or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
May 29, 2008
New TomDispatch
McCain (Mis)Speaks
How the Senator Won the War of Words in Iraq (again and again and again…)
By Christopher Cerf and Victor S. NavaskyThe Iraq war was a disaster for Iraq, a disaster for the United States, a disaster for the Middle East, a disaster for the world community, but most of all, it was a disaster for the experts...
[T]he presidential candidate-cum-expert of genuine interest is Senator John McCain.
At first, we were impressed by the senator's statements in Republican primary debates about how he had actually opposed the Bush administration's conduct of the war from the start. As he told CNN's Kiran Chetry, in August of 2007, "I was the greatest critic of the initial four years, three-and-a half years."
Well, having dug into those missing years a bit, here, for the record, is what we found to be Senator McCain's typical responses to some of the key questions posed above:
How would American troops be greeted?: "I believe… that the Iraqi people will greet us as liberators." (March 20, 2003)
Did Saddam Hussein have a nuclear program that posed an imminent threat to the United States?: "Saddam Hussein is on a crash course to construct a nuclear weapon." (October 10, 2002)
Will a war with Iraq be long or short?: "This conflict is… going to be relatively short." (March 23, 2003)
How is the war going?: "I would argue that the next three to six months will be critical." (September 10, 2003)
How is it going (almost two months later, from the war's "greatest critic")? "I think the initial phases of [the war] were so spectacularly successful that it took us all by surprise." (October 31, 2003)
—Jonathan Schwarz
Posted at May 29, 2008 06:51 PMDamn Archives!
Posted by: Mike Meyer at May 29, 2008 08:07 PMWow. Dick Cheney says something I can agree with:
"I do believe that when we look back on this period of time, 2005 will have been the turning point..."
2005 is when U.S. public opinion turned against the war for good, and when Bush's approval went below 40% for good.
Posted by: Nell at May 30, 2008 11:58 AM
