John McCain holds conference call for bloggers

Here's an Instapundit roundup of the conference call Presidential candidate John McCain did with bloggers.

Gateway Pundit's report:

John McCain says that "He Would Rather Lose An Election Than A War"

He also says that he could not believe what he was witnessing when he saw democrats celebrate their surrender vote on the House floor.

John McCain answered questions today on a blogger conference call about how to best communicate to the American people the importance of winning the War and Reconstruction in Iraq.

McCain says that he would communicate every other week on the successes in Iraq in a venue like CSPAN if he were in charge. He also would hold blogger calls regularly. McCain said this Surge is a change in strategy as well as troop strength. Some of the bloodiest fighting took part in Al Anbar province. Now we have local support in much of the area. McCain believes that Patreus is an excellent strategist and the morale at the Pentagon is high.

Mary Katherine Ham says that McCain will continue to hold bloggers conference calls kahit na presidente na siya.

More on presidential candidates and the blogosphere from James Joyner:

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson isn't a presidential candidate yet, but the current actor on the "Law & Order" television series took one of the first steps toward that end this week: He posted a guest blog entry.

In the information age, presidential candidates have to pay their dues in the blogosphere just like they do on radio talk shows, daytime and late-night television, and every other forum where they can reach potential voters. Some do it by holding conference calls with bloggers and others by guest-blogging at popular sites.

Blogger David All asks: If you become America's next president, what role would bloggers, left and right, play in your communications strategy?

McCain's Reply: "I feel strongly that bloggers now are a vital part ofthe information technology in America and the world, and it's anunusual and incredible development."

2000: "I don't know if they existed, but if they did, I sure as hell didn't know about them."

"If I were president and this war were still going on, it'd be Important to do two things. Every two weeks, have a regular briefing talking about the good news and the bad news on the ground... Now, maybe only the C-SPAN people would watch that, but at least you're communicating with the American people."

"And, the second: be on with the bloggers every two weeks... Maybe there's too many bloggers and maybe we wouldn't get all the questions in, and maybe my answers would be too long as they are now...But maybe by lottery. Anyone who wants to ask aquestion, we'll throw your name in a hat and pick the top 15, soeventually all the bloggers get a chance."

"One editorial comment--I think the bloggers have a lot of maturing to do in someareas, but...It is a phenomenon that historians will look back on as something that had an incredible impact on the Americans communicate with each other and the world."