John McCain sure took President Bush to the woodshed over Iraq the other day, didn't he? Time Magazine is swooning already: "the Senator is flashing his independent credentials."
Let's establish a new rule in politics here and now. Right up there with "never put on the funny hat" should be, "if they say they're giving you straight talk, they probably aren't."
Case in point, see what McCain's advisors had to say:
"Sometimes it's a good idea to remind people that he's still John McCain, telling it like it is."
Over the past couple of days McCain has criticized Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, called for more troops in Iraq and lashed out at those who painted the war as a "day at the beach." McCain's criticism might have carried more weight if McCain did not have a paper trail of supporting Rumsfeld, making his own rosy statements about the war, opposing an invasion, and stating that the U.S. didn't need as many troops as it sent in.
Fasten the seatbelts on the wayback machine and see what McCain had to say about the way just days after the invasion was launched. McCain said that the war would be a short conflict, our overall goals had been met and that Americans would be, wait for it, welcomed as liberators.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Are you one of those who holds up an optimistic view of the post-war scene? Do you believe that the people of Iraq or at least a large number of them will treat us as liberators?
MCCAIN: Absolutely. [Hardball, 3/12/2003]
I believe that this conflict is still going to be relatively short. I believe we've achieved significant goals and successes. ... even though these forces have been harassing and have inflicted some casualties, tragically, our overall goals, I believe, have been met" [NBC, 3/30/2003]
But as dozens of papers have reported, McCain has been a steady and staunch supporter of invading Iraq. Right?
Well, maybe since the invasion, but just weeks before he authorized the President to use force, McCain argued against an invasion, believing that the Hussein regime might fall from within.
I have always strongly felt that you must try the option of opposition from within .... At least try that option before we send Americans into harm's way" [NBC Meet the Press, 7/14/2002].
Last Sunday, McCain reiterated his lack of support for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. So even if he softpedals his criticism of Bush, McCain secretly detests what has happened during the war and the way its been run, right? Surely McCain would never give somebody like Rumsfeld the keys to the Pentagon.
Not so much.
Early in the war, McCain helped deflect criticism for the way the Secretary was running the war early on, praised his talent, experience and loyalty to Bush and said his leadership "magnificent."
MCCAIN: I saw a poll today that you may have seen that 77 percent of the American people approve of President Bush. That is a direct endorsement of his view of how this should be conducted. And, look, I just want to say again, the leadership that the president has shown, the secretary of state, secretary of defense, General Myers, has been magnificent and I'm so proud of them. [Hannity & Colmes, 4/10/2003]
"I'm a great admirer of Secretary Rumsfeld. He's part of the president's team. I support him. ["Buchanan & Press," MSNBC, 11/6/2003]
But even if McCain has changed his mind about Rumsfeld, we can be sure that the war would have been run differently, right? After all, McCain says we needed more troops to begin with, and is the most strenuous advocate of putting more troops into Iraq.
At least initially, that was far from the case. McCain actually questioned whether the Bush Administration was committing too many troops to Iraq.
"I'm not yet convinced that the large U.S. force contemplated for the operation is the best or only option." [Time, 9/1/2002]
But a hawk like McCain must have been an opponent of Saddam Hussein. Anybody who did not even see a problem with the "Butcher of Baghdad" would seem a little naïve in hindsight. Even John Kerry, who Republicans painted as a virtual terrorist sympathizer, had said in 1990 that Saddam Hussein was a "man without any normal sense of behavior" and called for overt action to defuse Iraq's nuclear program [Boston Globe, 8/30/1990].
Actually McCain in those days was preaching containment. In 1990, McCain said that Iraq itself was not a problem. Arms control was the real problem.
"Iraq is not the problem. The problem is that our present methods of arms control simply are not adequate to the task" [CNN, 3/29/1990].
Some call it Straight Talk, but others call it Monday Morning Quarterbacking. However, despite the tortured journey McCain took to get to his latest view on Iraq, one statement by an unnamed McCain spokesman rings true:
"John didn't say anything he hasn't said before."
When you've said it all before, that's usually going to be the case.