exersizing their intellectual muscle:
When you rape a woman, she can't make a baby.
Obama is from Kenya.
Ryan's Magical Budget Numbers
How old is the earth, anyway?
Romney is winning!!!
In short, the GOP wouldn't be able to cipher out the truth if it jumped up and smacked them in the head.
Hey Blankman, I don't recall your admonishments to George W., you remember he lied and over 6,000 American troops died in Iraq, not to mention hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed, maimed and displaced, but it's alright cause he was a GOP'er, yeah right!
Can you at least come up with original arguments for your positions and not the FAUX NOOZ regurgitation points - it will at least foster an honest debate of the issues.
Shooter,
"Getting briefed is not the same thing as believing the brief." Great point, if someone tells you something, and you choose not to believe them, it is their fault if you are misinformed. (Of course if you miss the briefing because you are having a press conference to complain that you never get briefed it is the same as if you weren't given a briefing.)
Your comment is the first I've heard of the Ambassador wanting more security. In fact, the few times I've heard it discussed, it has been the opposite, that ambassadors tend to try and walk a tightrope between enough security to keep the mission safe, but not so much that the security gets in the way of accomplishing the mission. What is a matter of public record though is the Obama admin requested more money for embassy security, and the Republicans in congress voted against the request and the money was denied.
Not sure what your Obama blamed a poor schlub in jail comment refers to.
Finally, your last line "People Died, Obama lied". People used to say this about Bush, but they put it the other way around, "Bush lied, people died". Cause and effect. Bush lied about Iraq, and consequently many thousands of people died as result. Clearly you don't think Obama's lies, (whatever you imagine them to be) were the cause of the deaths, or you would have put it the other way around too.
Now please, what is the lie that you are accusing Obama of telling?
Shooter:
Bush/Cheney Lied - Condoleezza Rice Lied to the American people and that lie got us into the Iraq War and our Americans died.
Bush Administration had a few security issues:
2002: U.S. Consulate In Karachi, Pakistan, Attacked; 10 Killed, 51 Injured
2004: U.S. Embassy Bombed In Uzbekistan
2004: Gunmen Stormed U.S. Consulate In Saudi Arabia.
2006: Armed Men Attacked U.S. Embassy In Syria
2007: Grenade Launched Into U.S. Embassy In Athens
2008: Ten People Killed In Bombings At U.S. Embassy In Yemen
2008: Rioters Set Fire To U.S. Embassy In Serbia
http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/09/14/krauthammer-whitewashes-bushs-history-to-bash-o/189890
‘He Kept Us Safe’: Bush Ignored Repeated Warnings Of Terrorist Attack
September 11th, 2012 12:52 am Joe Conason
“New documents uncovered by investigative journalist Kurt Eichenwald show that
despite repeated, urgent warnings from intelligence officials about an impending Al Qaeda attack, Bush did nothing because his neoconservative advisers told him that the threats were merely a “ruse” and a distraction.”
http://www.nationalmemo.com/he-kept-us-safe-bush-ignored-repeated-warnings-of-terrorist-attack/2/
So all you people are excusing Obama for lying about dying?
We still don't know what the lie is you are so worked up over?
So, you've moved from "People died, Obama lied" to "lying about dying". That makes even less sense.
Congratulations - You've passed 3rd grade rhyming.
But beyond that, your little word salad has little basis in reality.
So are you excusing Bush/Cheney/Rice of lying about dying?
shooter,
"people died. Obama lied".
bush lied, people died. 100,000's of thousands of innocent iraqi's, 4500 american troops.
we are sick of your mantra's.
bush lied about WMD in iraq, and outed a CIA agent, Valarie Plame, because her husband, Joe Wilson, wouldn't lie about WMD in iraq. it took YEARS for the facts to come out about WMD in iraq.
wait for the facts to come out. if you want to see a real liar, look no further than the bush administration.
Shooter: Having been briefed is not the same as carrying water for the administration which is what all US diplomats are expected to do no matter what their personal beliefs may be.
Bush/Cheney/Rice/Tenet were wrong. They didn't lie. You may recall Clinton declared war on Iraq over WMD's as well. In fact, he demonized Saddam so much 70% of people polled two days after 9/11 thought Irag did it.
Your going to claim you know nothing about the CURVE BALL fiasco now , your an uninformed troll , the gop election losers strike again
Stevens made requests for better training or assistance for the Libyan military and police force- NOT for better security of US personnel. There were requests made by head of the Libyan security team for the DoD/DoS, but those requests were for the US embassy in Tripoli- NOT for the consulate building in Benghazi.
Obama has never lied about the incident nor has he ever deflected blame on anyone as far as we know. If you want to dispute this then you have to provide evidence. What lie took place and what proof do you have that it was a lie? What blame was deflected, what does it mean to deflect blame, and how was it deflected onto the director? Were protests started over his movie? Yes. Were there protests in Benghazi that day due to the movie? Yes. So wherein do you get the idea that having confusion over this is somehow egregious? Remember no one knew for certain that it was an organized terrorist attack until after the FBI preliminary investigation which took place 2 weeks later.
Come on folks,
Shooters a MSNBC employee who is being paid to post moronic poo and troll responses to drive the thread count up.
Has to be because no one could be so stupid or twisted to try equating what "lying" Barry may have done with Bush's actual and known lies.
.
Shooter wrote: Bush/Cheney/Rice/Tenet were wrong. They didn't lie.
Only thing that could explain such a statement is some kind of psychological problem.
Folks, we really should stop feeding Shooters sickness.
.
Argh fine!!! I will ignore him!
Shooter, you still haven't told us what the lie you are twisted up over is.
I have a theory. For reasons that have nothing whatsoever with race, you don't like Obama. Therefore you want to believe the worst about him, and seek out scandals that will prove your dislike to be justified. You are rather frustrated by the fact that such scandals don't really exist, so you grasp onto anything and try and make it into the scandal that proves your belief to be correct. You believe he lied, because you don't like him and think he is a liar. When someone asks you straight up to name the lie he told, you look at the evidence and can't seem to find anything, but since you KNOW he is a liar, you assume that the lies exist, but that you can't identify them.
Why don't you take a moment and really think about what the lie is you accuse Obama of telling, and then a clearly write it down so we understand what you are angry about.
Wait, Shooter-
You say that Susan Rice should have known better than to believe a brief that was misleading in the service of national security, culminating with your wonderful fairy tale rhyme, and then you completely excuse Bush/Cheney/Rice/Tenet for believing Curveball's actual lies!? So in the service of national security, a simply vague statement that includes safety valves and the truth is a scandal worse than Watergate, and actual lies that result in the deaths of tens if not hundreds of thousands of dead Coalition forces and Iraqis is chalked up as a simple mistake.
You are pathetic at trolling.
THe term "decimated" means to destroy one tenth of something. It does not mean total or near total destruction as it is often incorrectly used...just a tenth.
Someone should share the line from "Princess Bride" with Mr. McCain (I do not think that word means what you think it means).
"INCONCEIVABLE!" - Vezzini
Maybe McCain is looking for a graceful way out, but he can't resist the urge to spit on kids who wander onto his lawn. Fundamentally, he's always been a jerk.
Dylan Thomas would be SOOOOO very proud of 'The Sh*tiest Living Military Pilot in US History!'
He'd make one small change, though:
"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close
of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the 'white.'"
Hark! Mischief is afoot, and somewhere a budding Bard is reworking the masterpiece King Lear.
Also, it appears McCain is actively campaigning for the lead. . .
If I may:
"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close
of day as the light does wan;
Rage, rage against the dying of the 'white man.'"
Traditional America and changing demographics and all.
My apologies to Dylan Thomas.
.
Words mean things! Specific words mean specific things! I get frustrated when I see people use the word "utilize" when they clearly mean "use" because it makes them look smarter.
News Flash: Using "utilize" actually makes you look dumber, because you're not using it correctly (you're ACTUALLY utilizing it in a sentence if you're using it as a replacement for "use." Now go look it up in a dictionary and tell me I'm wrong.)
However, while decimate doesn't mean "to utterly destroy," it may have been better for Rice to use a different word because people don't understand the nuance of what a term like "reduce by one-tenth" really means. Perhaps a word like "reduced" or "inhibited" would have been more appropriate just so she didn't confuse people who don't understand that words have definitions.
I wish I could agree.
But seriously. If Rice had said that the influence of Al Qaeda had been reduced or limited, I can't help but think that there would be people screaming that she shouldn't be considered for Secretary of State because she isn't sufficiently patriotic or committed to the successes of the country - they'd be dusting of the "apologizing for the US" claim.
There are times when you not only have to look at the specific claims being made about someone, but also the motivations of the people making them. If their goal is nothing but pure obstructionism, then they'll use any tool they can come up with to accomplish it, and arguing the details isn't particularly going to achieve much.
The Republicans tried to float a presidential campaign based on the idea that the President is incompetent, and had their butts handed to them. The chunk of the party that thinks that way is going to look for any possible reason to try to prove they were right. It's deeply sad that someone like McCain, who could have had an entirely different legacy, has decided to become a spokesman for this sort of stupidity.
Good point. I don't think it matters what she does. Of course that said, it's largely just McCain trying to remain relevant. I actually feel somewhat sorry for the guy.
The original meaning of "decimation" wasn't simply "reduction by a tenth." Instead, it referred to a specific punishment for mutiny or cowardice by a Roman legion during the Republic. One legionnaire out of ten was selected by lot and beaten or stoned to death by the remaining 90%. Eventually, the Romans figured out that, however satisfying it seemed to the REMF's, intentionally inflicting massive fatal casualties on your own units was kinda bad for your war fighting capability--particularly given the manpower constraints of the early Republic--and really, really bad for unit morale, civilian morale and recruiting--and gave it up. Only a tiny handful of instances of it being used after the First Punic War are known, usually only when the general was a tantrum-prone brat like Antony or when it was deemed critically important to make a point about the importance of subordination during a localized war that wasn't a life or death matter for the Empire.
In modern parlance, "decimation" was used a simile to compare a devastating loss of some kind to the loss felt by a decimated legion. Then, as usually happens to similes involving ancient history, the comparative element of the simile was lost as "classics" ceased to be synonymous with "education" in the 19th century.
Hence, our use of the term to mean "devastating loss short of elimination."
AQ has suffered massive battlefield casualties every time it has attempted to escalate from terrorism to guerrilla warfare and it has been repeatedly decapitated (metaphor, not simile) Every time the hydra grows a new head, it gets lopped off and the one that replaced has been dumber than the one that was lost. So, sounds to me like "decimated" was the perfect word, even it if does make pedantic ancient history nerds like me wince.
The election didn't go as anticipated,
The presidency went to the man they hated...
The Right can't understand
How it's so out of hand,
They can't see their ranks have been decimated...
When it comes down to it, their only real objection to the Obama administration is their word choices and sentence structure. Okay, Obama did use the words 'act of terror' in his press conference about Benghazi, but didn't use them in the same paragraph as the words Benghazi consulate, they were in the adjacent paragraph. Why did Rice say decimated when crippled is more appropriate?
If your biggest complaint about someone is, not what they do, or what decisions they make, but rather the words and sentence structure they use to describe those actions and decisions, you don't really have much of a complaint. And when did Republicans become so obsessed with the nuances of language? Sometime since George "Al Qaida doesn't stop trying to think of ways to hurt the American people, and neither do we" Bush left office I take it.
This is the same stupidity as Obama saying "you didn't build that." Republicans are intentionally manipulating language in order to create a scandal that doesn't actually exist. What is ironic about this whole thing is that Republicans were INSISTING that the "liberal main stream media" was taking Romney out of context with his "47%" comment and his "I like to fire people" comment. Apparently IOKIYAR.
when did Republicans become so obsessed with the nuances of language?
Remember how the Republicans belittled the use of the teleprompter because their guy (Dubya) didn't use one?
That Bush couldn't read never entered their mind.
So the answer to the question, when did Republicans become nuance obsessed, is since their illiterate left office.
.
The confusion is that in modern usage "decimate" has sometimes been used to mean substantially destroy.
The traditional usage is as described, reduction of a force by one soldier in ten, whose name was drawn by lot and killed at the hands of his mates. The technique was used several times by Roman generals to deal with disobediant troops. Famously there is a legend that the Third Legion was decimated to the last man as they repeatedly refused to comply with an order even in the face of decimation. Decimation was used repeatedly by generals in both the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire.
It's a shame really, there's no mechanism in our government for replacing a politician after they're irrefutably proven to be completely incapable of conscious thought. This moron barely missed becoming a national joke in 2008, I think we missed a golden opportunity.
The hell of it is if I really really tried I could have talked myself into voting for McCain ... that is till McCain showed his cogs stripped by picking Palin (and the Reps trying to present Palin as a responsible choice of running partner).
Thats when I realized something far worse than stupid had taken hold of the Republican party.
.
Some of the criticism of Senator McCain is a bit unfair. After all he gave everyone such an insubstantial Vice Presidential nominee that all others in future can be measured against her. It's his gift to posterity.
McShame, McShame, McShame you need to retire. You've given enough to your country, and now well frankly you are embarrassing. You're starting to remind me of that cantankerous, mean-spirited, Uncle that has confused himself and spews forth nonsense! After all, your "gift" to America was sister Sarah "I can see Russia from my backyard" Palin - THE LEAST KNOWLEDGEABLE candidate to US and she's still mouthing off - your opinion on who is "simple minded" doesn't fly in light of that decision!
Go home, you will get your pension, and your wife has more than enough money, not to mention Obamacare will cover your pre-existing conditions!
To be fair, Sarah Palin never said she could see Russia from her house. But, even worse, when asked about her foreign policy credentials, she did offer that "you can see Russia from Alaska" (which is, in fact, true of one island that belongs to Alaska).
Yeah, well, I can see Mexico from the town where I live, but that doesn't make me Secretary of State.
"To decimate" means "to kill [or otherwise eliminate] every tenth one" of any group. If Al Qaeda had not been decimated, that is certainly news to the rest of the world.
I once thought "decimate" meant the opposite, that is, to "eliminate nine-tenths of" ... but then I looked it up in a dictionary. Anybody want to chip in to buy Senator John a nice dictionary?
Let him sell one of his homes to buy one.
. Anybody want to chip in to buy Senator John a nice dictionary?
What Johny really needs is a clue.
Clues can't be bought at any price till the person who needs the clue realizes they need to get a clue.
And thats why cluelessness is a vicious circle, has to have a clue to realize they need a clue to go looking for a clue to have a clue they need a clue to look for a clue to have a clue they need a clue to ......
.
"Al Qaeda hasn't been decimated, they're on the rise. And they're on my lawn!"
Ol' lumpy-jumpy jowls here needs to fly (then crash) off into the sunset.
Thanks for that.
Thanks, that's hilarious!
The good Mr. Benen writes: what's with the Republican preoccupation with the word "decimated"?
it must be the magic word of the month. For a while it Obama not saying "exceptionalism" as in American, then some other things before "terrorism," and now "decimated." Maybe it's that they've discovered word searches as an easy way to fill the need for accusing Obama or Dems of _something— whenever possible. The truthfulness of the accusation? When have they cared about fact checkers?
How about just getting rid of this dinosaur McCain? He's hated Obama since he whooped his butt in 2008 and uses anything that happens, as an attack against our President. Why should Rice sit down and explain anything to this pig? Who the he$# is he anyway? McCain likes to feel relevant and who gives a damn?
McCain, the failure, the favorite of the Sunday talk shows, hates dems, hates women and most of all, hates vets. I don't know which one he hates more, but it's close any way you want to list them. His history in politics shows that. The difference today is that he is throwing his tantrums in public.
It's raw politics. GOP wants Kerry to remove him from the next election cycle (2014) to give Brown a shot at re-gaining a seat That's the nub of it; the rest is chin music.
Susan Rice has smeared her own reputation, McCain is just one of several million observers of Talking points that are really lies to manipulate the American people.
We don't seem to be buying the Baloney about a 911 anniversay was Video related, and someone in the Government that preaches that fable puts their reputation on the line, for sure.
How has she smeared her own reputation?
What talking points and how are they manipulating the American people?
OK the issue with the video was this: there was a video released on YouTube that got picked up by an Egyptian television network in which they aired clips of the video in front of a panel of pundits. Those pundits talked about how that video was sponsored by the US government and how it represented the West's true feelings about Islam and blah blah blah. That then lead to a protest in Cairo outside of the US embassy, an attack in Afghanistan by protestors about the video, and several more protests. In total over about a 2 week period more than 20 countries held protests and riots over that video. The day the attack happened there was a protest in Benghazi outside of the consulate building. What was unknown at the time of the attack was whether or not this was an Al'Qaeda based attack or if the protestors had just gotten out of hand like in Cairo and other places. We now know after the FBI conducted a preliminary investigation that it appears Al'Qaeda used the protest as cover to gather forces and then launched an attack using the civilians as cover until they dispersed. The confusion with "the talking points" is that the administration did not know which narrative was true and the statements given by Rice- if you actually bother to listen to them and not a version given to you in paraphrase- reflected that ambiguity. The only way you could POSSIBLY walk away believing that this was a cover-up or some other conspiracy is if you a. have made up words that Rice never stated or b. did not have the news on for the 2 days BEFORE the attack happened and didn't bother to read up on any of the plethora of articles about protests in the Middle East in regards to the video. In which case you are claiming someone smeared their own reputation on the basis of your own willful ignorance and not on the basis of what that person actually has done.
Uh, Government employees should tellt he Truth ? Uhhh, lying before an election to hide the truth ? Uhhh....geez, you don't like the truth ?
What is "the truth" and when did she not tell the truth?
Who lied before an election and who hid "the truth?"
At this point in time we have not seen any evidence that anyone lied or that there was a cover-up. Unless you can prove that this happened you're making a leap in logic that doesn't belong.
And exactly what is this "truth" and how are you making the leap in logic that I don't like "the truth?" You make this accusation on the basis of what exactly? The fact that I don't adhere to the conspiracy that you have zero evidence to support? How exactly is that showing that I have a problem with truth? Why should I be compelled to believe things that you have no facts to support?
JayTee --- Susan Rice reported what was given to her... Repugs need to get up off the BS! The pulling at straws and finding anything and everything wrong with the Obama admin, is getting a little old now. Another witch hunt for the Repugs will not take back the election results. Can we please move on to jobs, economy, and getting as many Repugs out of office as we can in 2014? :-)
Guess what Cabinet Nominees have to do, to win approval for a Cabinet position ?
They have to go before congress and answer questions. Guess what, Obama isn't going to nominate Rice for ANY position, he's not chicken, he's just yellow.
The GOP winning House of Reps is getting old ? ?
Gee, get used to it, Obama barely got 50 % of the popular vote, he's a much more moderate President. Obama inherited his own economy and Jobs are scarce, Gitmo is still open, and the Fiscal cliff is going to cut Obama's spending big time.
By the way, McCain wants Rice to be questioned for a nomination....that is WHY he is inviting Obama to nominate Rice....he want's her to testify on several issues......LOL.....McCain is crazy like a fox.
So instead of providing evidence for the things you claim you change the subject to an entirely new set of claims. This is called a red herring: you cannot defend your previous position so you're attempting to distract from that previous position by arguing a new position that you presume will be more defensible. Unfortunately for you this is a logical fallacy and shows that you do not have an argument to make. That means, by your own account, that I wont the first round of debate- good to know!
Cartoon...
Please, Do Not Feed The Troll...
Arguing with the reality-deficient is unfair, and needlessly frustrating... You might as well try to teach a pig to sing... It's doomed to failure, and just pisses off the pig...
Evidence ? Gee, that's hard to come by in an Obama administration. Confusion reigns on Benghazi, and Congress is just starting to gather evidence.
You can't get Obama to sing, he's a Troll when it comes to accountabilty. American is a Government of the People, not a People of the Government.
I think this guy needs to be tested for Alzheimers or dementia. But he's a powerful senator, and too many on the right have an interest in keeping him in power, so he's not going anywhere no matter how kooky he gets.
Most of them seem to be losing it! Boehner included... wants to start that crap over repealing "Obamacare" again. Oh wait, he says SOME parts of it. Please give us a fricking break with this already! Obama won ... lets move on with helping our country and stop the BS.
He loves to bang those war drums. Why don't we ask the Vietnamese to imprison him again, for his own safety and ours. He's just agitated because he can't remember which house it was that he left his wife at. He can't find his keys and the Veteran population has dismissed him. He's addicted to fame and he feels the only way to become famous is to fake your own imprisonment and to bury your loyalty to those that have died under his watch.Boys will be boys and he loves to pretend he is in a war, he missed the last one.The only war that he can write his name as being present in, is the war he helped bring about between the Republicans and the American citizens, he could care less about the 47% either, whose he kidding he has a real fetish for material things.He should have helped save his party, now it's too late.
Does John McCain mistakenly think that he was elected president? The way he's demanding that people answer to him, defend themselves to his satisfaction, makes me think so.
Or perhaps you're right, that he's addicted to fame, to being in the spotlight. He is certainly addicted to anger and adrenalin. Or, as you say, to war.
Like father like son:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_S._McCain,_Jr.
In April 1965, McCain led the United States invasion of the Dominican Republic as commander of Task Force 124, which maintained a military occupation until civil unrest had ended. McCain later said, "Some people condemned this as an 'unwarranted ntervention,' but the Communists were all set to move in and take over. People may not love you for being strong when you have to be, but they respect you for it and learn to behave themselves when you are."
...
McCain was a strong believer in the domino theory, and as CINCPAC, emphasized what he saw as the grave threat of Communist Chinese expansion of influence. He became well-known within the Pentagon and to the press for his fervent briefings on the "Chicom" menace, showing maps with bright-red claws or arrows extending from a bright-red China into much of the area he was responsible for. To some, McCain was the Navy's most persuasive and energetic briefer, while to others, he was over-the-top and spoke longer than necessary. McCain believed the Pacific Command's role was both to confront the major Communist powers with superior and mobile force, and to provide a deterrent force to protect smaller countries from "aggression, whether this be overtly military or by subversion and infiltration."