News today that John McCain is visiting Gordon Brown in Downing Street on an official visit. He’s also been to Iraq, Jordan and Israel and will meet French president Nicholas Sarkozy as well. The word is that it is a “is a fact-finding tour with fellow senators.” The accompanying senators in question are Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham which the BBC notes are “close allies of Mr McCain and fellow supporters of a continued US troop presence in Iraq. ”
It just smacks of self-important globe-trotting to me. Just because you are the presumed Republican nominee does not give you the right to go gallavanting around the globe on official visits. Ok, one could argue that this ‘fact-finding mission’ will strengthen his knowledge of the Iraq war and foreign affairs for debates with the Democratic nominee in the autumn. But, on the other hand, it just seems too much to me like he is meeting all of these foreign dignitaries as the president-elect. To quote a wonderful old saying, it’s a bit like putting the cart before the horse there John.