This, SNL's cold-open with John McCain from this past Saturday, was quite funny. As I mentioned earlier, SNL has done a really good job pointing out the fundamental flaw in the McCain campaignIts...
is best articulated here.
I actually enjoyed last night's debate much more so than the previous three. Part of it could be that I watched with a real-live crowd of college-aged students instead of by myself at home with only...
Two good articles on the US role in Georgia. The first, by Helene Cooper and Thom Shanker of the New York Times: "After Mixed U.S. Messages, a War Erupted in Georgia."One month ago, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Tbilisi, Georgia, for a high-profile visit that was planned to accomplish two very different goals.During a private dinner on July 9, Ms. Rice’s aides say, she warned President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia not to get into a military conflict with Russia that Georgia could not win. “She told him, in no uncertain terms, that he had to put a non-use of force pledge on...
What is the "central front" in the war on terrorism?According to Obama, its Afghanistan. According to McCain, its Iraq. Bush--still president--has long asserted that its Iraq.A pair of articles in the NYT yesterday and today suggest otherwise--Pakistan should perhaps be at the center of the discussion.While Obama may in fact be closer to the mark with is focus on Afghanistan, the source of NATO's troubles in Afghanistan seems to be emerging from Pakistan. The resurgent Taliban uses Pakistan as a safe haven to rest, re-arm, and retreat as needed. Now, we learn, much of this seems to be...
I have a very difficult time getting worked into a lather because John McCain has, on more than one occasion, referred to "The Czech Republic" as "Czechoslovakia" (video). I'm less than half McCain's age, and I often slip (during lectures no less) and call Russia the "Soviet Union" and substitute "Soviets" for "Russians." Shockingly enough, I almost always do this, like McCain, in contexts when I'm discussing nuclear deterrence, ballistic missile defense, and other issues that were, um, rather salient during the Cold War. In fact, Howard Dean made the same mistake at a session of Hardball,...
Tom Toles pretty much sums up the issue in yesterday's Washington Post.Truly: 'nuff said.
In the latest incarnation of the Iraq war issue in the general election, John McCain is criticizing Barak Obama because Obama hasn’t been to Iraq in some time, and therefore, he’s not qualified to comment on Iraq policy because he hasn’t “been there” to “see it for himself.”Rhetorically, it’s a slick move by McCain. Take a widely perceived negative, his support of the war, and turn it into a positive by emphasizing experience and criticizing Obama’s capacity for sound judgment. There was some press speculation that Obama might now need to visit Iraq as a candidate to blunt this line of...
Some of the remaining presidential candidates are this week debating the role of al Qaeda in Iraq. Senator John McCain points to AQI to justify his pro-war position, Senator Barack Obama points out that al Qaeda would not be in Iraq if the US hadn't invaded. It was not in Iraq before the US invaded.If the US abandoned Iraq, McCain says, then AQI would not just be "establishing a base." No, he says, "they'd be taking a country." President Bush has been making this same point for years -- though the point is even more misleading now than it was then, when Bush was using this a justification...
George W. Bush had this exchange at his press conference, February 28, 2008: Q Mr. President, Turkey's ground offensive in northern Iraq is now a week old with no end in sight. How quickly would you like to see Turkey end its offenses, its incursion? And do you have any concerns about the possibility of protracted presence in northern Iraq causing further destabilization in the region?THE PRESIDENT: ...I strongly agree with the sentiments of Secretary Gates, who said that the incursion must be limited, and must be temporary in nature. In other words, it shouldn't be long-lasting. But the...
Last August, Senator John McCain famously used the phrase "whack-a-mole" to describe and criticize the Pentagon's "old" strategy in Iraq. What I worry about is we're playing a game of whack-a-mole here. We move troops, it [insurgency] flares up, we move troops there.Based on that metaphor, McCain concluded that the US needed more troops in Iraq. The logic is simple: more US troops can whack more insurgent moles and reduce the places in Iraq safe for them to appear. Putting more troops in Iraq also theoretically means creating larger-and-larger zones of security in Iraq. Indeed, McCain now...