Reason number 7,267 not to trust the far left
Memeorandum is overflowing with comments from The Usual Suspects regarding a statement John McCain made on NBC’s Today Show today which, to them, indicated that he doesn’t care nor find it important when the troops come home from Iraq. Here’s what he said that has the far left – including some in the notoriously disingenuous Obama campaign foaming at the mouth:
NBC’S MATT LAUER: “If it’s working Senator, do you now have a better estimate of when American forces can come home from Iraq?”
SEN. MCCAIN: “No, but that’s not too important. What’s important is the casualties in Iraq, Americans are in South Korea, Americans are in Japan, American troops are in Germany. That’s all fine. American casualties and the ability to withdraw; we will be able to withdraw. General Petraeus is going to tell us in July when he thinks we are. But the key to it is that we don’t want any more Americans in harm’s way. That way, they will be safe, and serve our country and come home with honor and victory, not in defeat, which is what Senator Obama’s proposal would have done. I’m proud of them. And they’re doing a great job. And we are succeeding and it’s fascinating that Senator Obama still doesn’t realize that.”
Here’s video of the exchange:
Marc Ambinder sums up in a few words what the far left took out of McCain’s saying, “but that’s not too important”:
Instead, though, in a conference call with reporters, in remarks by Democrats like Joe Biden, in a blistering statement by Rep. Rahm Emanuel, McCain is being portrayed as, inter alia, not caring one whit about casualties and deaths and chaos and certainly not about the families of troops who dealt with deployment after deployment.
Here’s how other Obama surrogates are spinning McCain’s remarks:
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said on a quickly organized Obama conference call that McCain’s comment was “unbelievably out of touch with the needs and concerns of most Americans” saying that to families of troops in harm’s way, “To them, it’s the most important thing in the world.”
Kerry claimed “an enormous, fundamental flaw in his candidacy for the presidency, which supposedly has hung on his strength as commander in chief and his understanding of foreign policy.”
Susan Rice, an Obama foreign-policy adviser, accused McCain of “a real disturbing, even disconcerting, pattern of confusing the basic facts and reality that pertain to Iraq.”
[…]
Kerry, saying McCain is “really having a debate with himself” on Iraq, said the “Today” show comment was part of a “policy for staying in Iraq” and “underscores Γ’β¬Β¦ the broad array of contradictions in John McCain’s statements about Iraq.”
“It is really becoming more crystal clear to a lot of Iraq that John McCain simply doesn’t understand it Γ’β¬β that he confuses who Iran is training, he confuses what the makeup of al-Qaeda is, he confuses the history Γ’β¬Β¦ of what has happened between Sunni and Shia and how deep that current runs” Kerry said.
Rice criticized “real confusion and lack of understanding of the situation in Iraq and, indeed, the larger region, that John McCain evidenced yet again in his comments on the Γ’β¬ΛToday’ show.”
Make no mistake about it: Democrats are deliberately using the word “confused” in a subtle, shameless attempt at playing the age card. If age is supposedly the reason behind McCain allegedly being so “confused,” then what’s Obama’s excuse for his many instances of “confusion”?
More, from the Politico article:
Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was first out of the gate with a statement, calling McCain’s comment “a crystal clear indicator that he just doesn’t get the grave national-security consequences of staying the course. Γ’β¬Β¦ We need a smart change in strategy to make America more secure, not a commitment to indefinitely keep our troops in an intractable civil war.”
Yeah, this from the same guy who has repeatedly said that the surge is a “failure” – contrary to the facts on the ground (more here).
Bob Owens helpfully aids the nitwits on the far left who just don’t get it:
What McCain seemed to be saying is that arbitrarily-decided pullout dates (such as the 16 month “run for the exits” date favored by Obama) are asinine; conditions on the ground should indicate when a withdrawal is feasible, and he thinks he’d have a better idea of when that might possible be the next time General David Petraeus briefs Congress in June.
And at the risk of stating the obvious to jerks like Senator John F’n Kerry, let’s clarify something quickly here, bolded for emphasis:
John McCain was a POW for 7 years at the Hanoi Hilton. If anyone understands and can strongly identify with wanting to come home from a war, it’s a POW. In fact, McCain was given the chance to go home earlier than he did, but he refused the special treatment. By the way, Senator Kerry, “confused” would be someone repeatedly asserting they were in Cambodia on Christmas Eve 1968 while serving in the Vietnam war, when in actuality the facts simply have never meshed with that person’s confusing version of events.
Argh! I need a couple of extra strength Tylenols right about now.
Related: John Hawkins, who has publicly stated that he won’t be voting for McCain this fall, nevertheless defends him here and goes off on the left for misrepresenting what McCain actually said.