The Right State

Is there any wonder many Republicans do not like John McCain?  Laura at the Wide Awake Café says “I’m sure my children grew up thinking that “jerk” meant the rude person who drove his car right into my parking place……..

I have a new definition for jerk now: John McCain.”

McCain claims he is a Republican, but on several occasions he has acted more like a Democrat stabbing his party in the back.

The White House on Wednesday was playing down a remark from Republican Sen. John McCain a day earlier in which he said the Bush administration had misled Americans into believing the Iraq war would be “some kind of day at the beach.”

McCain, a longtime defender of the war, said he still does not believe it’s wise for the U.S. to start withdrawing forces from Iraq, but the administration should have been more forthcoming about the challenges the military would face there.

“I think one of the biggest mistakes we made was underestimating the size of the task and the sacrifices that would be required,” McCain said. “Stuff happens, mission accomplished, last throes, a few dead-enders. I’m just more familiar with those statements than anyone else because it grieves me so much that we had not told the American people how tough and difficult this task would be.”

The problem?  President Bush never made these comments.  He has consistently told the American people that this war would be long and difficult.  McCain is well aware of this fact.  He is playing to the crowd.  When a Republican starts acting like a Democrat, we are all in trouble.  We have heard the same old song and dance from the cut-and-run Democrats for three years now.  It is not any more believable now than it was back then.

McCain is a certified war hero having fought in the Vietnam war.  Consequently he was shot down and spent several years as a POW.  By everybody’s admittance, we did not know what we were getting into when we took over for the French after losing the Battle of Dienbienphu.  Our mindset was formed by the ‘domino theory’ that one country falling to communism would lead to another.  But in Iraq, things are different.  We had intelligence data from all over the world which said Saddam was developing WMDs.  We know he did have them at one time and have no evidence he destroyed them.  We know he harbored and supported terrorists.  And we know if we left Iraq today, Iran would take over.  So to say that the President mislead the country is misleading at best, deliberately lying at worst.  Iraq is not Vietnam and yet McCain acts as if it was.

The Arizona Senator must on some level believe that attacking the President on the war like a Democrat will help him win the Presidency in 2008.  But if he keeps attacking George Bush, he doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of winning the Republican Presidential Primary, much less the Presidency.  He claims that leaving Iraq now would be even more dangerous.  Come on Johh, you can not have it both ways.  For a long time John McCain has snubbed the Republican Party becoming a media darling in the process.  Only lately has he become more ‘conservative.’  In the end the Senator may see Republicans snub him.

Tags: Iran, Democrats, Terrorism, History, President Bush, Politics, Iraq, War //