Possible McCain SecDef questions recognition of Israel [CORRECTED]

A Democratic source, just in time for the Aipac conference sends over two clips from Charlie Rose: The first is McCain saying he thinks Fred Smith, the chief of FedEx, would make a good Secretary of Defense. The second is Smith, in a more recent Charlie Rose interview, sympathizing with George Marshall's opposition -- overruled by Harry Truman -- to recognizing Israel.

"In retrospect, there would be a large body of thought thta would have said that Marshall was correct in what would precipitate from that recognition, which is now sixty-some-odd years of war," he says, going on to say that McCain reminds him of Marshall. [SEE CORRECTION BELOW.]

McCain has pressed to keep Obama on the defensive on Israel, and the RNC likes to point to Jimmy Carter's hostility to Israeli policy to taint Democrats.

But in fact, pro- and anti-Israel stances are historically bi-partisan, particularly among an older generation of Republicans, and McCain supporter James Baker, for instance, draws some of the same ire as Carter from parts of the Jewish and pro-Israel communities.

CORRECTION: I missed an edit in the middle of the video, which I shouldn't have posted, and have removed from above. It cut a crucial passage in which Smith said he sided with Truman in the dispute. The full transcript is after the jump, and the edit undermines the point the video is trying to make.

In the full video, Smith says that Truman made the "right decision," but that Marshall was "prophetic" -- words that still might give pause to some, but put him on the other side of the issue.

Full transcript after the jump.



FRED SMITH: But Marshall was the architect of the victory worldwide, not just in Europe. I think Marshall`s greatest contribution when Roosevelt made him chief of staff was to go down sometimes two and three deep in the officer ranks and take the people that had talent that he had trained in the inner war years, and it was that group of leadership, including Eisenhower, and Marshall`s amazing managerial capabilities that really was the most important element in winning World War II, I believe.

CHARLIE ROSE: But he advised Truman against recognizing the state of Israel.

FRED SMITH: Well, in retrospect, there would be a large body of thought that would have said that Marshall was correct in what would precipitate from that recognition, which is now 60-some-odd years of war.

CHARLIE ROSE: Exactly 60 years.

FRED SMITH: Yes. So I think Truman made the right decision. But Marshall`s job was to advise ...

CHARLIE ROSE: So he was prophetic about the problems that might come about.

FRED SMITH: He was certainly prophetic as to the problems that would come.