Mitt Romney: McCain Invented Counterinsurgency Doctrine

Tin-plated fraud-bot Mitt Romney, who would say just about anything to get the nomination, has been out recently demonstrating that he'd say just about anything to get selected as the vice presidential nominee. And today, Romney took the nation on a mind-bending tilt-a-whirl ride into historical revisionism, telling Mika Brzezinski that John McCain, "after all, was the person who authored some time ago the philosophy that said a surge would work in Iraq."

Via TPM, here's the video:

Naturally, this is nonsense. McCain had long lobbied for additional troops to be sent to Iraq, but he in no way had a hand in the design of the "Surge" strategy. The closest John McCain came to participating in the "authoring of the philosophy" of the Surge was his involvement in a January 5, 2007 panel at the American Enterprise Institute. There, McCain and Sen. Joe Lieberman took second billing, providing the panel with their reflections from a recently concluded "fact-finding mission" to Iraq. Headlining the event, however, were the two men that actually did author the "Surge" doctrine, Frederick W. Kagan and General Jack Keane (ret.).

As Josh Marshall notes, Romney's comment "also dovetails nicely with the escalating cult of personality over McCain and the 'Surge.'" Yes, the Surge, whose successes are every bit as relevant as the "successful touchdown drive that the Washington Redskins completed last season in a game they lost 52-7.

Of course, a big difference between the Iraq War and a football game is that the Iraq War was a war of choice, a strategy that was supposed to yield several gains in national security, such as the removal of an imminent threat, the pacifying of bad regimes in the region, and an overall spread of democracy throughout the Middle East. And once you put aside the Potemkin "success" of the "Surge," you are left with a strategy that not only failed to deliver on its promised goals, but paved the way for seven years of de facto appeasement toward the terrorists who attacked America.

Hence, the value of Romney's meretricious distraction.

Comments

[georgecrupper]

The surge, the surge, the surge as though it is a great invention by a general or a guy running for president.­..the idea of the surge is basic to anyone taking Algebra 101...cons­ider the problem, " if one man can dig a trench in five days how many day can five men dig a trench?"..­.instead of talking about the surge we should be thinking why did we ever let ourselves did a stupid trench that was not needed...t­he media has to take much of the blame for the stupid digging..

[UltraClassic]

Jason, as an obvious Obama supporter, why are you so upset. It seems to me that as a liberal, leftist democrat or otherwise Obamaniac, one would be more than happy to tie the surge around McCain's neck. Afterall, the surge did not work, it was a failure, right?

Or was it?

[NPRLuvr]

John McCain (and the Bush administration) have been completely disingenuous with their claims of “surge” success. The truth with regard to the surge is that the Bush administration decided that Iraq needed to be “pacified” by any means necessary. What’s keeping Iraq quiet at the moment is the approximately $800,000/day being spent to pay the so-called “Sons of Iraq” NOT to attack our troops. While our troops have performed magnificently and have done all they’ve been asked, it’s these payments to insurgents that have significantly lowered violence levels. In fact, the insurgents have made it clear that, should payments slow or stop, they’re prepared to resume attacks at any time. What happens when they ask for a raise??

The Bush administration is simply limping its way to the end of its term and would do ANYTHING to change impressions of the situation in Iraq. McCain is trying to make it through the election without the American people noticing this dirty little fact. Neither he nor any of his surrogates have ever made mention of it. MSM isn’t doing much to bring more attention to this. Much thanks to Senator Claire McCaskill for shedding light on this during the Senate Committee on Armed Services Hearing on Iraq back in April of this year.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-hFlLdWbS2M

I noticed!

Obama/McCaskill ’08!!!

[pdohan]

has anyone noticed that mr romney says in 50 words what could be said i10. and his programmers have his smile all wrong. go mr o. peter

[doodlefarbe]

"has anyone noticed that mr romney says in 50 words what could be said i10"

Sorry, it's been too long since abstract math. I no longer remember how to figure out how many words is ten times the square root of negative one.

[Mij13]

Really Mitt? The thing about lies is, the more you tell them, the less credible you are. You do McSame no favors when you say things like this.

[oncethere]

So let's see here. McCain was the author of the Surge strategy, Jesse Helms the prime force behind the AIDS bill and now Bill Kristol asserts that Tony Snow was the author of a new philosophy of "cheerful confidence" that rebuts Existential philosophy.

I think I'm going to take a nap.

[doodlefarbe]

Lies Lies LIES!

He NEVER said he invented the surge.

What he actually said, to Wolfie Blitzen, was, "During my tenure in the United States Senate, I took the initiative in creating the surge".

See?

"...took the initiative in creating the surge", not, "invented the surge".

BIG DIFFERENCE.

;-)

[lexnekst]

I'm not mad at Mitt Romney. Just his programmers.

[cnick]

Mitt Romney is the most artificial, dishonest politician ever to hold office in Massachusetts. He is a manipulative user and looks down on the voters.

[GLaB]

January 14, 2007 - Washington D.C.

""Appearing on Face the Nation Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a potential presidential candidate, said a stronger case for Bush's proposal should be made, but that a change in strategy is needed.

"I can't guarantee it will succeed, but I can guarantee catastrophe if we fail or continue the present strategy — and that is that we will go in and we will clear and hold and build," McCain told Bob Schieffer. "As most people know, we have gone in to clear and left, and the insurgents have returned. This is a chance under the new leadership of General Petraeus and Admiral Fallon to have a chance to succeed. Do I believe it can succeed? Yes, I do."

According to some Democrats, this plan is the McCain Doctrine. McCain is one of the few politicians who is speaking for a troop increase when most others are calling for a drawdown. ""

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/14/ftn/main2359098.shtml

[cariintexas]

In 2003, before the Iraq war started, Gen. Eric Shenseki appeared before congress and said several hundred thousands of troops was needed. According to the article, Paul Wllfowitz called the generals statement wildly off the mark.

Source-globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq

According to the New York times 1/12/07

Pres. Bush ordered a rapid increase in american forces in Iraq, which was a vindication of Gen. shenseki testimony in 2003. according to the Times article.

[GLaB]

The "McCain Doctrine"
by kos
Tue Jan 02, 2007 at 10:14:20 AM PDT
This is very good.

Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, targeting a potential Republican rival in 2008, dubbed plans for a short-term U.S. troop increase in Iraq "the McCain doctrine," in an interview aired on Sunday. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, considered likely to be a Republican candidate for president, has been "the most prominent spokesperson for this for some time," Edwards said in an early salvo of the 2008 campaign.

Bush, indecisive on how to proceed, is now taking his cues from McCain. The baton is being passed to the heir apparent.

This is fast becoming McCain's war.

::

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/2/13948/14017

[unity08]

The surge is over yet we still have 150,000 troops there. It is not a surge but an escalating war with no end in sight. If the surge has worked why arent we bringing the troops home?

This is the best marketing campaign ever. The citizens of the USA have been sold a bill of goods. Since when, by the way, do the generals run the country? I thought that was a job for the president, aka commander in chief.

When we will get out? I suspect when we have the oil locked down for our consumption at a "cheap price". Never mind the lives and treasure it cost to secure it.

[hoopesaz]

McCain may not have authored the surge, but he suggested a similar course of action before the details of the surge were ever crafted. I CAN'T STAND McCain, but to suggest that he had nothing to do with the surge is disengenuous.

What's Obama's position? OH YEA, he thought the surge was a horrible idea until recently, when he removed all mention of that position from his website and now concedes that the surge has led to a decrease in violence in Iraq. That's what we call a FLIP FLOP. Political expediency. Pandering.

[realiybased2]

What we have is a war (IRAQ) invaded for the wrong reasons. Left Bin Laden plenty of time to plan HIS WAR strategy. Iran and AlQueida move into IRAQ which at the time they had been in Afganastan. As for the SURGE, Bin Laden and his group along with terriorists have just moved full force back to Afghanstan and now the violence has risen there. These terriorists are just moving within these three areas.

[truthynesslover]

Of course they lie look who their audience is?

[GLaB]

"""In an interview of John McCain back in January of 2007, Bob Schieffer of "Face the Nation" dubbed the surge in Iraq "The McCain Doctrine" because that was what many on Capital Hill were calling it.

Appearing on Face the Nation Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a potential presidential candidate, said a stronger case for Bush's proposal should be made, but that a change in strategy is needed...

...". This is a chance under the new leadership of General Petraeus and Admiral Fallon to have a chance to succeed. Do I believe it can succeed? Yes, I do."

According to some Democrats, this plan is the McCain Doctrine. McCain is one of the few politicians who is speaking for a troop increase when most others are calling for a drawdown. """

[GLaB]

John Edwards on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fw6s79b8Mw

... rejecting th "MCCAIN DOCTRINE."