NBC "Today" -Transcript

Interview

NBC "Today" -Transcript

MATT LAUER: Now more of our special series, "Today on the Trail," and this morning it's Senator John McCain. He was an early favorite, but he has faded somewhat to the back of the pack in recent months. But the maverick candidate is still fighting. NBC's chief White House correspondent, David Gregory, has more on that.

David, good morning to you.

MR. GREGORY: Good morning, Matt. Fighting for his political life, and these days, for John McCain, his campaign can be boiled down to one word: Iraq.

(Begin videotaped segment.)

SEN. MCCAIN: To win -- and I believe that we must win.

MR. GREGORY: They're calling it the "No Surrender" tour. In South Carolina this week, that meant barnstorming VFW and American Legion halls, small press conferences and round-robin TV interviews, all to get the message out.

SEN. MCCAIN: Iraq has become the central front in the war against radical Islamic extremism.

MR. GREGORY: The "No Surrender" slogan is about the war, but it also applies to McCain's attempted political surge.

(To Sen. McCain.) If this were poker, you're all in on the issue of Iraq. That's going to define this campaign.

SEN. MCCAIN: I think it will.

MR. GREGORY: On the trail, the Arizona senator defends General David Petraeus, and later downplays Petraeus telling Congress last week he's not sure the war in Iraq is making the U.S. safer.

SEN. MCCAIN: I think that it's his job to say, "I'm succeeding in my mission; I'm the military man," not to judge whether the entire country or world is safer or not.

MR. GREGORY: You talk about the failures in Iraq and you blame Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. You don't blame the president.

SEN. MCCAIN: No, I blame the president. It's his responsibility, ultimately.

MR. GREGORY: But why do you go out of your way to blame Rumsfeld? You seem cautious about talking about the president.

SEN. MCCAIN: Well, I'll try to be less cautious if that makes you happier. But the point is it was Secretary Rumsfeld that was the point of the spear.

MR. GREGORY: With his campaign struggling, a war debate is exactly what McCain wants right now, and he has begun to take the fight to the early state front-runners like Mitt Romney.

FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR MITT ROMNEY (R): The surge is apparently working.

SEN. MCCAIN: Not apparently. It's working.

MR. GREGORY: You're not that hard to read, Senator. You know, when you're a little bit irritated, it shows.

McCain won't criticize Romney, but he hopes that moment from the debate helps to show he's got better judgment about the war.

SEN. MCCAIN: But I do know that of the candidates, I was the only one in 2003 who said we've got to change the strategy or it's doomed to failure. And I outlined the strategy that we needed to employ if we're going to succeed. I do know that.

MR. GREGORY: What McCain also knows is that politically he is under fire from his own side, particularly over immigration.

(To Sen. McCain.) Fred Barnes writes in The Weekly Standard, "To put it mildly, McCain has a lot of Republican animosity to overcome." And he goes on, "It's possible, but hardly likely."

SEN. MCCAIN: I still believe that I can do the retail politics better than anybody else. And so that's why I think we have every chance of succeeding.

MR. GREGORY: That optimism follows a summer campaign shakeup. And now everyone, including Cindy McCain, keeps a close eye on the candidate.

CINDY MCCAIN (wife of Sen. McCain): All I do is protect my husband. He's my first concern in this race. If I see something that I think might -- (inaudible) -- better or something that I think maybe might be handled a different way, I'll certainly tell him.

MR. GREGORY: McCain has listened, retooled, and now hopes voters give him a fresh look.

(To Sen. McCain.) At the end of a day like this, if there's people who look at you and say, "Yeah, I like that McCain, but he's having some troubles right now," and they may want to write you off, what would you say to them?

SEN. MCCAIN: Stay tuned. Stay tuned.

END.

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