McCain Visits Salt Lake City Thursday

Mar 26, 2008 by Jeff Robinson

(KCPW News) Republican presidential candidate John McCain will be in town tomorrow morning to raise money, meeting with Governor Jon Huntsman and other supporters at the Grand America Hotel. This comes after a foreign policy speech he delivered today in Los Angeles in which he called for the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to be closed and said detainees should not be tortured.

"[McCain knows that] we may not have adequate instruments under international law to fully deal with them, and we need to work with our allies to come up with a common understanding on th ose," said McCain Senior Foreign Policy Advsior Randy Scheunemann.

Scheunemann went over McCain's speech in a conference call today with reporters, emphasizing the candidate's remarks on diplomacy. McCain said the U.S. should win the "hearts and minds" of Muslims, and that scholarships will be more important than smart bombs when it comes to stopping radical extremists.

U.S. Ambassador Richard Williamson discussed the senator's remarks on forming global alliances.

"He talked about persuading friends, but also willing to be persuaded, and talked about the need to work in Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America," said Williamson. "In all those contexts, he's talking about the needs to exchange views, not just bludgeon folks with our own view."

Several veterans' groups plan to protest McCain's visit tomorrow outside the hotel because of his stance that U.S. troops should stay in Iraq. The senator's visit will be very brief, as he is speaking in Colorado later in the day.

Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom and Election 2008. Copyright 2008 KCPW