McCain not McAbel

Cain's offering was of an inferior quality to Abel's.
What's McCain offering on Iraq?
There are McAbels with the way out of this disastrous war - so why is McCain trying so hard to slay them?



Senator John McCain guffaws in a weird, subdued fashion whenever he's caught being a hypocrite.

He guffawed a lot today on Meet the Press.

When he was accused of embracing Bush's policy on Iraq, he guffawed and said that he'd been one of Bush's severest critics. I remember how severe his criticism of Bush was in the early autumn of 2004 when he commended to our country the re-election of President Bush, and "the steady, experienced, public-spirited man who serves as our vice president, Dick Cheney." At that time, McCain was thanking Bush's efforts in "receiving valuable assistance from many good friends around the globe" - just as most of the [few] nations that had actually joined the shaky coalition to begin with were pulling away from the Bush disaster in Iraq.

When Mr. Russert cornered McCain on those 12 Republicans who went to President Bush this week and told them they (and other Republicans) were to be sure losers in their respective districts come next election if Bush didn't change his course and end this war, McCain's response led us to believe that he would recommend ending the war today if all Republicans called for withdrawal from Iraq. Yet, look at the way he votes in the Senate. Listen to what he says about supporting the surge in Iraq. The man is a walking, guffawing contradiction. He's saying that he would start talking about Iraq's end-game only if all Republicans were down with it; then he's also telling us that he won't be a leader who'd lead them toward ending the war himself. It was nothing more than code for Republicans to remain stubborn and partisan.

He spoke as if suicide bombers in Iraq blow themselves up for publicity, and that the need for publicity is precisely why you're seeing an increase in suicide attacks in Iraq today. Really now, when's the last time that you thought about the PR benefits of blowing yourself and others up? Where would one pick up his publicity award after doing something like that? In heaven with the promised bevy of virgins? It reminded me of Cheney's "last throes" comment when Cheney thought, a full two years ago, that he was actually pulling the wool over our eyes, insinuating that the level of violent activity we'd been seeing would "clearly decline." Are any of you seeing clearly like Dick Cheney through your
crap-covered glasses yet? John McCain thinks you're still wearing them.

The part that really "got" me was when McCain said he was going to stick with Plan A on Iraq. When Tim Russert asked him for a Plan B, there was a noticeable blank and a quick return of the desperation-volley into the court of the Democrats - a game that the rubber-stampers have played since much-due criticism of the Iraq war began. It was then that McCain's lack of creative leadership and wisdom was showcased for me as never before. I remembered President George W. Bush's own words on a recent interview with PBS' Charlie Rose:

Plan B is to make Plan A work.

There you have McCain's answer. He is bereft of ideas that will produce "victory" in Iraq. He swears stubbornly that he was right about ending any U.S. military involvement in [defends "cutting and running" from] Beirut and Mogadishu, places where the "global war on terror" windmills McCain is tilting at in Iraq today showed signs of churning decades ago.

McCain used the phrase "We've only just begun..." and I filled in the blank for him in honor for his absence of better ideas in Iraq...

"We've only just begun...to fail."

Maybe Karl Rove can create a new and groovy hip-hop version of the old Carpenters tune "We've Only Just Begun" and join McCain in rapping to it at the next White House dinner. [Let's hope David Gregory doesn't join them this time].

Then we can all guffaw.