McCain is STILL confused... and probably always will be.

Curator · 06-03-2008, 08:35 AM

Last week in Wisconsin John McSame made one of his more embarrassing recent errors, telling his audience that U.S. forces in Iraq “have drawn down to pre-surge levels.”

Before the surge, there were 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. There are 155,000 now.

Verdict ... McCain is confused.

McCain changed his rhetoric yesterday and said that U.S. forces are currently in the process of drawing down to pre-surge levels:

Quote:

“[Gen. Petraeus] is gonna come back in July, when our drawdown from the surge,” McCain said. Three of the five brigades are already back. There’s two more brigades that will coming back at the end of July…. But we are drawing back down from the surge. And then in July, he said that he wants to pause.”

Before the surge, there were 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. There are 155,000 now. In July, there will be 140,000.

At the end of the current drawdown, we’ll have more U.S. troops in Iraq than before the surge began.

Verdict ... McCain is confused.

People are starting to notice how senile this old man is.

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Dick Polman:

Quote:

If more people were paying attention, they might well wonder whether this guy is as sharp about foreign policy as he purports to be.

CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

Quote:

How is it nitpicking if he says we have drawn down to pre-surge levels and two of the five combat brigades that were sent in there for the surge are still in there? … You know, it’s like the difference between Shia and Sunni. You know. These are things you gotta work out before you get in front of a microphone.

Washington Post Fact Checker:

Quote:

[T]he attempt by the McCain media machine to spin the mistake as a simple matter of “verb tenses” is an insult to our intelligence.

The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder:

Quote:

Getting Iraq Right is the sine qua non of his campaign, and imprecision exposes his flank and it degrades his brand. The campaign contends that the press is frothing over a question of semantics, but that’s tough to argue. The scope of U.S. troop deployment in Iraq is the central issue of the presidential election. When combat brigades withdraw is not a detail. It is an essential element of the question.

MSNBC:

Quote:

Asked if he “misspoke” yesterday on troop levels currently being at “pre-surge levels,” McCain said, “Of course not.” He defended himself by reiterating that U.S. troops have, in fact, been “drawn down.” … But according to NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube, the U.S. has not drawn down to ‘pre-surge levels’ as McCain, in fact, said. Those troops will not be at those levels even after the five surge brigades finish redeploying later this summer.

McCain continues to screw up the basics of what’s going on in Iraq so frequently he is a laughing stock.

McCain has been confused about whether the U.S. can maintain a long-term presence in Iraq; confused about the source of violence in Iraq; confused about Iran’s relationship with al Qaeda; confused about the difference between Sunni and Shi’ia; confused about Gen. Petraeus’ responsibilities in Iraq; and confused about what transpired during the Maliki government’s offensive in Basra.

Back in November 2006, McCain couldn’t answer a reporter’s question about his own opinions on the war without reading prepared notes on national television. As recently as March 2007, McCain was embarrassing himself by insisting that Gen. Petraeus travels around Baghdad “in a non-armed Humvee” (a comment that military leaders literally laughed at.)

Obama is going to be a devestating campaigner.

The debates will be stunning to watch. When Obama goes head-to-head with McCain, it will be pointedly clear how much Obama outclasses this feeble and confused old man.

HarperLee · 06-03-2008, 08:55 AM

As I said, I think Joe Lieberman will have to sit with him during the
presidential debates.

CosmicRocker · 06-03-2008, 08:59 AM

I don't care about the numbers - that's no big deal but i found this worrisome:

Quote:

confused about Gen. Petraeus’ responsibilities in Iraq; and confused about what transpired during the Maliki government’s offensive in Basra

can someone explain what this is about?
This would be troubling if he got it wrong.

06-03-2008, 08:55 AM	#2 (permalink)
HarperLee Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 3,860 Thanks: 1,144 Thanked 375 Times in 244 Posts	As I said, I think Joe Lieberman will have to sit with him during the presidential debates. __________________ "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard." H. L. Mencken
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