McCain Surrogate: He Might Withdraw From Iraq Sooner Than Obama!
The McCain campaign has come up with an intriguing new way to sell his opposition to a timetable for withdrawal: McCain just might withdraw from Iraq sooner than Obama's 16 month deadline!
"He'd like troops to come home earlier than 16 months if the conditions allow it," said Congresswoman Heather Wilson of New Mexico, on a conference call with reporters just now. "Senator Obama has said it's a 16-month timeline no matter what."
Wilson walked this line back a bit later on, reminding people that any such withdrawal would have to be based on conditions on the ground, and might take longer: "Whether that happens in 12 months, or 16 months, or 24 months, the important thing is that our troops come home with victory and America's vital national interests secured."
One is reminded of George Orwell's classic novel 1984, in which the ruling regime ran an intentionally never-ending war with the frequent promise in news updates that it was "within measurable distance of its end."
Here's the audio from the call:
For the last time, GET OFF MY LAWN!
July 22, 2008 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Heather Wilson today raised the possibility that Sen. McCain will pull U.S. troops out of Iraq in a reckless manner. Numerous military experts have said that the fastest troops could be withdrawn responsibly from Iraq is 16 months. Rep. Wilson is placing politics ahead of her country by ignoring military experts and irresponsibly suggesting the possibility of a faster pace.
July 22, 2008 2:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
I thought it was 2020? Or 2013? 2108?
July 22, 2008 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Which gets to the essential point here:
1) Obama has a plan.
2) No one knows what McCain's plan is.
John Kerry, I believe, lost in 2004 because he never developed a clear, coherent alternative plan. Right now, McCain is in danger of the same fate.
July 22, 2008 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, exactly. That's the way it needs to be expressed. All plans are dependent on conditions. What McCain is doing is different -- it's refusing to offer any plan to end the war.
July 22, 2008 1:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
AKA: New York Times Editor Letter Rejection
July 22, 2008 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
yeah really he has flip flopped on his dates for withdrawal that we dont even know anymore
Video of MSNBC Andrea Mitchell disses Military footage
July 22, 2008 4:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
And the circle is complete. McCain has now adopted Obama's positions on Afghanistan and Iraq.
July 22, 2008 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
If the surge has worked, then why does McCain want to stay in Iraq for up to a hundred years.
We had no business invading and taking over the country in the first place. It was all based on a pack of Chicken Hawk Neo-Con lies.
The surge was supposed to tamp down the carnage that Bush/McCain had triggered with their original Iraq lunacy.
Now those jerks are trying to take credit for reducing the inferno that they lit the match to.
If the surge has worked, then we can leave and let Iraqis run their own country. If we can not leave, then that is an admission by the Bush/McCain Arsonists that the inferno that they started is still burning.
Which is it; have the arsonists put out the inferno they started, and we can let our fire fighters leave the scene, or not?
July 22, 2008 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think these over the top mischaracterizations of Obama are going to backfire.
I don't understand why McCain and his surrogates are being so heavy handed about this.
And, as fluff points out, this just opens up McCain to a whole new series of attacks. 100 years of war? Or 18 months? Which is it, John (Property of 41. Hands Off!) McCain?
July 22, 2008 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
And the response from the call's participants?
Crickets...cough, cough...chair scrapes on the floor...throat clearing and, "Now we're on to the next topic!"
Seriously, I think they're just making this shit up as they go along. They're just basically riffin'.
July 22, 2008 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I also think the entire McCain campaign is starting to sound like a desperate "Me too!" cry.
First on Afghanistan, now on Iraq. Tomorrow, it will be Iran.
July 22, 2008 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
16 months x McCain Flip-Flop = 100 years
July 22, 2008 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bobby Jindal did this the other day on TV and got called for it. He through out the 12-month possibility, and then immediately said, "This is me talking, not the campaign."
http://strategy08.wordpress.com
July 22, 2008 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice connection to Orwell, Greg. That phrase --"within measurable distance of its end" -- is better than Olbermann's memorable comment last night about the purpose of the war in Iraq is staying in Iraq.
July 22, 2008 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Um....I believe Obama's 16 month plan is because he thinks that is about the soonest the withdrawal and redeployments could be pulled off. In fact I believe the Republicans generally say it would take a lot longer than that, so I don't know where this 12 month crap is coming from. Obama never said he is going to drag his feet so it takes 16 months, that is just the most realistic timeline floating around.
Urg, these people are such idiots. Their spin is so...childish and idiotic...it must be very hard for the media to ignore it all and carry McCain's water for him.
July 22, 2008 12:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know where the 12 months is coming from...
12 is less than 16. That's it. Not really all that complicated.
July 22, 2008 12:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not so hard: childish and idiotic are exactly the intellectual level of the MSM, so McCain's effluence has great appeal to them.
July 22, 2008 1:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well-done!
July 22, 2008 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yet another example of a McCain surrogate believing their own spin. Their story line is that Obama's 16-month timetable is a completely arbitrary deadline to satisfy the "far left," and not based on "conditions on the ground." In fact, it's based on assessments by military advisors of how fast a withdrawal could be carried out, but since Heather Wilson has convinced herself that reality doesn't exist, she can just as easily embarrass herself by pretending withdrawal could be done a lot faster.
(Honestly, I suspect that in Wilson's pea-brain, she actually believes that Obama's plan means that all the troops will be in Iraq for sixteen months more, and then they'll magically be transported home.)
July 22, 2008 2:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
The writing is on the wall...
and there's more, from Goodard's Political Wire:
Just days in advance of Sen. Barack Obama's stop in London, the Guardian reports that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown "today paved the way for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, promising a 'fundamental change' of mission in the first half of 2009."
July 22, 2008 12:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/07/22/another_gift_for_obama.html
July 22, 2008 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gordon Brown is a seasoned statesman. He wants to make sure Labor stays in control of the parliament after the next election. He is not going to go down on this failed excursion into Iraq like Tony Blair did. It is just not going to happen.
July 22, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
"That's not change we can beli... OH... SHIT!"
July 22, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Funny!
July 22, 2008 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thrashing in the water, the McSame campaign becomes unglued.
Hilarious!
July 22, 2008 12:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Keep in mind that the GOP has often ridiculed withdrawal plans that have been put forward (like Obama's) as unsafe because of the speed at which they take place. They rightly point out that responsible redeployment from a war zone takes time. That's why Obama starts that redeployment from the moment he enters office. It is only complete by the 16th month though.
But when John McCain is President, on the moment he decides our troops don't have to be in Iraq anymore, they magically are removed from confines of that state.
And just like that... it's gone.
July 22, 2008 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
whatever happened to "make it a hundred (years). It'd be fine with me?"
July 22, 2008 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
12 months? 100 years? What's the difference?
Psst...It's all about perpetual war, you know...wink, wink...
July 22, 2008 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
wasnt heather wilson involved in the purging of US attorneys?
July 22, 2008 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
good catch. wilson made a call to USA Iglesias, leaning on him to prosecute a dem. only slightly illegal, which is pretty good for a republican.
July 22, 2008 2:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, this is a bone head move. During the same week they are airing an add saying that Obama flip flopped on Iraq, the Republicans do this one????
Seriously, could the Republicans have put up someone competent for president this time??? This lack of focus and misdirection against themselves is alarming.
July 22, 2008 12:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is there anyone in America stupid enough to believe that McCain will get us out of Iraq faster than Obama? Well, other than Republicans, whose stupidity is beyond measurement.
July 22, 2008 12:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Except for the basic problem that those same Republicans don't want to leave Iraq because they've been brainwashed into thinking it's the same as losing.
July 22, 2008 12:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
I love it when Republican's fall prey to thier own stupid talking points. Flip Flopper was a GOP talking point, remember? As was Cut and Run.
You reap what you sow, and the GOP has been sowwing stupid bullshit for decades. Well, harvest time is here!
July 22, 2008 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
That Rasmussen Ohio poll is total bullshit and unlike all other Ohio polls.
I hope McSame thinks he's 10 points ahead in Ohio, because I doubt seriously that he's even ahead.
Obama will win Ohio.
Book it!
July 22, 2008 12:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Heather Wilson?
o dear god - she's as bad practically as Mean Jean Schmidt.
July 22, 2008 1:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tena: I wondered how you knew her, but I see she is from NM. BTW, what is with the hair style, LOL
July 22, 2008 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I thought the plan was to stay there for 100 years "as long as troops were not getting killed"?
What is this one? Flip Flop #65??
July 22, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I believe were in the low triple digits, but I lost track.
July 22, 2008 1:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
"we're"...sorry.
An edit function would be smashing!
July 22, 2008 1:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
A "quote of the day" Time Magazine is running today:
If we'll bring the troops home when we win, but we'll be following the South Korea model and won't be bringing the troops home for 50 or a hundred years, then... do we conclude from this we won't be winning for 50 or 100 years?
Is anyone at the McCain campaign even paying any attention to what they're saying?!?
July 22, 2008 3:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Um... What the hell? I have to say, at least it made me laugh my ass off.
July 22, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Heather Wilson? The woman who yelled at Mel Karmazin, then President of CBS, at a House hearing about the Janet Jackson superbowl incident. "You knew what you were doing" "My son saw it and said Mom, that's nasty!" She put on such a show that day, pathetic. The same incident which a Federal Appeals court just over turned the fine for.
July 22, 2008 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
The same one who leaned on David Iglesias for not investigating "voter fraud." A real class act.
July 22, 2008 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
If he can't out-Bush, BUSH, then he wants to out-Obama, OBAMA?
July 22, 2008 1:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
At least he's choosing someone popular to imitate this time.
July 22, 2008 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Got to give him that one. He's alreading out-McCaining McCain.
July 22, 2008 7:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's stuff like this that makes me suspect that McCain is just a sacrifical lamb. The bright Republicans knew that their party never had a chance this cycle, so anyone with at least two brain cells running in series stayed out of the race. I'm betting that the party powers that be have decided to write off 2008 and regroup for 2012 (unless, of course, McCain drops out of the picture at the convention; in that case, all bets are off).
July 22, 2008 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha....ha
July 22, 2008 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Shout out for your Nara avatar!
July 22, 2008 4:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Looooooooooooool...i need a laugh.
July 22, 2008 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Consensus!
What do suppose we'd do until November were he to drop out of the race now? Might the President leave early too?
July 22, 2008 1:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
OMFG!!!!
Why is Heather Wilson not yet in jail? Can anyone explain why Heather Wilson is not in jail?
Growing impatient . . .
July 22, 2008 2:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why be surprised at this new tactic? This is the same candidate who is going to balance the budget by the end of his first term, while still fighting a war in Iraq, making permanent the tax cut to the rich, and "reforming" Social Security.
July 22, 2008 3:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Game Has Changed to Protect the Feeble Minded
Gives new meaning to the Twilight Zone
July 22, 2008 3:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Another Post from the McCain Funny Man Campaign: Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain appeared in blackface at a town hall meeting, talking up Obama's policies.
July 22, 2008 4:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
mcsame's campaign is like a box of chocolates
you never know what you're gonna get ...
July 22, 2008 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bobby Jindall also said McCain might pull the troops out earlier than 16 months--maybe 12 months--on MSNBC last night. (When pressed, he said that it was his assertion, not McCain's.) And the White House is also hinting they might race Obama to the soonest pullout "horizon."
I'm a little concerned that the White House and McCain are preparing to flip and start talking up their new "time horizon" of 15 1/2 months, to nullify Obama's superiority on the issue.
On the other hand, Obama can just say, "John McCain has been more concerned about starting a third war in Iran than he has been about finishing the job in Afghanistan, until I made it embarrassing for him." And Obama can say, "I said 16 months during the primary dates and now everyone is falling into line with my position."
July 22, 2008 6:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
hahahahaha! he has to be elected president first, does he not? desperate people say and do desperate things.
July 22, 2008 9:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
"16 months no matter what"?
But I thought critisism of Obama was based on him wanting to "refine" his plan away from a 16 month withdrawal timetable!?
Never mind. The McCain position get sillier and sillier.
July 28, 2008 4:06 AM | Reply | Permalink