Comments on: McCain Responds To Maliki’s Withdrawal Talk

By: mike mcEachran

mike mcEachran — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:04:51 +0000

mw – if McCain misses this opportunity, how many more opportunities will he miss as president? Like Bush, McCain is blinded by an arbitrary, ego driven notion of “victory”. He’s lost sight of every rationale the Republicans have posited for this war, “We stand down when they stand up”, “We’re fighting for the liberation of the Iraqi people”, “We’re fighting for the spread of democracy”. These guys have made it clear that all of that was bunk. They’re fighting for a strategic foothold in the region that they can exploit for financial gain. So, really, McCain isn’t missing an opportunity. He’s changing the rationale again to another bold faced lie. anything to keep us engaged, because when we walk out, all that oil, all that money goes to other people, the Iranians, the Syrians, and the Iraqis. The Iraq war was an insider business deal and the Republicans want to hold on to get their payout. Expect McCain and the other Bushies to continue changing the rationale whenever the last one doesn’t work to keep us “in it” anymore.

By: Divided We Stand United We Fall

Divided We Stand United We Fall — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:26:41 +0000

John! – Remember that “Iraq stands up, we stand down” bit?…

Justin Gardner wonders if “…Maliki stabbed McCain in the back?” while explaining that “this puts McCain in a particularly precarious position.” Among the libertarian leaning …

By: mw

mw — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:43:40 +0000

McCain is really blowing it here. Maliki has handing him a golden opportunity to undercut Obama’s support. The majority of Americans want us out of Iraq. There are plenty of conservatives, libertarians, and independents among those who want us out, who are not enamored of a single party Democratic government, but will vote for Obama purely on the issue of Iraq.

If Maliki is ready for us to leave, it means the surge worked. McCain can legitimately claim that he was right and Obama was wrong on the surge. It is a perfect time to declare victory, and start to draw down. He can say the surge paved the path for us to get out – all the time leaving the same wiggle room that Obama uses – that the pace will be dictated by conditions on the ground. This is a perfect opening for McCain – I can’t believe his campaign is missing it.

Maliki is reinforcing that there is no real practical difference between McCain and Obama on what our military posture will look like in Iraq by the end of 2010 regardless of who is president , so Obama loses his only real advantage in November, and we can potentially avoid the disaster of single party Democratic government with expanded and potentially filibuster proof Democratic majorities.

McCain should embrace the Maliki statements. It is what we all wanted. When they stand up, we stand down. Well, they are standing up.

Time to stand down.

By: Jim S

Jim S — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:02:19 +0000

McCain Responds To Malikiâ€™s Withdrawal Talk

Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iraq…