Some highlights from the senator's appearance on Meet the Press today: On the election:
MCCAIN: That we Republicans have lost our way, that we came to Washington to change government and government changed us. The spending, the ethics, the massive programs such as Medicare prescription drug program, that-our failure to address their priorities as opposed to our own, and there was a-obviously a reaction to it. The Iraq war obviously is very frustrating. I know we're going to talk more about that, but there's-very frustrating to the American people. But I would submit, if they were all against the Iraq war that you probably would not have seen my friend Joe Lieberman, who I'm sure will talk about it, re-elected. So they're frustrated by the war, but I also believe that many of our, our spending, our-the scandals, the ongoing scandals, the large government programs. In, in other words, one of the pillars of the Republican Party is fiscal conservatives. They were alienated by the fact that we let spending lurch out of control…. I am a proud conservative, both economically and socially. And I am a conservative Republican, and I will remain so in the school of Ronald Reagan-who, by the way, brought our party back after a defeat in 1976 and gave us hope and optimism. And I believe this party will rebound. I believe that we will get our bearings straight and we'll get back on course, because I believe America is still a conservative right-of-center nation, and our message, our Republican message, is best.
On what to do in Iraq and the consequences of defeat:
MCCAIN: The question is, is what's the solution? And I believe that a withdrawal, or a date for withdrawal, will lead to chaos in the region, and most military experts think the same thing. I believe that there are a lot of things that we can do to salvage this, but they all require the presence of additional troops. Now, if you want to, to give up on, on Iraq, then fine, and take the consequences. I think there will be chaos in the region. But we need to control the-this insurgency, we need to embed people with the police and the military, we need to clear and hold-and "hold" is the important part-so we can expand areas of security. There's a lot of things that we can and must do. But if we don't want to do that, fine, but that is a decision that I think will have profound consequences. I'm not prepared to go to an American family and tell them, "Well, you know, we'll-you just stay there for a while and we'll delay this withdrawal and defeat for a year or two," I'm not prepared to tell them that. I'm prepared to tell them that if we have the will to win, we will do what's necessary to win. But I'm not interested in seeing a scene of the American Embassy on the, the roof of the American embassy in Saigon multiplied a thousandfold. RUSSERT: …How can you go to the country after these elections and say, "Send more troops to Iraq"? MCCAIN: I can only do what I think is best for these young men and women who are in the military. To do otherwise would be immoral and dishonorable. I believe that we have sacrificed enormously because of mistakes that have been made that were serious, which have been well-chronicled on this program and in many books. You have to make a decision as to whether you're going to pursue a path that can bring to-about a stable Iraq and freedom and dem-for the people of Iraq, or you're going to have some kind of, of situation where we either withdraw immediately or delay. And there are some who will say, "Well, we, we can stabilize the situation and withdraw gradually," I don't accept that, I think that what's going to happen is that, as you withdraw, that you will see these-the sectarian violence increase, I think you'll see involvement by Iran and Syria, and I think you will see a serious situation. I have to do what I think is morally right, and that's been what has guided me throughout my life, and I do have some experience in some of these issues.