The Trail: A Daily Diary of Campaign 2008

McCain,

Please talk about something else besides the war in Iraq and how Obama has it wrong. You are really starting to bore me

Nice try for the Mccain camp to try and spin the gaffe Mccain made regarding Ambar awakening in Iraq. Mccain gaffes was stating that the surge began the
Anbar awakening and it didn't the surge didn't happen until 6 months later. The Mccain camp is trying to spin the argument back to the surge working. whether or not if the surge worked or was it a collaberation of efforts doesn't change that fact that Mccain got the time frame when the Anbar Awakening wrong. The Mccain camp needs to stop trying to spin gaffes of Mccain and get a message for him.

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Re: straight talk my a**

You are naive!!! Go back to NYT or HTP.

Besides the Pakistan/IRAQ gaffe, one of the several hundred since 2000 now his even bigger gaffe a night later just released, John McCain screws up the timeline of the dates of the actual surge and the timeline of Shiite Sunni alliance to help combat Al Queda. Mr. Foreign Policy screwed up the timeline publicly on national t.v. The Shiites and Sunnis had already come together to fight Al Queda a year before the U.S. Surge in which President Bush also admitted publicly that the Surge's success was mostly due to the Sunni's and Shiites agreeing to fight Al Queda in Iraq a year earlier. BOMB, BOMB, BOMB, BOMB, BOMB McLAME.

It's time to pull out that AARP card McChump and call it quits. I don't care who you're running mate is because he's going to overshadow your boring and completely dry candidacy. Dang, he makes Michael Dukakis look Maverick, Uggh!

Did I say Obama was wrong? I meant Bush was wrong. Oh wait, who am I running against? Oh yes, Hillary. She is wrong! It's hard to remember these names as I get older!

Yeah, and Sen. McCain has been the most consistent voice on the war from Day 1, right? Check out this video of McCain's flip flops over the war, its timing, his support and critiques.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/22/jedreports-latest-mccains_n_114380.html

Ed says: Give me McCain.
I don't need 5,6,or7 dollar gasoline.
*****************************************
Lemme tell you something, Ed. YOU are what's wrong with this country. It isn't about what YOU do or don't need. It's that line of thinking that brought us the Enron loophole and John McCain's good friend and ex-campaign co-chair Phil Gramm, who feels we are a "nation of whiners." That would be YOU too! But you love him, don'tcha? Self interest and greed are what keeps the United States from any growth in the global economy.
This country was founded on freedom - the Bush administration has used that word as double speak. We should be an example to the rest of the world, not a bully.
It's not about available oil, it's about market manipulation, stupid!

McCain has lost it!
"As Barack Obama began his trip to the Middle East and Europe, the media was already speculating about the possibility of a gaffe. Obama's travel "carries political risk," the New York Times reported, "particularly if Mr. Obama makes a mistake."
But the only foreign policy error made in the last few days came this morning on ABC's Good Morning America, when John McCain made yet another geography gaffe, claiming it was a "very hard struggle" to combat extremists on the "Iraq/Pakistan border." There's just one problem: Iraq and Pakistan don't share a border."
Really folks - is THIS who you want as our next president?
We've already had one C student for 8 years - McCain graduated 5th from the bottom of his class at Annapolis.
Vote with you brains this time!!
If the rest of the world can see that Obama is a natural leader, what's the matter with you McCainiacs?

Ee, ee. This is the evil Sherry Kay speaking, and I'm sorry to have to disappoint those of my fans who would prefer to see me in my complete howling, cackling, squealing and squalling glory, but you know what? I have a headache, so shut up and deal. Eee. Nobama. Good enough? Now leave me alone.

And if you see JakeD, tell him to pick me up some Midol and a new box of Tampax. Ee? Ee.

Everything I have been saying here on these boards is a lie. I'm full of what makes the grass green and strong when I tell you ANYTHING about politics, because frankly? I have no idea. Not only do I not know my a$$ from my elbow, politically speaking, but when I'm drinking - and I'm drinking a lot these days - I tend to spit out just about anything that comes into my head. In those cases, because I have been drinking, most often what I say here is derived from Republican comments and themes I have been exposed to elsewhere, mainly while drunk. I find these themes refreshingly simple, even childlike in their lack of intellectual complexity, and easy to remember and repeat even when I forget such higher level skills as unbuttoning my fly before letting go.

Well at least Obama did not have to be publicly corrected (by warmonger buddy Lieberman) when he got 'WRONG' the fact that Sunni and Shia are NOT QUITE the same thing. Talk about being bluntly and starkly wrong...

Reply to NOURI

WHOA there, young fella.
John McCain is NOT a "-71 YEARS OLD PENSIONER".
He is a smart "-71 YEARS-YOUNG" powerful rich guy -- who was raised as an ELITE in a rich family and is married to a rich wife.
He is NOT "...IN DENIAL" -- as you put it.
He knows exactly what he is doing -- and what he stands for. He comes from a culture with an ethical base in which the CORE PRINCIPLE is: "Preserve the POWER & WEALTH" -- because -- "YOU are the RIGHTFUL LEADERS".
Of course one must be charitable & well-mannered -- occasionally acting like a maverick ... but NEVER violate the CORE PRINCIPLE.

His patriotism and courage are UNDENIABLE -- but we mustn't be mis-led -- he will be much more single-minded in expanding the IRAQ war. Like many former POWs he considers NIXON a heroic fellow.

I'm a contemporary (flew A-4's on the same kind of missions six months later than the Senator) -- but I'm a 68 year old guy who is NOT rich and has an 18 year old son just starting college. Like many other SENIOR CITIZENS I can't afford to retire. -- NOR do I want to -- and I think that's what drives McCain. Barring a loss of mental function -- he could well live and function powerfully ten or twenty more years.

One danger is, that he may actually think we can WIN this conflict MILITARILY.
Of course he may be simply "shining on" the NEOCONS to get elected -- but I don't think so. I think he will try to EXPAND this using the arguments that worked for NIXON in 1972. Remember, like most former POWs -- McCain thinks NIXON was a hero.

But a worse fear is, he LOVES the idea of being CinC. . . so he'll concentrate on "running the war" -- and dodge the NUMBER 1 & 2 near-term problems (economy & energy) while completely ignoring the problem of global warming & melting icecaps.

AH %*%&+ ... He's not the guy we need just now.

McCain was with the liar in chief when he lied us into this war, and they were both wrong. At the same time on the campaign trail Obama was a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq. He was right. McCain says that if we had done what Obama wanted, we would have pulled out befor the "surge" had worked. Again he is wrong. If we had done what Obama had wanted, we would never have attacked Iraq and there would never have been a need for a "surge". Now the Iraqi government has said that they want us to leave, and McCain chooses to ignore that request, after stating in 04 that if they asked us to leave we would have to leave. Again he is wrong.

Your right, Nuke Canada, Gas will still be $5.00 a gallon. Are you worried about gas or all the brave young military that have lost there lives for nothing.

Obama is wrong about Afghanistan.
Bin Laden is a fugitive and he could be anywhere in the world, not just in Afghanistan.

People of Afghanistan deserve peace, bring our troops home now.

Posted by: pete | July 22, 2008 10:07 AM

Oh man your right, Nuke Canada.

McCain looks like the First Bush's Grandfather!!

With gasoline at $4/gal, "It's all about oil!" becomes a plus instead of a minus. In Iraq, maintaining at least a steady output of petroleum is what matters most. The difference between McCain and Obama now is who would err on the side of stability and who would err on the side of withdrawal.

Give me McCain.

I don't need 5,6,or7 dollar gasoline.

Starting in May 2007, the U.S. government started paying 70,000 Iraqi insurgents - including members of al-Qaida in Iraq - $10 per person, per day to stop shooting at our troops. Called "Concerned Local Citizens" groups, we're paying 70,000 people daily to not shoot at us and be our paid temporary allies.

Isn't May 2007 around the time the "surge" started working? Not a bad idea, as long as someone else doesn't offer them more to train their guns on our troops again...

StopThinkVote.com: Military Facts

Obama is wrong about Afghanistan.
Bin Laden is a fugitive and he could be anywhere in the world, not just in Afghanistan.

People of Afghanistan deserve peace, bring our troops home now.

Mr McCain if Obama is wrong with his policies towards Iraq, I wonder what you could say about the NEOCONS THAT ARE WASTING around $50 billion a month, yes a month on IRAQ, an illegal war that the US Taxpayer is fitting the bill so that the likes of HLLIBURTON & BLACKWATER flourish thanks to their good connections with Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bush and co.

AT LEAST OBAMA IS NOT REPSONSIBLE FOR TURNING THE COUNTRY INTO 8 YEARS OF MADNESS, A WEAK DOLLAR, $ TRILLIONS IN DEBT, $140 PER BARREL OF OIL AND SUBSIDIES TO THE BANKING INSTITUTIONS FROM THE US TAXPAYER'S MONEY.

TIME FOR this SENIOR CITIZEN -71 YEARS OLD PENSIONER- TO GET REAL AND FACE THE NEOCONS TRUTH WITH OBJECTIVITY. THE MAN IS IN DENIAL!

I AM NOT SURPRISED, AT THIS AGE, PEOPLE OF 71 YEARS OLD ARE RETIRING TO ENJOY LIFE NOT TO PUT MORE PRESSURE ON THE STATE BY APPOINTING THEM TO BE IN CHARGE OF THE COUNTRY'S AFFAIRS UNLESS HE WILL BE DELEGATING THE AFFAIRS OF THE WHITE HOUSE TO A VICE PRESIDNET NOMINATED BY THE USUSAL WARMONGERS, CABALS WHO ARE LOOKING FORWARD FOR A NEW CONFLICT (I.E. IRAN!).

Sadly... McCain and the RNC need to hire a 6th Grade Geography teacher to stay by his side so he does not embarass himself any longer, as he has over the last few days....

It is completely implausible that Mr Obama is the cause of high gas prices, co-chairs that say we are a bunch of whiners and we are in a "mental" recession, laughable attack ads, and the list will go on even up to Election Day.

Republicans are the whiners of this country, the reason for banks to fail, mortgage values to plummett, cities in the Midwest under FEET of water, food that our citizens should be scared to eat, Republicans looking for sex in airport bathrooms, drugs available on the internet and the DEA/FDA pointing their grubby fingers at each other while our people are dying.

There is no other way to describe the lengths and the depths of which the RNC and McCain will do to keep a disjointed, illogical, subversive, contemptable person as POTUS....oops we have "BUSH 2" and we cant go any lower than than ...except to dig a hole under McCain, which is what the RNC has done already....

Way to go RNC and keep those ad's coming...and thanks Karl Rove.....

The most important parts of the current successful military strategy in Iraq did not involve "surging" U.S. Troops.

In the first place, Gen. Petraeus and other U.S. commanders deserve credit for negotiating an alliance with Sunni tribal authorities to join forces against al-Qaeda. This option has been available for years and probably wouldn't have been necessary if we hadn't dissolved the Iraqi Army after the invasion. The Iraqi Army was prepared to assist us in securing the country, but Cheney, Rumsfeld, and friends thought they had a better idea.

The second major factor was that by the time the "surge" occurred, Baghdad had been ethnically cleansed. Having extra American troops to keep the militias apart in Baghdad may have been useful, but the neighborhoods were already segregated and remain so today. It could be argued that a redeployment of U.S. troops within Iraq without the surge could have done the same thing.

The third major factor has been the improvement of the Iraqi Army and their somewhat successful effort to remove the unofficial authority of the Sadr militia in the streets. This has come with U.S. air support and some troop support. The "surge" was not needed to accomplish this either, as the 135,000 pre-surge troops would have no doubt been sufficient in the secondary role they played.

What the "surge" did accomplish was to keep us from reinforcing Afghanistan (where insurgents are having increasing success) and in tiring out our already battle-fatigued troops. We are stretched thin by Iraq and have been from the start of this poorly thought out and totally unnecessary war.

But for McCain and Bush, the "surge" gives them a chance to declare victory. I wish they would just do that so we could all join with the Iraqis in agreeing to a timetable to leave their country in the hands of an elected, sovereign government.

Dem now Ind wrote: "Obama is wrong on just about everything."

Yeah, just keep repeating that to yourself with your eyes closed and maybe you'll wake up back in Kansas.

Meanwhile, it looks like all the adults, Republicans included, are coming around to positions Obama staked out a year ago (negotiating with Iran, transferring troops to Afghanistan, winding down Iraq quickly, etc., etc.)

Toxic Avenger wrote: "The surge worked because we had a president willing to let the military do their job"

A president who reluctantly recognized his policies were utter failures after three years and then finally started listening to his military commanders (instead of firing them)? And you consider this proof of his competence of something?

Republicans have really, really low standards, I guess.

McCain is such a know-it-all that he ventures to say something like, Obama is completely wrong. Great McCain! Then Obama goes to Iraq and the Prime Minister ends up agreeing with him. Hey, who's the better diplomat?

This old guy thinks he has all the knowledge in the world and is not open to a new perspective on the world, which is exactly what the world needs.

I say talk to Iran! Why the hell not?

I say, we can end fuel dependency in 10 years! Why the hell not?

We need to dream again, we need to be that nation that put a man on the moon again.

John McCain is a nation of whiners all by himself

I find it funny that Senator McCain is making "listening to the troops" such a priority, largely because the senior military in Iraq have been hand-picked by President Bush. General Petreus (sic?) is a well-known Bush hack who has been publishing op-eds to sell Bush's foreign policy for years (dating back well before the surge). It is only fair to say "listen to the troops" if the troops you get to listen to are NOT political hacks. Unfortunately, we have an administration that has gone to great pains to make sure anyone that doesn't toe the party line is ushered out the door. I agree that Senator Obama should look at conditions on the ground. However, reality needs to guide his judgment; not the gospel according to President Bush's hand-picked military leadership.

Obama supporters, wake up, Iraqi Prime Minister is the most stupid man in the world, he is using America, now he is playing the game again for their benefit. I wouldn't count his endorsement. Obama's Iraq trip is impertinent gesture, made world laugh. I would like to ask Chuckmok, I don't understand what is your intention? You want Obama dies? then you do by yourself, never, ever use Hillary's name there. If you want Obama alive, then give your money to him, so he can hire more Judas for his campaign.

McCain is a nation of whiners

I love reading some of this commentary. The most passionate of you on both sides have a conveinient nack for twisting facts or confusing events. What you fail to remember is that hindsight is 20-20 and that anything taken from a singular point of view is more likely to be wrong than right. What you fail to see is that both men have good points and bad ones in their arguments about this war and other topics. We as voters would do best to listen to both of them with open minds. This conflict was badly managed from the day major combat operations were declared to be over. It was not until our President took a hands off approach and let two people, a Republican General and a Democratic Diplomat take the reigns, that this effort to clean up the mess we made had any progress.

"It took old man McCain 8 trips to Iraq to refuse to see the truth. When your mind is closed to reality, you see nothing.

Old man McCain's support for this mis-managed mistake of a war earns him part of the responsibility for the 4,600 American deaths."

You talk as if the sensibility, experience and patience that comes with being older is abad thing.

Obama is a junior senator who has made fundamental mistakes all throughout his campagin - not because he is black or Muslim or a Democrat - but because he is young and inexperienced.

The country is 1000 times more complex than it was 40 years ago and needs an experienced and vetted leader at its helm.

McCain '08.

Claudine1000, are you done with your insane rants?.....good.

Here, let me put your leash on.

So,since when did Generalissmo,Instant New
Commander Guy Mr Flight Suit Wannabe Junior
George W Bush Mullah Messiah Yellow Coward
Democrat Barack Hussein Obama ever fly into
the most heavily defended by SAMs and AA
Guns place in history,Hanoi like Senator
John McCain did? And how did never served
in our US Military,"Had Other Priorites"
Draft Dodger Cheney Relative Obama get
all this Instant Military Genius Training
in just three lousy days in Afghanistan
and Iraq now then? Don't forget John McCain
spent four years at the US Naval Academy
studying such diverse subjects as Military
History and War Doctine and Military Tactics plus attended and graduated from
US Navy Flight School and was awarded some
of his various medals for assisting in helping rescue wounded sailors when a rocket blew up on the flight deck of his
aircraft csrrier,while injured himself.
So stow this phony bs about McCain getting
shot down because he was a poor pilot and
so tell us how many of you Obamafools and
Barack Hussein Obama have ever flew into
that kind anti-aircraft fire and survived
a direct hit by a SAM like McCain did? And
when did Obama or any of you phony kool aid
drinking Obamabots have your arms broken
while being tortured and denied proper
medical treatment as a POW like McCain has
done so as well? So shut you pie holes
until you have done so you yellow coward
never served in our military ignoramus.

The reason why America continues to be a free nation is because civilians run the military not vice versa. The continuation of this war longer than necessary would amount to colonialism. McCain can't seem to realize that Bush's policies are a failure.

McCain is betting that America will forget that this war was based on lies and deceit thus condoning the war.

I hope that McCain and his neo-conservatives do not wake up to that fact prior to the election. In that way, the war mongerers will remain identified so that we can rid ourselves of them.

Using "conditions on the ground" is too arbitrary and leaves open many possibilities from just making war for wars sake to provoking Iran just to have a war to stealing Iraq's vast oil wealth.

Such a term is used when one wants to stay just to stay. It also makes it sound like Bush has abdicated US foreign policy to the Generals.

Re: JR, Boston

This is the new tactic from Obama: Clone.

Thanks, JR!

McCain was right about the surge policy in Iraq. Obama denounced it (and later tried to remove his anti-stance from his website). Yeah, we need to listen to a junior senator on strategic military matters.

Re: MsSwin

GO for NYT--Wrong place here.

Re: orrg1

Post your wonderful thoughts for NYT--You got the wrong place.

DO NOT MENTION OBAMA. DO YOUR STUFF.

It took old man McCain 8 trips to Iraq to refuse to see the truth. When your mind is closed to reality, you see nothing.

Old man McCain's support for this mis-managed mistake of a war earns him part of the responsibility for the 4,600 American deaths.

The mistake of getting into the war in the first place completely trumps any misjudgment Obama may have made. A huge majority of people agree that we shouldn't have gone to war in the first place, the argument now is only how to get out of it, and on that, the Iraqis side with Obama. McCain was one of the biggest cheerleaders for the initial huge blunder. The one that even now, 7 years after 9/11, leaves us vulnerable to another attack organized and financed by Osama bin Laden from his safe haven on the Pakistan border.

The biggest justification for getting into the war was "we all got the intelligence wrong". In the best case, according to the Republican narrative, our grandchildren will be reading in the history books "in March 2003 The United States invaded Iraq because they did not give in to demands to give up weapons that they did not possess. The CIA and other intelligence agencies mistakenly believed they had these weapons."

But even this best case is not what actually happened. Weapons inspectors were in Iraq before we went. They were in fact turning up the true story. But Bush rushed them out, told them to leave. Because he and his neocons had been itching to attack for a long time. Even McCain, according to a story in this week's Time Magazine heard Bush say this. In 2002, a full year before the war, McCain heard Bush say "F___ Saddam, We're taking him out". McCain would later retell the story and say "Can you believe this guy?". But he later got on board, just as he has with all the other Bush travesties that have put us where we are today. So I ask, what was the urgency, why did we need to kick out the inspectors and rush in and invade Iraq? McCain has judgement? Give me a break!

Here is the only thing that Obama got wrong. He didn't trust Bush to change strategies, to stop listening to Cheney and his buddies. If the strategy hadn't been changed, the surge would have been a waste of men and time, just as he predicted. Bush out of desperation went for the first time - after many years of wasting lives and treasure, for competent leadership in Petraeus and a strategy that actually went in the right direction. Obama was right to doubt him, while McCain didn't have a choice. He knew the real reason we went to war, and was in it up to his eyeballs.

Now McCain will say, look we got rid of Saddam, and Iraq is going in the right direction. But the question Americans will answer at the voting booth is "was it worth it?" Was it worth a trillion extra dollars of debt that could help sink the economy? Was it worth all the lives lost? We were swindled into this war by the boogeyman of WMD. We were rushed into it because Bush knew that eventually after the shock of 9/11, the American People and Congress would regain their senses and not go along with this travesty. The Republicans are now trying to rewrite history but ultimately will fail. McCain will be asked to answer these questions and he has no good answer.

McCain looks like he is going to cry. Is McCain older than Bush 1.

The surge which Obama criticized is protecting his black rear end when he visits Iraq. Maybe he cannot see his rear end with those ugly black glasses that he wears to show he his lying.

- A McCain Democrat...

It's about judgment, my friends....

"And I believe that the success will be fairly easy" and "There's no doubt in my mind that... we will be welcomed as liberators." [John McCain 3/24/03]

"I think we could go in with much smaller numbers than we had to do in the past... I don't believe it's going to be nearly the size and scope that it was in 1991." [John McCain 9/15/02]

"There's not a history of clashes that are violent between Sunnis and Shias. So I think they can probably get along." [John McCain 4/23/03]

"Look, we're going to send young men and women in harm's way and that's always a great danger, but I cannot believe that there is an Iraqi soldier who is going to be willing to die for Saddam Hussein, particularly since he will know that our objective is to remove Saddam Hussein from power."
[John McCain 9/15/02]

"But the fact is, I think we could go in with much smaller numbers than we had to do in the past. But any military man worth his salt is going to have to prepare for any contingency, but I don't believe it's going to be nearly the size and scope that it was in 1991." [John McCain 09/15/02]

"He's a patriot who has the best interests of his country at heart." ]John McCain on Ahmed Chalabi, 2002]

"Absolutely. Absolutely." [John McCain, asked by Chris Matthews, "you believe that the people of Iraq or at least a large number of them will treat us as liberators?" 03/12/03]

I think the victory will be rapid, within about three weeks. [John McCain, MSNBC, 1/28/03]
It's clear that the end is very much in sight. ... It won't be long. It, it'll be a fairly short period of time. [John McCain, ABC, 4/9/03]

We're either going to lose this thing or win this thing within the next several months. [Meet The Press, 11/12/06]

"Well, then why was there a banner that said mission accomplished on the aircraft carrier?" [John McCain, responding to assertion by Fox News' Neil Cavuto that "many argue the conflict isn't over," [John McCain, 06/11/03]

"My friends, the war will be over soon, the war for all intents and purposes although the insurgency will go on for years and years and years." [John McCain, 02/25/08]

Love the picture of Bush senior and McBush: they look like a couple of dorks. Re McCain's claims of competence in foreign affairs, I can't wait to see the photo-op of McCain standing at the Iraq-Afghanistan border, gazing into the distance ...

Obama will bow down to China. He knows he can't speak without a teleprompter that's made in China.

What's wrong McCain, that Bush name not worth as much as it used to be, huh ? Oh well, I guess my name is not worth as much as it used to be nor is one of the last names of my son is not worth much anymore huh ? Why is that, pathetic, really pathetic. Do tell them to shove their Heritage Foundation far past the gerbil stuffing stage will you ?

So hmmm, what is the subject here "He's been completely wrong on the issue," Let me translate here. This is the way the world is, listen to me, I am always right, right ? Yes this is the way the world is according to Senator John Sydney McCain III and he is always right, right ? No, no, no, I am always right, this is the way the world is, I did not make this up. I know he is wrong because I know he does not have a crystal ball that predicts the future right ? And as pain in the butts get older it is hard for them to change their minds right ? Ahha so, stay the course with an open ended deal, 100 years if need be, because, why, we are always right, right ? It must be destiny.

So yes, through eternity, the surge was the right decision, period, end of discussion. Rumsfeld, we he is civilian. Only one with honor in my book, offered a resignation not once mind you but twice. Then he bowed out. Oh, the Brits are giving him the Churchill Award, interesting.

I am such a loser, the joke must be on me.

Why are folks sounding like they really are a little bit bitter? Its as if hating to hear that someone has done, or said something that is right even when they did not agree with the outcome? Older folks did carry on this way years ago, just to make their point. Today, folks engage in a different strategies as debates, games, etc. to win over opinions. Folks at the top, on both sides, really do need strong strategic plans for mapping out the plan and end result of wars; and it appears they need to review them constantly to see what is and is not working. Lately, it appears that we are sold a lot of rhetoric that only McC knows all about the wars. Only McC can win the War. How and when does he plan to tell us which wars he has won, and how did he win them. I used to like the game TUGoWAR, but I've forgotten
the rules of the game. Yes,I remember I did win a few games. To use the words like:"I know how to win",and "he is
completely wrong about how to win" is a kind of child's play hype whereas little
kids try to bully their opponents. Usually that's the kid who loses the game and all of his marbles. We believe in Obama and we sure do love the hype that's coming out of these foreign countries where he is acting & looking more and more like our PRESIDENT.

John McCain is right when he says that Obama has got it wrong, as pulling out ahead of the optimum time will have our troops getting shot in the back again, John I know you are the one candidate who is standing up for our forces and their lives and protecting their integrity. Pulling out for political opportunism, repeating the vietnam spit in the face is now intolerable. Please John, continue to lead and don't let your democrat opponents treat America like they did last time.

Who wants to listen to an other Bush rant on about nothing. They both had their Waterloo in Iraq. McCain is like a Parrot, Bush tells lies, McCain repeats them. At one time McCain could think for himself, but that has passed. Dance John, Georgi-boi is pulling your strings

McCain said he knows how to win wars. What wars has he won?

Well, Dufus, show us where that border of Iraq and Pakistan come together and we'll believe you. God, you cannot make this s*** up. This guy can't have any toes left.

mccain is fixated on this "victory" thing. our post-ww2 history is fraught with military losses, and so what? sometimes, as in somalia, we just admit we made a mistake andleave, as noted in this: www.straightrecord.com/military. mccain says when we win, our troops come home. they also come home when we cut and run, if that is how you want to put it.

WP Editors:

I would appreciate it if you alerted the nation to the educational crisis that we are in.

Having an ignorant population is not going to help America build and sustain competitive advantage in the global, knowledge-based economy.

Thank you.

Re: JR Boston

"Thanks to President Bush we are mortgaging our future to our friends, the Chinese."

Where did you get this idea??? -premier

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We issue treasury securities, government bonds, to finance our debt. And the Chinese buy them. We owe them - and Japan - a lot of money because Bush mismanaged the economy and spent a lot more money than he had in his budget. Once upon a time, 2000, McCain called him out on this. Now that he needs Bush's support he is embracing the same ruinous economic policies.

Running the government budget is like running a family budget. If the debt becomes too large then the interest payments become unmanageable. Sooner or later we have to increase revenues (raise taxes) and/or cut spending (entitlements like medicare, medicaid, social security, etc.) - or we will go bankrupt.

All I see is 2 bitter OLD men.

WP Editors:

I would be appreciated if you can inform the American public about "how much" America is globalized at this point.

Those who accuse China or foreign allies are spreading false information, which I think serious. If this is what Obama Campaign is doing, then they are liable for disseminating such false information.

Thank you.

"Obama completely wrong on Iraq"

Never mind the fact Iraq wants a timetable for our withdrawal. The President of the United States is starting to lean this way by saying, ahem, "general time horizon". John McCain was quoted earlier today in Buffalo as saying troops could withdrawal within 2 years. Yet the whole time Obama's strategy in Iraq has flirted with a withdrawal in about 16 months...most lately with some fairly obvious requirements.

You have to love the stupidity of the average Republican voter to actually not see the forest behind the trees on this one. See, dummies, they've been feeding your incoherent brains the negative association of Iraq and timetable every 40 seconds on Fox news for so long you start salivating like Pavlov's dog. They don't want to be defeated in this election by those who've been conditioned this way. So the new play here is to take the Democrat's position on a "timetable". But see they have to call it something kinder and gentler or different, like "general time horizon". Then finish up the sell job by calling the democratic challenger wrong. Timeframe, timetable, schedule, ballbark figure, estimation, expectation, "general time horizon", rough idea, as to when we are going to leave, call it whatever you want. Its the same thing, especially when we are down to a few months separation between plans.

Another thing on my mind. I'd love to know how people can call McCain "The Mavrick" with a straight face. Never mind McCain's voting record. Lets first adjust that record for flip-flop in a similar manner as some people might adjust a financial comparison for inflation. Most people who claim to be conservative should be familiar with the concept. See, he's publicly denounced most of that record which showed him to be "the Mavrick." That is a very important point to remember. So then think about. If you adjust for flip-flop his record is extremely conservative. He can't have it both ways. Lately he's chosen to distance or completely separate himself from his previous record. Well, which is it? The only thing he's in the middle on are the two sides of the mouth he speaks from.

"You see -- all our people are business men, their loyalty is based on that. Now, one thing that I learned from Pop was to try to think as people around you think. Now on that basis, anything's possible." Michael Corleone, Godfather II

The surge worked because we bribed the Sunnis to stop attacking us. And the money, weapons and training we've given them will come back to haunt us someday. After all, Al Qaeda are Sunni.

They pretend to like us now, but when we are gone the Shias and Sunnis, who both despise us, are going to try to kill each other again. If we stay, we are playing both sides of a civil war against each other. If we go, the situation may escalate and Iran and the Saudis may join in. There is no clear exit strategy in Iraq.

But we've spent trillions making them a sovereign democracy. And if they want us to leave, then we have to leave.

Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield, McCain, Halliburton and Blackwater are all despicable.

Re: JR Boston

"Thanks to President Bush we are mortgaging our future to our friends, the Chinese."

Where did you get this idea???

Obama is wrong on Iraq?


"I believe that we can win an overwhelming victory in a very short period of time."
McCain discussing the war in Iraq in an interview on CNN. September 29, 2002.


http://www.stopthinkvote.com/quotes.html

Things are more peaceful in Iraq. Obama has noted that. That does not mean that the increase in troops had anything to do with that. Gen Patraeus was successful but that is a far cry from the surge worked.
Again Iraq is more peaceful. If McCain takes enough positions in his life he is bound to be right a few times. Anyone in so need of recognition must not be used to being correct very often.

Time for Bush/Cheney and McCain to get a reality check. They are facists and we don't want them ruling us any more ever again. Comprendez? Never ever!!!!!!

Mr McCain felt he had to say completely wrong in instead of wrong because if he did not engage in hyperbole, no one would believe him They say that as people get older people revert to more juvenile thinking. McCain is too young for this kind of reversion. I suppose he is so frustrated that his campaign can't gain traction while Obama communicates with the American people.

The NYT wants to give him an opportunity to do such communication and all McCain wants to do is issue bitter attacks and give no information to the American people. His newcampaign director was suppose to focus his campaign and increase the attacks. McCain seems to attack more but there seems to be no focus to his campaign. McCain missed his opportunity to define Obama.

Since Hillary dropped out, Obama has defined himself very well. I have not seen a poll questioning which candidate people know more about? I suspect that it is Obama rather than McCain, even tough McCain has been on the scene much longer.

I think McCain is projecting his campaign's failure on the press. Hillary did that at about the time that her campaign was over. At least at the time that others knew it was over. Maybe John knows something we don't.

If we embrace his logic Prime Minister Malaki is also in error.

Source: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,566852-2,00.html

SPIEGEL: How short-term? Are you hoping for a new agreement before the end of the Bush administration?

Maliki: So far the Americans have had trouble agreeing to a concrete timetable for withdrawal, because they feel it would appear tantamount to an admission of defeat. But that isn't the case at all. If we come to an agreement, it is not evidence of a defeat, but of a victory, of a severe blow we have inflicted on al-Qaida and the militias. The American lead negotiators realize this now, and that's why I expect to see an agreement taking shape even before the end of President Bush's term in office. With these negotiations, we will start the whole thing over again, on a clearer, better basis, because the first proposals were unacceptable to us.

SPIEGEL: Immunity for the US troops is apparently the central issue.

Maliki: It is a fundamental problem for us that it should not be possible, in my country, to prosecute offences or crimes committed by US soldiers against our population. But other issues are no less important: How much longer will these soldiers remain in our country? How much authority do they have? Who controls how many, soldiers enter and leave the country and where they do so?

SPIEGEL: Would you hazard a prediction as to when most of the US troops will finally leave Iraq?

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07/19/2008

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SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH IRAQ LEADER NOURI AL-MALIKI
'The Tenure of Coalition Troops in Iraq Should Be Limited'

Part 2: 'As Soon as Possible'

Maliki: As soon as possible, as far as we're concerned. U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes.

SPIEGEL: Is this an endorsement for the US presidential election in November? Does Obama, who has no military background, ultimately have a better understanding of Iraq than war hero John McCain?

Maliki: Those who operate on the premise of short time periods in Iraq today are being more realistic. Artificially prolonging the tenure of US troops in Iraq would cause problems. Of course, this is by no means an election endorsement. Who they choose as their president is the Americans' business. But it's the business of Iraqis to say what they want. And that's where the people and the government are in general agreement: The tenure of the coalition troops in Iraq should be limited.

SPIEGEL: In your opinion, which factor has contributed most to bringing calm to the situation in the country?

Maliki: There are many factors, but I see them in the following order. First, there is the political rapprochement we have managed to achieve in central Iraq. This has enabled us, above all, to pull the plug on al-Qaida. Second, there is the progress being made by our security forces. Third, there is the deep sense of abhorrence with which the population has reacted to the atrocities of al-Qaida and the militias. Finally, of course, there is the economic recovery.

A cohesive argument is a 'mistranslation' in Bushspeak.

Bush/Cheney and McCain are wrong on just about everything they speak about. Just give it up - you are facists and we don't want you ruling us ever again, ever again. Comprendez?

McCain cannot spin this week into anything but what it is: a disaster for his campaign.

After visiting Iraq 8 times McCain still does not know that Iraq and Pakistan do not share a common border. The majority of Americans dislike Bush because he betrayed their trust, but they do not pity him. With McCain, it is like watching a favorite old uncle fumbling for some words he has long forgotten and having to pretend one did not notice. Very embarassing.

There is an unwritten code here, that if your Democratic party voted for the war in Iraq, whatever your vote personally may have been, the position of the party should also be your thereon whenever you consider to running for public office under the ticket of the Democratic party.
But if it is still an unsettled issue to you then you should try to fight the party's position first or move on to another party and run under its ticket,...that is you have the ball.

That's the first time I've ever seen a double head profile Photo Op.
Wonder who's idea that was, because there was still enough rumpled skin to go around.
Geez you are looking at 155 years of rot right there!

Question: Is the person to the right of John McCain hoping to become McCains VP?
He's old enough too!

I thought Mrs. Obama looked like a sasquatch in a dress.
Posted by: PeaPod | July 21, 2008 11:45 PM
_______________________________

Where have you seen a sasquatch before, on your mother?

Just watched McCain, looking an awful lot like Mini Mi, braying about how he didn't have to learn on the job.

Aside from the fact that he needs to read a recent Atlas, perhaps he should take a look at the troop strength in the Pentagon, not to mention the budget of the United States.

Seems to me he has a lot to learn.

I thought Mrs. Obama looked like a sasquatch in a dress.

McCain is probably bringing Romney in to help with finances. Romney is rich and is trusted by the corrupt business types that like to fund Republican campaigns in return for special favors.

McCain can't win on policy positions so the sooner he can get more money flowing the sooner he can attack Obama's image with ads.

Romney VP contracts are going for 35c on Intrade now.

Isn't it clear to everyone that the Iraqi leaderships are trying to influence November's election. They are Islamic militants down to the core. Posted by: Talal | July 21, 2008 11:20 PM
___________________________________

Look, this Maliki character was Bush's democratically elected Iraqi prime minister
last week, according to Shrub himself. Now that he talks to Obama he's a "Militant Islamist"?
You NEOCONS are really upset about Obama having taken McCain advice to visit Iraq and Afghanistan aren't ya'll!
Look, McCain and his health care aids screwed up big time on this one. And I'll bet there is more to come.
Debates anyone? What's the format, interpreters for McCain?

Dianne72, yeah, I see Mrs. Obama having tea with the Queen (and the Queen Mum) long before you sit and have tea or a beer with any of the named women. You seem to be such low-class that a double-wide is not fitting for you. Perhaps a sewer is more fitting for you, where you can dwell with the rest of the filth.

Senator McCain, I am sorry but Obama was right about the war you support. It has killed men and women needlessly and has bled our treasury dry (Halliburton full employment act via Shotgun Dick). THis war has eroded our international standing and our moral voice on the international stage. Our troops a maxed out worse than most people's credit cards, and it shows how ill prepared the VA is to care for the walking wounded (both in body and soul). So once again, you dream of the troops returning home with victory and honor is a bill of goods that you are trying to sell to America. Say good-bye, Senator McCain, and take Momma-warbucks as your wife with you.

Not a good photo-op for McCain. McCain and GHW Bush look like they are the same age (even though McCain is 71 and GHW Bush is 84)!

The statements from the Prime Minister of Iraq along with Obama's international tour will dominate the news cycle all this week. All this McCain camp talk about releasing the name of McCain's VP choice is simply talk to throw the MSM into a frenzie to diminish Obama's international tour.

The McCain camp is not going to give away a tactical advantage by revealing their VP choice before Obama does.

So McCain wants to continue the failed policies of Bush, but Obama is wrong? Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Thanks to President Bush we are mortgaging our future to our friends, the Chinese. We are a wealthy nation, but we can't or won't provide health care and a decent education for our people. Fish started dying 30 years ago from acid rain and we are just now - after 20 years of Reagan and Bush Administrations - starting to get political consensus, but we may have already passed the tipping point. We were put in a war - against a country that did not pose a clear and present danger - that will cost trillions, but has no exit strategy whatsoever. Gas is $4 a gallon. The dollar is in decline. The housing bubble is beginning to burst. And our financial institutions are collapsing. So much for unregulated markets. If the big financials do well, it's a windfall for the investors. When they fail, they get bailed out by taxpayers. The richest 1% reap all of the profits, and everybody else assumes the risks but doesn't get health care or a good inexpensive education. That's fair.

Obama has it right. McCain has it wrong.

"The big question is: why is Obama still alive?"

Because Hillary can't come up the scratch to hire an assassin?

McCain is scary.

Remember what Obama said: I will withdraw all US troops from Iraq withing 16 months. Make him keep his words, or punish him if he doesn't keep them. Remember his pledge, people.

The big question is: why is Obama still alive?
Posted by: El Toro | July 21, 2008 11:15 PM
_____________________________________

No, the big one is: Why wasn't your mother stillborn?

Isn't it clear to everyone that the Iraqi leaderships are trying to influence November's election. They are Islamic militants down to the core. They favor Obama because Obama is their brother. Obama will look out for the Islamic states and under Obama's leadership, the US will start to be nice and apologetic to these states. Starting January 2009, it will be the United States of Obama. America is Obama country.

Yes, I am a racist slob.
Posted by: Dianne72 | July 21, 2008 11:11 PM
________________________________

Don't ya'll try to climb up to slob rank sweetheart. You are a racist pig!

The big question is: why is Obama still alive?

Yes, I am a racist slob. I resent the Obamas, because MY best dream is to move up to a doublewide, and they have passed me by long ago on the socio/economic pecking order.

And it's just not fair.

To Dianne72 who posted on July 21, 2008 10:14 PM. I think your comment petty and rather stupid. Your penalty for such a sorry posting is that you will be subject to having your picture taken chewing food. And it will be posted and widely circulated on the internet and in newspapers. And, people will be inited to make their opinion of how suitable it might be for anyone to sit down with you for a meal including the Queen of England.

Did I hear you right,

Without a stable Iraqi government that insures the flow of Iraqi crude to the world market, our chances of regaining economic growth are damn near zero. That stability was insured by the surge, the one Obama wrongly opposed.

My friend, Iraq will never be stable, the gas is gone and to many have died because of people like you. Read the History of the middle East. It will not change. The only surge that will work is a quick witdrrawl.
Get over it, get ready to feel the pinch and it will be a big one. Just a a gran dad from Canada.

To Manolete who posted on July 21, 2008 at 9:10 PM about some monkey. I take it that you are singing about yourself? I hope so, because what your little song there otherwise might suggest is derogatory and inappropriate.

Diane 72:

What in the hell do your racist comments have to do with this article?

You are getting flagged, dear.

I forgot to mention that "surge" does not matter. If you can't understand, then just read newspapers and think.

Re: Senator McCain Advisors

CNN reports that "McCain's rejected op-ed was a lengthy critique of Obama's positions on Iraq policy, particularly his view of the surge."

What are YOU doing? Have you not figured out what is happening? I can't even believe this.

DO NOT criticize Senator Obama. Why are you pursuing him for what??? Why are you writing a piece for NYT???

If you can't think, just stay home. If you can't think, do not pretend. Are you still being paid for such stupid act?

"the surge worked"

HA! Is that the same as saying the military didn't do the job for the first 5 years? That the first 120,000 soldiers weren't enough? Oh maybe they were improperly deployed within Iraq?

The first "surge" was a huge policy blunder. It has yet to be said or seen what the actual effects of the second "surge" were in Iraq.

Are the Iraqi's to be given any credit for what is happening in Iraq? YES!

No "surge" talking point is going make the war in Iraq anymore or less just.

Where does the buck stop Republicans?

This war in Iraq is EXACTLY what the experts (the CIA, Pentagon) said it was going to be.

Fools rush in and that is what we did going into Iraq, so calling the people wanting this war stupid or arrogant fits the bill just fine.

The military commanders do not want unnecessary deaths, but right now, they are on the ground in Iraq, by order of President Bush. People are dying all around our troops and they cannot do much about it.

If the experts said it would be this way, why did we not take the time to create a better plan? I think I know part of the reasons: "politics".

The people wanting this war needed it to BEGIN quickly or it might never come to pass.

How unfortunate for our brothers and sisters in the military that they can be wasted along side of Iraqi people without a known, true and just cause.

If you don't think the public should be up in arms about the US involvement in Iraq then you're not listening and all the while you will resort to name calling and bashing the dissent to protect your honor for supporting incompetent leaders who push cursory policies.

If you think this war in Iraq is a "war by all those who love freedom" you are sadly mistaken.

Iraq is a fool's war. Getting out of the fools war will require the fools to be ousted, being replaced by folks who can actually reason.

We might not own Iraq but we certainly are paying for it.

Out in Cali there is a property owner memorializing every US service death in Iraq. Yes, there are literally 4000 crosses on their property. They represent to me the tragedy that can be the MIS-USE of our military. The Vietnam memorial means the same to some from that era. The WW2 memorials mark a time of unification of the world to bring down two empires-to-be.

What will the Iraqi war memorial look like?

How many names are going to be on it?

Will we obfuscate the reasons for the fallen for our own historical gratification?

The surge worked so well that we are not discussing a withdrawal that looked like the helicopter taking off from the roof of the Saigon embassy any longer.

Without a stable Iraqi government that insures the flow of Iraqi crude to the world market, our chances of regaining economic growth are damn near zero. That stability was insured by the surge, the one Obama wrongly opposed.

The surge did not work: (1) the war is still a mistake grounded in false WMD accussations (2)the people that were killed before the surge are still dead and in fact more people (including US soldiers) were killed since then (3) the surge did not amend the suffering of the iraqui people, e.g. 4 million of them are still refugees (4)the US reputation is still is still in the ditch and will be until we apologize and pay restitution to the iraqui people for invading their country on false accusations (WMD, 9/11) (5)Iraq and the Middle East will continue to be a region divided along religious lines and old animosities; our invasion is making this problem worse

"In my view this woman lacks the poise, grace, and good breeding to be First Lady."

What?

"good breeding"?

Oh.....you mean she wasn't raised with a silver spoon in her mouth? Please.

Conservatives died and left only ugliness behind.

There are folks I know who voted for Bush......but they are independent thinkers who say Obama is looking like the better choice for us in Nov.

The so called Republicans I hear these days are usually loud mouth freaks that can't get anyone to listen to them, so they stay at home and lose touch with society, staring endlessly into the abyss of propaganda from Faux News and Rush Limp-dik.

What happened to Republicans?

Even those who do not call themselves conservatives must acknowledge the power and enduring value of core conservative beliefs: belief in individual agency and responsibility, respect for American institutions and traditions, a willingness to take principled moral stands. It is a movement that draws its inspiration from towering figures: Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, Edmund Burke. It stands for caution in foreign adventures, fiscal sobriety and a profound respect for tradition.

Today's conservatism is a caricature of that movement:

It embraces pointless wars, runs up a vast debt, and trashes the Constitution. Selling out their principles for power, abandoning deeply seated American values and traditions simply because someone on "their side" demanded that they do so, conservatives have made a deal with the devil that has reduced their movement to an empty, ends-obsessed shell.

How did the party of Lincoln end up marching under the banner of Tom DeLay and Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney and Ann Coulter?

"When you win wars, troops come home," McCain said.

McCain came home from Vietnam. Guess we must have won. After all he "knows how to win wars."

GIGGLE GIGGLE GIGGLE. What a doddering old fool!

Dianne, still being the racist pig.

Oink for the folks, girl.

;)

I would not vote for John McCain, the repug not the 70's Quinn Martin Production, if you water boarded me.

Mcsame is saying more of the same. He should select bush as his vp. Mcsame is from the school of when you are in a hole keep digging deeper. The man from Arizona is showing more and more that he is as pig headed as bush and just as confused, yet the press lets his basic repeated mispeaks go unchanllenged.

"time horizons"

But the fact of the matter is that we've committed over two trillion dollars to install a democracy in a place that would like nothing more than to vote us out completely.

What kind of Republican logic is that?

We could have invested that money in schools. We should have invested that money in schools.

I never want to have to have these stupid arguments again.

100 KIA per month.

At best the Iraq was waged based on false information. The question is, was the false information deliberate? If so the author of the false information needs to go in front of the firing squad? If not deliberate but due to incompetence that would be a clear case of malfeasance and then should be removed from office. To continue a War after that is criminal. We need to get out with more care than getting in. A "Time Horizon" is like somewhere over the Rainbow. Bush/McCain must be right if Obama is wrong. 70% of the American people believe Obama is right but that doesn't matter to Bush/McCain.

This would be an entirely different discussion if we were still suffering the 100 KIA that we were enduring before the surge. Obama simply displayed poor judgment in opposing it.

OOOOh please....

You propagandist tools should do America a favor:

Load it...put it to your face, then press.

Smell that?

That's what deceit smells like....

.....it has become you.

Republicans are sad; an angry tragedian the worst America has to offer.

We have yet to endure the tactical and strategic blunder that the war in Iraq really is.

I know! Why don't we bomb other countries that have schools, water, power, and police for their people? We can quickly lower the population, while creating enemies for our industrial military complex?

How's that sound Republicans?

Bush Sees "Defining Moment" In Iraq? He saw WMD, Al Qaeda; mobile weapons labs, terrorist training facilities, missiles that could reach New York, 45-minute ready chemical weapons, none of which were there.

What he will see is his legacy and his Parties demise, but at least I got my $600 "economic stimulus" check from China!!

You wanna get some Republicans?....lets go.........other wise go sit in the corner with your talking point spewing fallacy of a constituency.....

The deception metastasizes as the months and causalities mount......meanwhile.........

The President who was never deigned to go to Dover Air Force Base to salute the fallen who are coming home says no photographs of their coffins can be permitted because that would hurt the feelings of the families. This is false, tragically false; the real reason is that day after day the photos would starkly reveal the price of Bush's folly.

The great Rousseau said it:
"...Conservatives have learned nothing and forgotten nothing"

McCain accuses Obama of being wrong????

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHA!

Poor McCain, he doesn't have a foot to stand on!

What did 4000+ American men and women die for? To defend this nation and its constitution - and you shouldn't belittle their sacrifice for political gain.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I've been overseas, ok. And I know that we did not need to go to war with Iraq. We should have gone after Bin Ladin harder. That would have been in the national interest.

Bush dropped the ball.

No one is belittling the troops. And they should never be sent off to fight a war like that again.

McCain can irresponsibly blab about bomb, bomb, bomb Iran, and you guys can support him all you want, this is a free country.

It appears that McCain is one of the small minority of people who think our actions in Iraq were/are right. Given his refusal to define what victory meant in order to get his op ed piece published in the NY Times, it seems his credibility is a little bit low at the moment. Last time I checked we are supposed to have civilian control of the military. Any self-respecting general always wants a war to prove his stuff. It is up to political leaders to have the judgement to know when our national interests are best served by peace with honor rather than war to boost military egos.

Republican = a stunning lack of competency.

McCain's Power Outage

Contradictions and misstatements short-circuit McCain's energy policy pronouncements.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/142500

About those 300 McCain-loving economists?
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16138.html

John McCain has ramped up his fake-populist rhetoric recently, saying that helping the people who are struggling to pay their mortgages, fill their gas tanks, and put food on the table will be his "first priority in setting the economic policies of this nation." [johnmccain.com, accessed 4/17/08]

Yet at the same time, McCain has said that some of the problems families are facing are "psychological." In fact, according to McCain himself, his proposal to suspend the gas tax this summer--one of the main focal points of his new economic plan--is nothing more than "a little psychological boost." [CNN Debate, 1/30/08; Your World with Neil Cavuto, 4/16/08]

RUSSERT: The fact is you are different than George Bush.

SEN. McCAIN: No. No. The fact is that I have agreed with President Bush far more than I have disagreed. And on the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I've been totally in agreement and support of President Bush.

Here. Listen to McCain and decide for yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c&NR=1

Personally.....I'm voting with the Democrats in Nov, but I have yet to find ONE reason that McCain would deserve my vote.

What did 4000+ American men and women die for? To defend this nation and its constitution - and you shouldn't belittle their sacrifice for political gain.

This nation went to war. It took on an obligation to the men and women who fought in that war, and to the Iraqi people. The press assisted in the manipulation and manufacturing of support by the American people and its congress - the same way they are attempting to manufacture support for the most unqualified individual to ever seek being commander in chief - and lost in all your blogging is the enormous success over the last 18 months of Gen. Petraeus and his troops to change the course of history in Iraq from what was described as being on the brink of civil war that could spread to a regional war, too providing a more safe and secure environment for this yahoo to take his photo ops while belittling the enormous sacrifice and success of the very people who we should be focused on.

Partisan, sort-sighted, condescending people like you disgust me. There is nothing in Obama's record to suggest he has the capability to be a successful Commander in Chief - from his drug induced identity journey he chronicled as a young man, to his political manipulation of the American public who are desperate for shared sacrifice, real leadership, and authentic change that Obama has never shown an ability to deliver.

"the enevitable influence Iran will have over Iraq when we finaly leave"

I don't agree that it's "enevitable."

The Persians and the Arabs have fought for centuries. Why would free Shias in Basra, with their oil revenues, agree to be Tehran's client state?

And the Kurds are booming, finally having self-determination.

I'm coming to believe that die-hard Bush-haters WANT the nascent Iraqi democracy to fail, just to be able to stick it to Dubya. Grind that axe, down to the nubbins.

I'm more interested in the future, and how we are to get there.

I'll decide between the candidates in November. Their positions will be better defined (or redefined) by then, and we'll see where Iraq is.

If you actually knew anything you would know we would be better off with a puppet government in there like Sadam. We knew he was a bluff and could have had him on a string. we could have had all the oil we wanted if not for Bush

=============
"History will undoubtedly record that Barack Obama was right on opposing the Iraq invasion and John McCain was wrong."

Undoubtedly?

If wrongly proposed and incompetently executed, the removal of Saddam and his sub-human offspring (remember them?) may well prove, over the years, to be a positive thing.

Undoubtedly is a long, long time.

Posted by: Chuckamok | July 21, 2008 9:10 PM

Poor old John McCain. Obama makes a proposal to extricate ourselves from Iraq, and the Iraqis say "yeah, that's about right." McCain says Obama is completely wrong on Iraq. McCain says the Iraqs are completely wrong on Iraq. Poor old John McCain.

time horizons

for sale in Waterbury CT

The only thing Obama has demonstrated is his willingness to win his own next election at any cost - he most certainly hasn't demonstrated any principles or shared in the sacrifice to defend this nation.

Contrast that with Senator McCain's long history of doing the right thing regardless of the consequences to his own future - from the defining moment in his life when he refused early release as a POW because of PRINCIPLE - to a distinguished legislative record of working across party lines that led the last Democratic Presidential Nominee to toy with the idea of selecting him as his running mate, to his politically risky support of a change in strategy 18 months ago that all the pundits predicted would end his political career, to doing the right thing of seeking a humane treatment of illegal aliens residing in this nation.

Obama isn't only completely wrong on Iraq, he is wrong for this country - no record of supporting or delivering change in Chicago, Cook County, or the state of IL - and little hope he can deliver it in Washington - No military experience what so ever - No foreign policy experience beyond a play ground in Indonesia - No landmark legislation passed into law - No rational reason to merit being the leader of the free world.

"liberated THEMSELVES now -from al quaeda and Iran."

If by liberated you mean, finally rid Iraq of al quaeda, an enemy that wasn't there in the first place?

......and by Iran you mean, befriended half of the population that has close ties with Iran, and the enevitable influence Iran will have over Iraq when we finaly leave?

No more fearmongers. No more Republicans.

We already won the Iraq war twice. The first time, back in '91 we negotiated a cease fire agreement. And in '03 we marched into Baghdad, captured Saddam Hussein, and then installed a government friendly to us. We won the war.

The only question now is whether we are going to win the peace. And that is a trickier proposition, and it can't be done with troops.

When you install an Arab democracy, then you have to abide by the wishes of the people in that country. That's why you have to be careful what you ask for.

The notion that we would be greeted as liberators was a lie. As was the notion that it was about spreading democracy. Anybody who knows anything about the Arabs knows that they'd vote us completely out of their countries in a heartbeat.

So, what is winning? Contracts for our oil companies.... A residual force so that we can prevent Iraq and Iran from joining forces against us... But, guess what, Iraq is a sovereign democracy now, so if they want a strategic alliance with Iran they can have one. And they can sell their oil to whomever they please.

What did 4,000 Americans die for?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/opinion/25friedman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

"Taking Ownership of Iraq?"

Tom Friedman maintains that the Iraqis have liberated THEMSELVES now - from al quaeda and Iran.

So - in the NY Times - I read hope for the future?

;)

Someone on the post has already said it pretty well, but I'll add this:

John McCain is worried about "winning". Don't think he's ever gotten past Vietnam, and thats really a shame.

Obama sees the greater picture beyond "winning". I think he visualizes an actual strategy for Afghanistan and getting Bin Laden....and a greater strategy for what needs to happen here at home.

I want someone to lead us into the 21st century, not back into the Dark Ages. The fact of the matter is and the GOP doesn't like this little bit, is that people are coming around that it is better to share than to hoard.

OK you toe tappers, just forget the facts....you tools are "right".

The economy has made great progress. Obama supporters are welfare sponges. Democrats are traitors. Republicans are patriots. America is admired around the world. The constitution is for weaklings. Everyone to the left of Dick Cheney is a socialist. We now own Mexico and China. The Saudis beg us for more oil. The millions facing foreclosure are whiners. The largest income inequality since the Great Depression is meaningless. Al-Qaeda has been destroyed. Iran has been weakened. Federal spending over the last 8 years has reduced by a trillion dollars. Scientific facts are a liberal conspiracy. 82% who think the country is on the wrong track drink kool-aid. 66% who disapprove of Bush are communists. Upper-income tax cuts during war make sense. The dollar has never been stronger. NAFTA creates jobs. Only greedy poor people and the media bellyache about skyrocketing gas prices.

After 8 years of the greatest president of all time, Obama will destroy America.

Four more years! Four more years!
Your more fears! Your more fears!

LMAO..... and Bush/Cheney/McCain have not been completely wrong on Iraq every day for the past 5-6 years?

"History will undoubtedly record that Barack Obama was right on opposing the Iraq invasion and John McCain was wrong."

Undoubtedly?

If wrongly proposed and incompetently executed, the removal of Saddam and his sub-human offspring (remember them?) may well prove, over the years, to be a positive thing.

Undoubtedly is a long, long time.

If a monkey could sing, dance and speak English well, the world would be excited and the liberal media would be the first to cover it as great news.

If a monkey could dance, sing and speak English well, it would be something everyone would love to see, specially other monkeys who can not sing, dance or speak English well.

If a monkey could dance, sing and speak English well, the liberal media would make lots of money covering he news. But the talented monkey would belong in a circus where the world could be entertained.

If a monkey could dance, sing and speak English well...............

So...the New York Times refuses to publish a McCain Op-Ed after publishing the Obama Op-Ed. Why is it that liberals want to control the press and everything about our lives...to include our income and wealth? If people think that Bush and the Republicans controlled things, it will be a huge step up when and if Obama and his fellow liberal Democrats take over and really control our lives...with income redistribution and socialism.

History will undoubtedly record that Barack Obama was right on opposing the Iraq invasion and John McCain was wrong. We wouldn't even be debating the surge if we weren't there to begin with. This war has been sustained upon a mountain of deception and untruth. John McCain has been - and is - an enthusiastic participant in this folly, for which America will be paying dearly for decades.

Lets face it. The McCain POW "story" has many holes in it.

- He was not injured by his guards, but rather when he ejected from his plane-
- He tells various versions of his treatment, depending on the audience. Who knows which version, if any, is true?-
- Even Nancy Regan once said "John tells interesting stories."
- Two fellow prisoners claim he got "easier treatment" than most prisoners-
- He was last in his class at the Naval Academy-
- He was such a poor pilot, he crashed 5-planes-
- The fighter squandron he lead, was not in Viet Nam, but based in San Diego and consisted of "soon to be junked planes"
- He refuses to release his military records, unlike John Kerry, who did-
- Is McCain "fit to hold office?"-
- He abandoned his first wife and married Cindy 6-months after he met her. That is why his children, from this first marriage refuse to campaign with him-
- McCain took payoffs from a local banker, and was sanctioned by the US Senate in the 1980s, barely escaping an indictment-
- His frequent verbal gaffes worry his staff about the debates- (They'll be happy as long as he does not drool)-
-Two GOP Senators have said they would be "scared" if he were President because of his "temper"

--If McCain were a tv channel he would be the "War Channel: All War, All the time".-

- Being a POW does not make McCain qualified to be president-
- There were two POW's from my home town-
- None of them milked their experience for a lifetime on the public payroll-
---McCain: The More You Know....The Less You Know.."

Sen. McCain must be reading last month's papers, assuming he does that. Al-Maliki and Obama are in synchronization and even Bush and Condi can see the "horizon," perhaps together.

"Obama is touring Baghdad in a long sleeve white cotton shirt. For all the "secrecy" of his movements, the bad guys know where he is and could try to take a shot at him if they wished."

But they don't. Obama must be their preferred candidate, no?

And there is NO truth to the rumor of a beamy woman in a pant-suit/burka outfit skulking around the Green Zone.

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The Republicans have been claiming Military acumen for themselves for so long, and getting by with it, even though they have regularly CUT military budgets whenever they are permitted to, that John can declare Obama wrong and expect it to resonate.

Now, however, we have eight years of George and his military ineptitude so blatant that even the 26%ers recognize that George was wrong. They will support John because to do otherwise would be to admit that they too were wrong, right to the bitter end of their string, and when they become another failed party, until the last George Will or Cal Thomas remains to call up the glory of those wonderful days of Conservative principles, but really it has ceased to matter.

Obama is touring Baghdad in a long sleeve white cotton shirt. For all the "secrecy" of his movements, the bad guys know where he is and could try to take a shot at him if they wished. BHO, unlike GWB and the nefarious DC, isn't a skulking coward.

America sees that. It ought to matter.

"If we had gone to Baghdad, we would have been all alone. It would have been a U.S. occupation of Iraq."

"Once you got to Iraq and took it over, took down Saddam Hussein's government, then what are you going to put in its place?"

"That's a very volatile part of the world, and if you take down the central government of Iraq, you can easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off."

"It's a quag