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McCain: Obama's Position On Iraq Will Change If He Visits There
In the latest round of the foreign policy debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, McCain said he is glad to hear of reports that Obama is considering taking another trip to Iraq -- a trip that McCain says will change Obama's whole position.
"It's long overdue," McCain said. "It's been 871 days since he was there and I'm confident that when he goes he will then change his position on the conflict in Iraq because he will see the success that has been achieved on the ground."
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Success on the ground would only confirm that we no longer need to be there. Right?
McCain's philosophy that we need troops there forever regardless of anything make no sense whatsoever.
May 29, 2008 8:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Congrats to McSame for using the words "success" and "Iraq" in the same,/b>sentence.
May 29, 2008 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama will go to Iraq, and he'll be a better critic of the war for doing so.
May 29, 2008 8:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
McCain is such a sad campaigner compared to Obama.
May 29, 2008 8:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama can get a sense of the conditions on the ground in Iraq by talking to soldiers at a vet hospital. And that's what he should do.
May 29, 2008 9:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
He should go to Afghanistan too like Clinton.
Then resign his oversight chair since he has failed to have hearings like Lieberman.
May 29, 2008 9:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wow. Lieberman? Really? Did you mean to go to LGF and accidentally came here somehow?
Maybe you & Hagee can carpool over to Joe's place.
May 29, 2008 9:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Gotnolife, how about Clinton make a pit-stop in Tehran for a working lunch with IamADinnerJacket?
May 29, 2008 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've never heard Obama say progress hasn't been made in Iraq in terms of security. What I have heard him cite is the lack of political progress -something you don't need to go there to see.
May 29, 2008 9:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
However, never expect McCain to give a straight answer. Look how many times he HAS been to Iraq and he still spouts the Administration BS. If going to Iraq is all that helpful, wonder why it did not inform him as to how terrible things are going. And, BTW, Senator McCain, just how many of the benchmarks that Bush himself told the government of Iraq they HAD to meet are in fact met? As I thought, very very few if any are completely met. When McCain shows me HE understands Iraq, I might, as I said, MIGHT think he has some room to talk about Barack's ideas on Iraq. The straight talk express has gotten on the 7,422 excuse stop line these days. And I even live in Arizona where the Straight Talker has crashed and now has the title of the Straight BS Talker..
May 29, 2008 11:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
McCain and Co. will tell you that the problem with the war in Iraq has been in its execution. The war was not the problem, just bad management. Yet, contra McCain, others insist that had we known then, what we know now, we would not have gone to war. But the fact is that many of us did know, or at least knew enough, and were angry and demoralized because there was nothing we could do to stop the war. (And we didn't have to go to Iraq to know that the war needed to be stopped.) Through poor judgment or political calculation (or both), our representatives in the House and Senate voted to authorize Bush’s war on October 11, 2002. Just five five months later, on March 18, 2003, the war began. And now, five years later, in some sort of bizarre parody of Churchill, we have McCain calling for victory and promising never to surrender. (Never surrender to what or to whom?)
"Iraq: It Was Never the Right Choice (and we told you so)" http://msa4.wordpress.com/
May 29, 2008 11:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
THIS IS EXCELLENT BS!!! FROM MCCANE!!!
May 29, 2008 9:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
While there he should go on a mideast tour including egypt, isreal, jordan, saudi arabia and kuwait. I would add syria, but that would blow up based on this country's horrible foreign policy in the middle east. Do a diplomacy fact finding tour for a week and a half. Then come back with when was the last time mccain met with our allies in the region and explored diplomatic solutions to the iraq debacle?
May 29, 2008 9:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm glad he's going to get the Republicans off his back for that garbage. I don't know what McCain was thinking when he said he'll change his position if he visits there, though. Maybe he didn't expect Obama to actually plan a trip.
May 29, 2008 9:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
I want to second the points khodges, Charles Hussein Bukowski, Frog Leg, and turnip have made, and add that any such trip should only be considered if it is constructed in a way that grants McCain no legitimacy for his original challenge and does not distract the campaign from closing out the nomination process. I do not know when Obama would have time for an in depth look at the Iraq and Afganistan military operations and progress towards political reconcilliation. Knocking the "Baghdad Stroll" as a fact finding technique is a good start. Perhaps now is the time to try out the diplomatic skills of potential secretaries of state and defense as surrogates whose time might allow a more thorough look at the current mess. Perhaps retired generals Eaton and Johns could be part of the process.
May 29, 2008 9:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Suicide bomber and 16 dead near Mosul this morning. Weird challenge McCain is making, getting Obama to go to Iraq and focusing the attention of the ADD press corp back on that region in full. I would not think that's a good thing for the McCain campaign.
Thanks for the opening though, John. Much appreciated.
May 29, 2008 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
The only way Obama gets a positive opinion of Iraq is if he uses the same tour company the Mc cain uses . . . Complete with 100+ sweaty men in uniform and four helicopters.
May 29, 2008 10:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
The way I remember that is that there were something like 6 helicopters and 8 gunships in the air when McLame was strolling through the market.
This is really stupid, and I'm just as glad McLame keeps insisting.
May 29, 2008 11:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
He'll go there in his own good time and without McCain tagging along. Duh.
May 29, 2008 10:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Senator Bush McCain has made several trips to Iraq, and none of those visits have ever changed his position.
Senator Bush McCain was an Iraq War Monger long before he ever took his first trip to Iraq, and he has remained the same Old Iraq War Monger after his many visits to Iraq.
Hey there Bush McCain. Answer this, O Great War Monger Breath: Why do you feel that a visit to Iraq will change Senator Obama's position, even though your many visits have never made even the slightest dent in your foolish consistency.
STFU Ye Olde War Monger.
May 29, 2008 11:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's been 871 days since Obama visited Iraq, and about 10,000 days since McCain had a clue.
So McCain thinks you need to visit somewhere in person to understand it....Ok, by this logic, what business does McCain have talking about continuing the Iraq War, unless he has personally been up Bush's ass?
May 29, 2008 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
As I think Connie posted a day ago, Obama should invite McCain on a tour of America to see what's going on.
May 29, 2008 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Am I the only one who thinks McCain is setting himself up here?
What will he say when Obama comes back and says, "Nope, I was right. Iraq is a mess."
Will McCain's argument then be, "Well, Obama obviously does not have the vision(s) I have."
June 16, 2008 2:16 PM | Reply | Permalink