Wanna Really Piss Off McCain?

As we await a conclusion to this year’s hard-fought Democratic race for president, progressive bloggers and the Democratic Party have been smacking presumptive Republican’t nominee John “100 Years War” McCain with criticism on a wide range of subjects. They’ve hit him for his lack of knowledge about the economy, his adoption of George W. Bush’s failed policies, his innumerable flip-flops, his advanced age (if elected to the White House, McCain would be 72 years old--the most elderly person ever to assume the U.S. presidency), his federal campaign-financing scandal, his being rich and out of touch with the needs of most Americans, and his anger-management problems (McCain even called his rich wife a “cunt”). Meanwhile, The New York Times, which endorsed McCain in the GOP primaries, has pointed out how he’s now exploiting a loophole in the campaign-finance system (a system that he’s previously fought to protect and strengthen) in order to take cheap flights on his wife’s corporate jet. And even The Army Times has slapped him down for his national security gaffes.

But it seems the condemnation that most easily gets under this cranky Arizona senator’s skin concerns his own statement, made during a campaign stop in New Hampshire in January, that he’d be willing to keep U.S. troops in Iraq for the next century, if necessary. “That’s fine with me,” he told a questioner.

Naturally, given his volatility on this issue, the Democratic National Committee has launched an advertisement using McSame’s own words against him. Serves him right for making such an idiotic and politically tone-deaf statement.



In a press statement accompanying the release of this spot, DNC Chairman Howard Dean says:

What John McCain doesn’t understand is that the American people aren’t fine with being in Iraq for 100 years in any capacity. The American people want a President who will responsibly end the war, not more of the same failed policy in Iraq that continues to cost $12 billion a month. They want a President who will invest that money here at home to create jobs and ensure our kids have health care. The more voters learn about John McCain, we’re confident they will recognize that he is the wrong choice for America’s future.

Even McCain has conceded that the worsening state of Bush’s lies-incited Iraq adventure--which the GOP senator has defended repeatedly--is his Achilles heel. Back in February, he told reporters that his biggest challenge in this race is to convince voters, who are understandably tired of the cost and bloodshed associated with Bush’s Middle East war, that the United States is actually winning. If he can’t, he added, “then I lose. I lose.” Almost immediately after uttering that remark, however, McCain tried to distance himself from it. Just another example of how, despite his reputation for candidness, he’s actually willing to say anything--or hold his tongue--to get elected.

UPDATE: “Right on Cue, Republican Whining Commences on ‘100 Years’ Ad,” by Steve Benen (The Carpetbagger Report); “FOX Accepts ‘100 Years in Iraq’ McCain Ad,” by John Aravosis (AMERICAblog).

READ MORE: “100 Years War,” by Joe Klein (Time); “John McCain and Bush’s Torture Powers,” by Glenn Greenwald (Salon); “ McCain’s Compassion Tour,” by Gail Collins (The New York Times); “Meet the Racist Who Showed John McCain Is Powerless and Inept,” by Joe Sudbay (AMERICAblog).