Winning war critical for McCain

RENO -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain told a supportive crowd of 300 Saturday that the United States cannot withstand a defeat in Iraq like it experienced in Vietnam without negative long-term consequences to the military.

"What breaks my heart is how badly this war was mismanaged," McCain said during an hourlong town hall meeting in a Reno arts center. "We didn't have enough troops at the start. We allowed looting. Now we have an opportunity to succeed. If we lose this one, it will take a long, long time to recover."

While not referring to Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., by name, McCain repeatedly told the crowd that he didn't see how it helped the American military to have the "Senate majority leader" say the war is lost. Last month, Reid declared the war in Iraq is "lost."

"I would rather lose a campaign than a war," said McCain, a longtime U.S. senator from Arizona.

But when Nona Ferrell, of Reno, called Reid "a national disgrace" who aided the enemy, McCain offered a temperate response.

"I have known Senator Reid for many, many years. I respect Senator Reid. On this issue, we are in strong disagreement."

McCain, 70, cracked jokes, invited Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., to join him at the podium and repeatedly sparred with audience members who objected to his views on immigration.

When a questioner identified himself as a Vietnam veteran, McCain quipped: "How come you didn't come up to get me?"

McCain spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war near Hanoi, after his Navy jet was shot down in 1967.

When told that a Review-Journal poll of Nevada voters found him leading among Republican presidential candidates expected to participate in the Jan. 19 Nevada caucus, McCain said, "I would hope our message is getting out."

"One thing I have known about these campaigns is they go up and they go down," he said. "The key is just doing a steady stream of the right thing."

After the Reno meeting, McCain flew to Las Vegas to attend the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather prize fight.

In response to reporters' questions, McCain blasted Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton, also a presidential candidate, for proposing Thursday that Congress rescind the authority she and other lawmakers gave President Bush in 2002 to invade Iraq.

"It is the worst possible idea anybody could have," McCain said. "I will do everything in my power to see it does not succeed."

He said her proposal would further reduce the morale of American men and women fighting in Iraq.

But Members of the audience expressed more concern about illegal immigration than the war.

Several audience members debated McCain on the issue, particularly after he said, "We can't ship them all back," in reference to the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country.

"We will take the steps necessary to secure our border," added McCain, saying later a bipartisan proposal will be presented in Congress in a few weeks.

McCain said he does not favor amnesty, but would back a guest-worker program.

He also called for construction of walls along the Mexican border, although not in long stretches of desert in Arizona.

"If you build a wall, the only thing that will happen is they will break through the wall," he said.