Who is for McCain?

Pro-Obama liberals love to tout the large majorities of Obama support in foreign countries.

For the liberals, the notion that Americans might disagree with secular, left-leaning Europe is outright heresy.

But it is interesting to note what sort of people favor McCain.

First, Americans in Israel:

JERUSALEM: If Israel were on the U.S. election map, it would be bright red.

A survey of Americans in the Holy Land has found that absentee voters supported Republican John McCain over Barack Obama by a three-to-one margin.

The survey interviewed 817 Americans who have cast absentee ballots for next week’s presidential election. It was conducted by Vote from Israel, a nonpartisan group that has encouraged Americans to vote.

An estimated 40,000 Americans living in Israel are expected to vote, and pollster Mitchell Barak says he believes his survey is a good indicator on how they will choose.

He says most American immigrants to Israel are observant Jews who tend to have conservative social views and hawkish attitudes toward the Mideast peace process.

In other words, people who care about Israel, and the continued survival of Israel, favor McCain. People throughout the Muslim world (numerous polls have shown) favor Obama.

What about U.S. soldiers?

A poll done by Military Times shows them favoring McCain by about a 3-1 margin.

And who (besides Israel) is on the front lines, the people most likely to lose their freedom (or even be killed) by bad U.S. foreign policy? The people of Iraq.

From the French Press Agency:

For five years Ali and Mohammed have lived alongside US soldiers in their Baghdad neighbourhood near Rasheed Street, a prominent commercial artery running through the heart of the Iraqi capital.

During that time American culture and politics have become familiar to them, and they say that if they could, they would vote for Republican candidate John McCain in next week’s US presidential election.

“McCain would be best for Iraq because he would ensure stability,” said Ali, 66, an expert on the Sumerian era.

The personal qualities and political platforms of McCain and his Democrat rival Barack Obama are of little import to Ali, however. His focus is on Iraq and its neighbours such as Iran.

“The Iranians believe that if Obama is elected he will not take action against them despite their nuclear ambitions. That worries me,” said Ali, sitting on an old bench in Al-Zahawi coffee shop.

“If the Iranians get the bomb they will become the Tarzan of the region,” said the former teacher and lecturer at the University of Baghdad, referring to the vine-swinging strongman of the jungle in old Hollywood movies.

Mohammed, also a professor at the university, said he too preferred McCain “because Obama supports a rapid withdrawal of US troops.”

This latter article has no systemic survey data, but Agence France-Presse hardly has a history of pro-American or pro-war bias.

So what we have opposing the war is a (literally) unholy alliance between secular decadent Europe and a Muslim world that is hostile to Israel. These two groups are radically different, the first being hostile to America because we are not secular enough, and the latter because we are too secular.

But who is on the side of the war effort, and therefore McCain? The people of Iraq (whose lives and freedom are on the line), American soldiers (whose very lives are on the line) and people who don’t want Israel wiped off the map.