Bush-Talk, Not Straight-Talk From McCain on Iraq

After losing the 2000 campaign, John McCain sought to position himself as the Bush establishment candidate for the 2008 race. That's why despite whatever he said at last night's debate and regardless of his rhetoric on the campaign trail, the facts show that John McCain has been the Bush candidate on Iraq from day one. In fact McCain not only helped the President sell the war, when he had the chance to call for Rumsfeld's resignation he refused. McCain's double talk is reflective of a do-anything-to-win strategy that has raised serious doubts about his credibility on Iraq and other issues.

"John McCain has never offered straight-talk on Iraq, just Bush-Talk," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Luis Miranda. "From helping sell the American public on going to war in Iraq, to echoing Cheney and Rumsfeld by saying the war would be easy, to fighting for Bush's stay the course strategy year after year, to now promising to keep Americans there for another century, John McCain is wrong on Iraq, just as he was five years ago."

Fact vs Fiction: McCain on Iraq

McCain last night: "I'm the only one that said that Rumsfeld had to go." [CNN debate, 1/30/08]

But when he had the chance...

2004:  McCain Refused To Call For Secretary Rumsfeld's Resignation. McCain would not call for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation, saying that the President "can have the team that he wants around him."  McCain said that he respected Bush's decision to keep Rumsfeld around.  McCain said, "I respect the president.  The president of the United States was re-elected by a majority of the American people, and I respect his right. And I will work with the president obviously and with the secretary of defense." [MSNBC.com, 12/15/04; CNN.com, 12/5/04]

2006:  McCain Refused to Join Calls For Rumsfeld's Resignation, Said He Would Work With Rumsfeld. "But the president has the right and earned the right as the president of the United States to appoint his team," and he has confidence in Secretary Rumsfeld.  "I will continue to work with Secretary Rumsfeld as much as I can as long as he is secretary of Defense. We have to, because we need to win this war."  [East Valley Tribune, 415/2006; http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/63311 ]

McCain last night: "I know the situation in Iraq." [CNN debate, 1/30/08]

But he's been wrong before...

2002, 2003: Winning In Iraq Would Be "Easy."  In the run up to War with Iraq, McCain repeatedly emphasized that the conflict would be "easy."  Speaking in September 2002 about the prospect of invading Iraq, McCain said he thought it would not be a difficult conflict.  McCain said, "I believe that the success [in Iraq] will be fairly easy." In January of 2003, McCain again predicted the same about invading Iraq, saying, "we will win this conflict. We will win it easily." [CNN, 9/24/02; CNN, 1/22/03]

2003: McCain Said Bush Led With "Clarity" And Did Not Exaggerate the Case for War. During an interview with a live audience, Senator McCain praised President Bush on his leadership on the Iraq war and said, "I think the president has led with great clarity and I think he's done a great job leading the country, don't you all?" And asked if he thought the president exaggerated the case for war, McCain said, "I don't think so. And I think that it's obvious that the 16 words should not have appeared in his speech. He acknowledged that again today. But I think that he made a strong case and I think that case has been verified with discovery of mass graves and the brutality of this incredible regime." [MSNBC, Hardball, 4/23/03; Fox News, 7/31/03]

2003: McCain Said The End Is "Very Much In Sight." Senator McCain was asked "At what point will America be able to say the war was won?" McCain said there were oil fields to secure and "die-hards" to take care of but "it's clear that the end is very much in sight, and today I think Americans should be very proud of their leadership, their technology.There are still some foreigners, Syrians and others hanging around. But it won't be long. It will be a fairly short period of time, but this happens in wars. I'm confident that once they are confident the area is no longer a threat to the Marines and to our army troops that they'll start imposing discipline. In the meantime, we'll have a short period of chaos." [ABC News, Good Morning America, 4/9/03]

2005: McCain Said That Another Year Will Prove "Stay the Course" Is Working. "McCain believes that the U.S., and the cause of Iraqi independence, are moving forward in Iraq, a little bit at a time. 'I think the situation on the ground is going to improve,' he says. 'Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course.'" [The Hill, 12/8/05]

2006: McCain's Top Political Advisor Says McCain's Support for the War is "Stay the Course, No Matter What." John McCain's top advisor explained McCain's support for the war and the impact it would have on McCain's future aspirations saying, "It is stay-the-course, no matter what. And if it dooms McCain, so be it." [Bloomberg News, 4/20/06]

2006: McCain Said That Iraq Was "On The Right Track" As The Country Moved Closer To Civil War. Speaking on the "Imus In The Morning" radio show on March 1, 2006, McCain played down the increasing civil violence in Iraq. When Imus remarked that Iraq "already looks like a civil war," McCain responded, saying, "I keep trying to look at the bright side of this because we have to because the consequences of failure are catastrophic. But the gathering of the seven most respected religious leaders the day before yesterday, calling for calm and calling for some kind of reconciliation, I think, was important. I think, at least we're on the right track here." [MSNBC, Imus in the Morning, 3/1/06]

2007: McCain Claimed There Were Neighborhoods Safe Enough for Him to Walk Through. McCain claimed there were neighborhoods safe enough for him to walk through in Baghdad but then toured a Baghdad market wearing a bulletproof vest while accompanied by "100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead." [NBC Nightly News, 4/1/2007]

Then McCain Was Forced to Admit He "Misspoke" When He Failed to Mention His Massive Security During Baghdad Market Trip.  Headlines soon after called his statements 'propaganda' and a 'magic-carpet ride.'  The Statesman Journal in Salem, Oregon, declared: 'Brainwashed McCain is a straight-talker no more.'"  An op-ed in the Rocky Mountain News called McCain's staged walk through a Baghdad market "a truly Orwellian publicity stunt," that was turned into a "desperate attempt to give some sliver of credence to claims that the dreaded 'liberal media' are failing to report on all the wonderful things happening in Iraq...Chastened, McCain issued a half-hearted apology a few days later, saying he 'mis- spoke' when he pointed to his little walk under the protection of several platoons from the world's most powerful military as evidence of Baghdad's excellent shopping opportunities."  [Washington Post, 4/7/07; Rocky Mountain News, 4/10/07]

2008: McCain Would Spend 'a Hundred Years' or a 'Millon Years' in Iraq. McCain interrupted a voter during a townhall meeting in New Hampshire telling him we could spend "maybe a hundred" years in Iraq and "that would be fine with me." After the townhall meeting, he told a reporter "that U.S. troops could be in Iraq for 'a thousand years' or 'a million years,' as far as he was concerned." [McCain Derry, NH townhall meeting , 1/3/08; motherjones.com , 1/3/08]