Republican presidential candidate John McCain says that there's no room for partisanship when it comes to the armed conflict between Russia and Georgia, but the Senator is using the issue to highlight the talking point that he is more experienced in foreign affairs than Senator Barack Obama. “I respect Senator Obama’s views and I believe that it’s important that we act in a bipartisan fashion now," McCain told Fox News. Still, some think that McCain took a thinly veiled shot at Obama for being on vacation, when he opened a statement on the conflict saying that some may wonder why the battle is appearing on the TV screens while they're on vacation. McCain also made a reference to Georgia as a country with a long Christian history, perhaps attempting to differentiate the nation from the godless
oligarchs. "Georgia is an ancient country, at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and one of the world's first nations to adopt Christianity as an official religion." Crooks and Liars notes that some think McCain––or his speech writers––is cribbing/plagiarizing his world affairs content from Wikipedia; hardly an impressive benchmark to set for someone trying to paint themselves as the more knowledgeable and experienced candidate. The Washington Post reports that as Obama has shifted from an agnostic "cease fire" position to a pro-Georgian one, McCain has sharpened his rhetoric against Russia to remain differentiated.
