McCain Knew We Were Doomed to Fail?

The media establishment is desperate to revive McCain’s candidacy but he is stone-cold broke and a walking a dead man. If he thinks this strategy is going to work, he’s nuts.

It is now his goal to use the coming debate in Washington over the report by Army Gen. David Petraeus and defense funding to reestablish himself in the eyes of Republicans as the candidate who has been most consistently right about Iraq for four years and therefore is the right man to become the next commander-in-chief.

McCain will make two arguments. First, that, alone among the Republican candidates, he was highly critical of the Bush administration’s Iraq policy when it wasn’t popular to do so–back in late 2003 and early 2004. He will point to what he said about the need for more troops on the ground in Iraq at the time, and to his condemnations of then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

“I’ve taken unpopular stance [sic] because I knew what was right,” he said Wednesday. “Back in 2003, amid criticism from my fellow Republicans, I spoke strongly against the then Rumsfeld strategy, which I knew was doomed to failure and [would] cause so much needless sacrifice.”

I remember John McCain saying that we needed more troops. I don’t recall him ever saying that our mission in Iraq was ‘doomed to fail’. If he really felt that way he should have done something to stop this war years ago. In the age of YouTube there is no way McCain can rewrite history so that it looks like he has been right about this war.

5 Comments

BooMan on September 6, 2007 at 4:42 pm

Crazy.

“For years it was McCain against the party on the war, and then the war failed and McCain, instead of getting credit for it, looked like the troublemaker,” Davis said. “Then after the [2006] election, Bush pivots and goes to where McCain is at a time the war is the least popular thing in American politics, so we get the least popular president and the least popular issue co-enjoined with McCain. This is the first time when there’s a little bit of daylight where McCain can say, “Look, they came my way. This was my strategy.” Someone remarked to me the other day that the best friend we’ve got right now is John Edwards, who said this was the McCain Doctrine. We didn’t like it at the time, but now it’s exactly what it’s turned out to be.”

Far from seeking to de-emphasize the war and shift focus to the reform issues that propelled his 2000 campaign, McCain has decided to make Iraq the centerpiece of his recovery strategy. His team has put together a September schedule with a singular focus on the war, a seemingly risky strategy given how much Iraq damaged him at the beginning of the campaign.

It will begin this Saturday with a speech on Iraq at the California Republican convention, where McCain will brandish his credentials to be commander-in-chief, followed by what is being called the “no surrender” tour. That swing will put McCain back on his bus for stops at VFW halls and other such venues in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, where he will attempt to generate new support for the war.

anarchronarchist on September 6, 2007 at 5:05 pm

What about this isn’t true. If I were a pro-war rebublican and could see through Thompson’s glitz, I’d be pretty persuaded. Problem is that is becoming an increasingly rare bread. If the surge shows real progress before he drops out, he has a second life..

BooMan on September 6, 2007 at 5:07 pm

your if is not an if that is on the menu.
- anarchronarchist on September 6, 2007 at 5:38 pm
  
  Yah. And that problem he has with his arms being about 1/2 as long as they should be is a non-starter. What’s up with that? No tiger cage in the world can explain that away.

billjpa on September 6, 2007 at 8:46 pm

mccain is simply out of his mind. when someone refuses to look at what visibly sitting right in front of that persons nose.To say that he took the unpopular position is such a act of lunacy that he simply has to be disregarded totaly.The way things appear to be playing out proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Impeachment is the only solution to this insanity.And I mean immediately! Start the process tomorrow. Full speed ahead! Immediatly.

BooMan on September 6, 2007 at 4:42 pm

Crazy.

“For years it was McCain against the party on the war, and then the war failed and McCain, instead of getting credit for it, looked like the troublemaker,” Davis said. “Then after the [2006] election, Bush pivots and goes to where McCain is at a time the war is the least popular thing in American politics, so we get the least popular president and the least popular issue co-enjoined with McCain. This is the first time when there’s a little bit of daylight where McCain can say, “Look, they came my way. This was my strategy.” Someone remarked to me the other day that the best friend we’ve got right now is John Edwards, who said this was the McCain Doctrine. We didn’t like it at the time, but now it’s exactly what it’s turned out to be.”

Far from seeking to de-emphasize the war and shift focus to the reform issues that propelled his 2000 campaign, McCain has decided to make Iraq the centerpiece of his recovery strategy. His team has put together a September schedule with a singular focus on the war, a seemingly risky strategy given how much Iraq damaged him at the beginning of the campaign.

It will begin this Saturday with a speech on Iraq at the California Republican convention, where McCain will brandish his credentials to be commander-in-chief, followed by what is being called the “no surrender” tour. That swing will put McCain back on his bus for stops at VFW halls and other such venues in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, where he will attempt to generate new support for the war.
anarchronarchist on September 6, 2007 at 5:05 pm

What about this isn’t true. If I were a pro-war rebublican and could see through Thompson’s glitz, I’d be pretty persuaded. Problem is that is becoming an increasingly rare bread. If the surge shows real progress before he drops out, he has a second life..

D
- BooMan on September 6, 2007 at 5:07 pm
  
  your if is not an if that is on the menu.
  - anarchronarchist on September 6, 2007 at 5:38 pm
    
    Yah. And that problem he has with his arms being about 1/2 as long as they should be is a non-starter. What’s up with that? No tiger cage in the world can explain that away.
billjpa on September 6, 2007 at 8:46 pm

mccain is simply out of his mind. when someone refuses to look at what visibly sitting right in front of that persons nose.To say that he took the unpopular position is such a act of lunacy that he simply has to be disregarded totaly.The way things appear to be playing out proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Impeachment is the only solution to this insanity.And I mean immediately! Start the process tomorrow. Full speed ahead! Immediatly.

McCain Knew We Were Doomed to Fail?

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