Tuesday, July 29, 2008

More "Straight" Talk

I don't mean to beat a dead horse or anything, but this whole McCain on Iraq thing is starting to get a little silly. Last night on Larry King, the presumptive Republican nominee indicated that maybe he could support a 16-month timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq as long as it was based on the conditions on the ground. In his words: "Now whether that fits into 16 months or not, or one month, or whatever, the point is it's got to be conditions-based."

Whoa there. One month? For those keeping score at home, that 1,199 months faster than he's previously indicated he'd want to bring the troops home.

And also, isn't this position pretty much exactly Obama's position? And don't give me that Obama will bring the troops home regardless of what's happening in Iraq. That's obviously false. Obama has said that he's be looking at conditions on the ground. His advisor Samantha Powers said the same thing months ago, while the primary fight with Hillary was still going on.

Still, give McCain credit. It takes a fair amount of chutzpah to adopt your opponent's position on the war, claim that his position is still wrong, and continue to run for president on the strength of your position on the war. Let's hope this bodes as well for November as I think it does.

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