Politics | Barack Obama McCain Misfires by Targeting Prosecutions Instead of trying to paint Obama as wimpy negotiator, McCain should stick to Iraq By Jonas Oransky Posted Jun 20, 2008 6:35 PM CDT Copied Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, speaks to reporters during a news conference at Dallas Love Field in Dallas, Friday, April 11, 2008. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Terrorism may be the one issue on which John McCain out-polls his presidential rival, Jonathan Chait writes in the New Republic, yet he has faltered by slamming Obama's call to prosecute terrorists. None other than 9/11 hawk Rudy Giuliani wanted prosecutions too—and other options, like guns and bombs, don't always work. Would anyone want an anti-terror air strike in downtown New York? "McCain actually had a perfectly credible line of foreign-policy attack against Obama," Chait writes, "that Iraq is improving and could be imperiled by a pullout," an argument that's "looking steadily stronger." His latest argument "suggests his campaign thinks winning on Iraq wouldn't be enough. It's as if, by invoking 9/11, he can summon the return of the mentality that prevailed in the years after the attack." Read These Next Gavin Newsom has filed a massive lawsuit against Fox News. Actor Sam Rockwell gets residuals from movie he wasn't in. New York Times ranks the best movies of the 21st century. Raw-meat-eating 'Liver King' arrested for Joe Rogan threats. Report an error