McCain changed his tune on Georgia's leaders

Posted By Joshua Keating Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 2:02 PM Share

John McCain might be great pals with Mikheil Saakashvili now, but as Politico's Gleen Thrush notes, he once had equally nice things to say about Eduard Shevardnadze, the communist party official-turned-president that Saakashvili led a peaceful revolution to oust in 2003.

McCain told a University of Arizona audience in 1999:

The mindless slaughters being conducted by a Russian military that seeks to reassert itself not only in the former Soviet Union, but also to extend its reach throughout what used to be the former Soviet Union in an attempt to fold back into the Russian empire those countries that have broken away from it, most notably Georgia, which is headed by one the great men in the history of the world, Mr. Shevardnadze.

Last week, McCain told an audience in New Mexico that Georgia used to have "a corrupt government headed by a guy named Shevardnadze, who you may remember from the days of the Cold War."

There weren't any links in the Politico post, so I was curious where Thrush dredged up this apparent flip-flop. Turns out it's highlighted on McCain's own Web site as an example of his "prescient" stance on Georgia. Here's a video.

Perhaps McCain's just another one of those Georgia-loving Americans, no matter who's in charge.

EXPLORE:DECISION '08, GEORGIA
 

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