Posted by
Michael A. Minton on Monday, January 28, 2008 3:04:39 AM
Before accusing your chief rival in the Primary of something he DID NOT do, you may want to look back at your record to make sure you didn’t ACTUALLY do it! This is my advice to Sen. “No benchmarks” McCain as he hurls false accusations at Sen. Romney.
Sen. McCain was quoted by Reuters as saying “Governor Romney wanted to set a date for withdrawal similar to what the Democrats are seeking, which would have led to a victory by al Qaeda in my view,"
In quick rebuttal, Romney replied, “To say that I have a specific date is simply wrong and is dishonest and he should apologize. That is not the case. I've never said that.” What Romney DID say, according to the article, is that President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki should have timetables and milestones for reducing the number of U.S. troops in Iraq but that those should not be made public.
This is a perfectly legitimate strategy. You can’t just tell them that we’ll be here forever, so there are benchmarks which have to be set. However, that doesn’t mean you let the enemy know that we are pulling out on June 2, regardless of the readiness of your security forces. That is nothing more than a death wish.
McCain, on the other hand, has been caught in a bold-faced lie. In the January 26, 2007 issue of The Arizona Star, McCain said about benchmarks, “They'd have to be specific, and they (Iraqi government officials) would have to meet them.”
When asked what the consequences of not meeting benchmarks would be, McCain told The Star, “I think everybody knows the consequences. Haven't met the benchmarks? Obviously, then, we're not able to complete the mission. Then you have to examine your options."
This was only one year ago, almost to the date. And now he wants to accuse Romney of setting benchmarks. And what’s worse, he accuses Hillary of wanting to throw the White flag (which she does), while he himself sounds a little “white-flaggish.”
Sorry senator, but no matter how many times you try to make it into something else, the facts are the facts.
And just what did some prominent turn-tail and run democrats have to say about McCain’s comment? Here’s a smattering, as told by the Arizona Star article:
Still, several Senate Demo-crats who oppose the troop buildup and also may seek the presidency said they were struck by McCain's comments.
"We Catholics call that an epiphany," said Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del., who is sponsoring the main Democratic resolution opposing the troop buildup.
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said: "I called for that . . . several weeks ago. I'm glad that John McCain agrees with me.
"He's somebody who has enormous influence with the White House. He's been one of the key champions of this escalation of troops."
Oh man, so now we have McCain endorsements coming from the likes of Joe Biden and Barack Obama? Why, in the past year, did this not get more coverage? I sure don’t see the liberals coming out and endorsing Romney!