Countdown Special Comment: The Unimportance of Being John
McCain
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/06/12/countdown-special-comment-the-unimportance.../
Posted: 12 Jun 2008 09:00 PM CDT
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(h/t Heather–it’s a really big file)
John McCain has said many a stupid thing during this general
election campaign. But when he told Matt Lauer on The Today
Show that bringing our troops home was just not that
important, he crossed a line from stupidity to being
unforgivable:
You have attested to: a fairly easy success; an
overwhelming victory in a very short period of time; in
which we would be welcomed as liberators; which you assured
us would not require our troops stay for decades but merely
for years; from which we could bring them all home, since
you noted many Iraqis resent American military presence; in
which all those troops coming home will also stay there, not
being injured, for a hundred years; but most will be back by
2013; and the timing of their return, isÂ… notÂ… thatÂ…
important.
That, Senator McCain, is context.
And that, Senator McCain, is madness.
Full transcripts below the fold
Finally tonight, as promised, a Special Comment on Senator
John McCain’s conclusion that it’s “not too important” when
American forces come home from Iraq.
Thoughts, offered more in sorrow, than in anger.
For two full days now, the Senator and his supporters have
been outraged at what they see as the subtraction of context
from this extraordinary remark.
This is, sadly, the excuse of our time, for everything.
Still. If the Senator claims truncation, we will correct
that, first.
“A lot of people,” Matt Lauer began, “now say the surge
is working.”
“Anybody who knows the facts on the ground say that,”
the Senator interjected.
“If it’s now working, Senator,” Matt continued, “do you
now have a better estimate of when American forces can come
home from Iraq?”
“No,” answered McCain. “But that’s not too important.
WhatÂ’s important is the casualties in Iraq. Americans are in
South Korea. Americans are in Japan. American troops are in
Germany.
“That’s all fine. American casualties and the ability to
withdraw. We will be able to withdraw. General Petraeus is
going to tell us in July when he thinks we are. But the key
to it is we donÂ’t want any more Americans in harmÂ’s way.
“And that way they will be safe, and serve our country,
and come home with honor and victory - not in defeat, which
is what Senator ObamaÂ’s proposal would have done. And IÂ’m
proud of them, and theyÂ’re doing a great job. And we are
succeeding. And itÂ’s fascinating that Senator Obama still
doesn’t realize it.”
And there is the context of what Senator McCain said.
WellÂ… not quite, Senator.
The full context is that the Iraq you see is a figment of
your imagination.
This is not a war about “honor and victory,” sir.
This is a war you, and the President you support and seek to
succeed, conned this nation into.
Yes, sir.
You.
Of the prospect of war in Iraq, you said, quote,
“I believe that success will be fairly easy.”
John McCainÂ… September 24th, 2002.
“I believe that we can win an overwhelming victory in a
very short period of time.”
John McCainÂ… September 29th, 2002.
Of the ouster of Saddam and the Baathists:
“There’s no doubt in my mind that once these people are
gone, that we will be welcomed as liberators.”
John McCainÂ… March 24th, 2003.
Asked, about a long-term commitment in Iraq, quote, “are you
talking about something in terms of South Korea, for
instance, where you would expect U.S. troops to be in Iraq
for decades?”
“No,” you answered. “I don’t think decades, but I think
years. A little straight talk, I think years. And I hope
that we can gradually reduce that presence.”
John McCainÂ… March 18th, 2004.
You were asked about the troops, and the future.
“I would hope that we could bring them all home. I would
hope that we would probably, leave, some military advisers,
as we have in other countries, to help them with their
training and equipment and that kind of stuff.
“…I think one of our big problems has been the fact that
many Iraqis resent American military presence. And I donÂ’t
pretend to know exactly Iraqi public opinion. But as soon as
we can reduce our visibility as much as possible, the better
I think it is going to be.”
John McCainÂ… January 31st. 2005
When a speaker at your town hall, five months ago,
referenced the PresidentÂ’s forecast that we might stay in
Iraq for 50 years, you cut him off.
“Make it a hundred! We’ve been in Japan for 60 years.
WeÂ’ve been in South Korea 50 years or so. That would be fine
with me. As long as Americans are not being injured or
harmed or wounded or killed. That’s fine by me…”
John McCainÂ… January 3rd, 2008.
And your forecast of your hypothetical first term.
“By January, 2013, America has welcomed home most of the
servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that
America might be secure in her freedom. The Iraq war has
been won.”
John McCainÂ… May 15th, 2008.
That, Senator McCain, is context.
You have attested to: a fairly easy success; an overwhelming
victory in a very short period of time; in which we would be
welcomed as liberators; which you assured us would not
require our troops stay for decades but merely for years;
from which we could bring them all home, since you noted
many Iraqis resent American military presence; in which all
those troops coming home will also stay there, not being
injured, for a hundred years; but most will be back by 2013;
and the timing of their return, isÂ… notÂ… thatÂ… important.
That, Senator McCain, is context.
And that, Senator McCain, is madness.
The Government Accountability Office just released a study
Tuesday that concludes that one out of every ten soldiers
sent to Iraq, takes with them medical problems “severe
enough to significantly limit their ability to fight.”
In five years, we have now sent 43,000 of them to war even
though they were already wounded.
And when they come home, Is. Not. That. Important.
Jalal al Din al Sagir, a member of the Islamic Supreme
Council of Iraq, and Ali al Adeeb, of the rival Dawa
Political Party, gave a series of interviews last week about
the particulars of this country’s demand for a “Status of
Forces” agreement with Iraq — a treaty which Mr. Bush does
not intend to show Congress before he signs it.
The Iraqi politicians say the treaty demands IraqÂ’s consent
to the establishment of nearly double the number of U-S
military bases in Iraq — from about 30, to 58, and from
temporary, to permanent.
Those will be American men and women who must, of necessity,
staff these bases - staff them, in Mr. McCainÂ’s MC Escher
dream world in which our people can all come home while they
stay there for a hundred years but theyÂ’ll be back by 2013.
And when they come home, Is. Not. That. Important.
Last year, a 20-year old soldier from the Bronx, on the day
of his re-deployment to a second tour in Iraq, said he just
couldnÂ’t face the smell of burning flesh again. So, Jonathan
Aponte paid a hit man 500 dollarsÂ… to shoot him in the knee.
Mount Sinai Hospital in New York reported treating a patient
identifying himself as another Iraq-bound soldier, who
claimed he had accidentally swallowed a pen at the bus
station. No one doubted his story until examinations proved
there was a second pen in his stomach bearing the logo of
Greyhound Bus Lines.
In 2006, says his sister, a 24-year old Army Specialist from
Washington State, on the eve of his second deployment,
strapped a pack full of tools to his back, and then jumped
off the roof of his house, injuring his spine.
And when they come home — or more correctly, all those like
them who did not risk death or disability to avoid going
back — when they come home, Is. Not. That. Important.
YouÂ’ve sold them all out, Senator.
You.
You, whose sacrifice for this country was as
all-encompassing and as horrible as the rest of us can only
imagine in our darkest moments.
You, who survived, so that you could make America a better
place where young men did not have to go and die in
pointless wars or be maimed or be held prisoner or have to
hire hit-men to shoot them in the knee because that couldnÂ’t
be worse.
You, who should know better.
Where, Senator, is the man who once said “veterans hate war
more than anyone else, because veterans know, because
veterans know these brave Americans, and others, know, that
there is nothing more painful than the loss of a comrade.
Where is he, sir?
Where is the man who described that ineffable truth?
Oh, so long ago you touched the essence of the reality of
Iraq. Your comments about your lost comrades, yesterday.
The men and women in Iraq, today, Senator — they are your
comrades, too.
And you are condemning them to die.
To die, for your misdirections, for Mr. Bush’s lies — for
whoever makes the money off building 58 permanent American
bases and all the weapons and all the bullets and all the
wiring so costly and so slip-shod that it electrocutes our
comrades as they step, not to fight freedomÂ’s enemies, but
into the shower at the base.
That, Senator, that is context.
It is an easy thing to dismiss Senator McCain as a sad and
befuddled figure, already challenging for some kind of
campaign record for malaprops.
Just yesterday in Philadelphia he answered Senator Obama,
not by defending or explaining his own “not that important”
remark, but by seizing upon Obama’s “bitter” remark - or
trying to.
Obama had foolishly said that some, in despair, in small
towns, cling to their religion and their guns.
Senator McCain vowed heÂ’d go to those towns and tell them,
“I don’t agree with Senator Obama that they cling to their
religion and the Constitution because they’re bitter.”
It was hard not to dismiss with a laugh, Senator McCain, or
any Republican, for even accidentally implying that heÂ’s
clung to the Constitution — not after the last seven years.
It was hard, the day before, not to become almost bemused
when the Senator tried to say he would veto every single
bill with earmarks, but wound up, instead, vowing “I will
veto every single beer.”
It was hard, this week, not to laugh at how Senator McCain
could offer any serious defense against the accusation that
he is running for President BushÂ’s third term, when a 2006
interview suddenly surfaced in which McCain said he would
consider Dick Cheney for a position in a McCain
administration.
“I don’t know if I would want him as Vice President. He and
I have the same strengths. But to serve in other capacities?
Hell, yeah.”
These are all very funny, in a macabre yet unthreatening
way.
And then one remembers Senator McCainÂ’s inability to
separate Sunni and Shia, or his insistence that Iran is
training Al-Qaeda for service in Iraq, and then being
corrected about it, and then saying the same thing again
anyway.
And then one is, inevitably, drawn back again to the
overlooked substance of yesterdayÂ’s remarkÂ…
“If (the surge) is now working, Senator, do you now have a
better estimate of when American forces can come home from
Iraq?”
“No.”
No?
The surge is working and even that still tells Senator
McCain nothing about when we can ransom our soldiers?
WasnÂ’t that the ultimate purpose of the surge? To get them
out?
If we cannot tell — if McCain cannot even guess — doesn’t
that, by definition, meanÂ… the surge isnÂ’t working?
And ultimately we are drawn back to the “not… too…
important” remark, in its full context:
The context of the kaleidoscope of confused rhetoric, and
endless non sequiturs, and mutually exclusive conclusions —
and what they add up to: a veritable tragedy, a microcosm of
the American tragedy that is Iraq, a tragedy of a man who
himself will never understand “the context.”
Your tragedy, Senator McCain?
No. IÂ’m sorry.
This tragedy is of Justin Mixon of Bogalusa, Louisiana.
And itÂ’s of Christopher McCarthy of Virginia Beach.
ItÂ’s of Quincy Green of El Paso, and Joshua Waltenbaugh of
Ford City, PA.
The tragedy is of Shane Duffy of Taunton, Mass, and Jonathan
Emard of Mesquite, Texas.
ItÂ’s of Cody Legg of Escondido in California, and David
Hurst of Fort Sill in Oklahoma.
The tragedy is of Thomas Duncan, III, of Rowlett, Texas, and
Tyler Pickett of Saratoga, Wyoming.
And who are they, Senator?
They are ten Americans who have died in Iraq since the first
of this month. There are four more. The Defense Department
has not yet identified the others.
And while you, Senator, may ask for all the context you can
get, those ten men will never know any of it.
Because the true context here, is that if you could ask
those American war heroes, or the family and the friends
that loved them, if they have a better estimate of when
American forces can come home from IraqÂ…
They could rightly say, “No. But that’s. Not. That.
Important.”
Good night, and good luck.
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