Basically, candidate McCain is promising his likely voter base four more years of Bush-style foreign policy for the Middle East region, pledging to "maintain the Bush administration's hard line against Iran and expressed strong scepticism about the ability of the current Palestinian leadership to reach a peace accord with Israel." In other words, there's no room for diplomacy or the "Peace Process" in a McCain administration - a conceited and flawed assumption that has already led to eight years of growing anger, instability, impoverishment and bloodshed in the tragic region.
Lobe reports that in his speech, he called for "much tougher international sanctions against Iran", and a brutal dismissal of bilateral talks between the US and Iran - an idea proposed by Obama which has met with popular approval.
As if seeking to reinforce the message that he stands shoulder to shoulder with Bush on Iran, he argued that diplomacy would "harm Iranian moderates and dissidents . . . as the radicals and hardliners strengthen their position and suddenly acquire the appearance of respectability." By this line of reasoning, how could the negotiations between the US and the new nuclear-powered North Korea have been countenanced?
As the article goes on to note:
The anti-engagement tone of the conference contrasted strongly with the results of a new poll released by Gallup Monday. Conducted May 19-21, the survey found that two-thirds of the more than 1,000 respondents, including 79 percent of Democrats, 48 percent of Republicans, and 70 percent of Independents, favoured presidential meetings with "leaders of foreign countries considered enemies of the United States".
And, while Iran leads the list of top U.S. enemies in the world, according to the latest poll, 59 percent of respondents said it would be a good idea if the U.S. president met with his counterpart.
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Also, Obama wins over the AIPAC crowd with a speech that hit all the right notes (transcript from NYT here.)
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