…and this is a 
The early word is that he didn't say a word about Intelligent Design creationism or evolution, which is fine with me…but instead gave the standard Rethuglican "rah-rah for the war!" speech, which is even worse. He's all in favor of the "surge", and is predicting we'll know how it's all going to work out in a matter of months.
McCain, a decorated Vietnam veteran who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war, said he hopes Americans will be patient and give the new Iraq strategy, led by Gen. David Petraeus, an opportunity to succeed. He said it should be clear within "some months" whether the plan is working.
For how many years have the Republican lickspittles been telling us we'll have some kind of resolution within six months? It's an eternally receding window of time, I think, and it's about time to call these people on it. People on both sides are dying while Republicans dither.
Comments
Posted by: BlueIndependent | February 23, 2007 8:29 PM
Well the upshot is he didn't talk about something that normally (unfortunately) flies under the radar, and did talk about something that flies into the radar, and blows the radar station up. Apparently McCain and Cheney have been trading potshots at each other over the last few days. It started when McCain dissed Rumsfeld (a flip flip statement from a previous flip flop statement) and called Bush's handling of Iraq a "trainwreck". Cheney got pissed and said that McCain apologized to him personally. Of course now McCain is in the Emerald City to pontificate about how great everything is in the Middle East.
One thing's for sure, McCain is going nowhere fast with his own party. He's a dead issue when speaking about presidential candidates.
Posted by: John Owens | February 23, 2007 8:33 PM
Do you suppose Achilles was a "Rethuglican rah-rah-for-the-war" type?
Posted by: Frank Anderson | February 23, 2007 9:16 PM
There's even a name for this six-month time frame. It's a Friedman, named for one of the many people who keep saying that everything in Iraq will be better...in six months.
Posted by: Chris Thompson | February 23, 2007 9:26 PM
And what does he know about the kind of war we're fighting in Iraq anyway? He was a freaking Navy Pilot, not a counterinsurgency specialist.
It's time for Weather-Vane McCain to give it up. He's a vote whore whose time has gone.
Posted by: Caledonian | February 23, 2007 9:27 PM
Success in Iraq is like the Intelligent Designer - it exists, but it receeds just fast enough that we can never detect it.
Posted by: Caledonian | February 23, 2007 9:28 PM
Yes, we should be focusing on the vote whores whose time has come!
Posted by: BruceJ | February 23, 2007 9:38 PM
I found this article in Newsweek to be vastly more disturbing than anything that McCain might have said.
It details the plan that's being worked out for the next step in Iraq...a 10-year plan.
Posted by: mark | February 23, 2007 9:45 PM
Where was McCain when there was all the talk about "the light at the end of the tunnel" during the War in Viet Nam? (Oh, right, he was sorta tied up.)
Posted by: llewelly | February 23, 2007 10:36 PM
Twice as good as a 5-year plan!Posted by: llewelly | February 23, 2007 10:54 PM
If the 10-year Petraeus plan is still in effect come January 2008, and President Next continues it, it will, I suspect, act as a trap. Support for the Iraq war is likely to go only down. A president who tries to carry it for another 4 years is likely to find their popularity in the toilet very quickly. If large numbers of US soldiers are still in Iraq come 2012, President Next will probably loose the election.
In fact ... even by Nov 2008, Amercia may reach the point where a 'bring the troops home now' promise is required to win.
Posted by: Jim in STL | February 24, 2007 11:06 AM
He's a vote whore whose time has gone.
If by vote whore you mean.....
At Huffington Post:
McCain Says Iraq Could End His Career
CURT WOODWARD | AP | February 23, 2007 10:23 PM EST
After the speech, McCain was asked by an audience member if he was "sucking up to the religious right." He drew laughs by responding: "What's wrong with sucking up to everybody?"
Apparently, the "Straight Talk Express" has become the "Straight Suck Express."
Posted by: BlueIndependent | February 24, 2007 12:17 PM
Nothing wrong with sucking up to everybody huh? So he's OK with sucking up to, say, the KKK? Neo-Fascist white supremacist militias in Idaho? The science-hating letter-of-the-law take-no-prisoners quell-all-dissent religious right?
Ya, McCain's done. I hope that petition to recall his election gathers some real steam.
Posted by: fyreflye | February 24, 2007 12:33 PM
People on both sides are dying while Republicans dither.
Republicans and Lieberman dither.
Posted by: Ichthyic | February 24, 2007 7:02 PM
Ya, McCain's done. I hope that petition to recall his election gathers some real steam.
the real irony is, that it's the religious right in his own state that created and pushed that petition. There was a representative on the news last night talking about how they feel McCain has let them down on the moral values front.
hmm.
Posted by: Drahcir | February 26, 2007 5:20 PM
Um, ya, them damn republicans that dragged us into the war, Hillary Clinton springs to mind as one name.
How about those damn republicans that have the majority in congress? Until the democrats put it to a vote, cut off the funding and pull out the troops they are just as responsible for the current situation.