Truemors
In every conflict there comes a turning point, a moment that changes the very trajectory of the conflict, ultimately deciding its outcome. I believe the turning point for John McCain has come. He rose from relative obscurity after pundits and polls had taken him out of the Republican primaries. He went on to win the Republican nomination. After securing the nomination, John McCain had trouble capturing the conservative base and bringing together prominent fundraisers. Last month he achieved his milestone, $22 million dollars. However, at his behest, he dared Barack Obama to go overseas, and it has been downhill from there. Over the course of just a few weeks he has managed to reveal himself as being inconsistent and confused on foreign policy, which has been the staple of his campaign. Despite these gaffes he came out relatively unscathed. But there is always a tipping point; and McCain is spilling over.
Earlier this week, in the now infamous CBS interview, which altered portions of its interview to correct Senator McCain’s gaffes, it revealed the confusions and concerns that most U.S. citizens should have. McCain, when asked about the surge, which has been his strongest point, revealed his gross misunderstanding of the complexities involved; even contradicting his very own advisors, generals, and the President of the United States. But it gets worse. We will forget about his confusion on geography, everybody makes verbal errors when it comes to placing borders properly. And not everybody knows Czechoslovakia was dissolved and split in 2002. It can also be cumbersome to remember just who al-Qaeda is aligning themselves with, and just who Sunni and Shia leaders are. But to forget conflict and timelines of said wars is inconceivable.
In 2003, John McCain, yes the man who thumped his chest and said, “I know how to win wars,” stated that we can just “muddle through Afghanistan.” This is the very same year that he said victory in Iraq will take “just weeks.” My main concern is the fact that he said, in this CBS interview that “Iraq was the first major conflict since 9/11.” It wasn’t the terrorist organization that flew planes into the towers in New York, led by the very man who declared war on America in 1996. No, it was against a beleaguered demagogue in Iraq, who may have had weapons of mass destruction, which at the time was even doubted by the leading intelligence agencies in the world.
This all comes from the same man that said he “wasn’t that concerned with” Osama bin Laden. But that was before he thumped his chest and said “I will follow him (bin Laden) into the gates of hell.” This comes from the same man that complimented Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld for their war efforts, and declared we were winning, before he criticized Rumsfeld on the Senate floor, and said we were losing. He voted with these guys more than 90% of the time; and said he is “not that different” from the commander of the war, President Bush; and went on to say, “hell yeah” when asked if he would like Dick Cheney to serve in his cabinet. This is what he said about those very same characters recently:
The fact is we had four years of failed policy. We were losing. We were losing the war in Iraq. The consequences of failure and defeat of the United States of America in the first major conflict since 9/11 would have had devastating impacts throughout the region and the world.
Is this the kind of judgment that “wins wars”? It was McCain who proclaimed victory in just weeks, and seven years later, while still involved in both wars, said “I know how to win wars.” But now, the country that he claimed we would “muddle” through is the same country, six years later that he is going to add more troops to. And all this just a year after he denied that the war in Afghanistan was going badly. McCain is wrong on the location of the first major conflict, and where the central front for the War on Terror lies. The judgment to prosecute wars and underestimate the timeline for such operations by a figure that requires mathematical calculations requiring algebraic formulas is not what America needs. The judgment that builds a person up and supports their policies, while they believe those policies are losing, all for political partisanship is not what America needs. The new direction that is built on the old direction and the hindsight to lead a nation back full circle to the confusion and frustrations that many American citizens are feeling is not what Americans need. It is precisely these old draconian views that will turn antiques into relics, and continue manufacturing the products of yesteryear. McCain is a slinky in an Ipod world. And I am writing his obituary.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/22/eveningnews/main4283813.shtml?source=
mostpop_story
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/24/mccain-iraq-first-major/
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