McCain's Political Quagmire
by Joe Conason
The New York Observer
February 26, 2008
Within the next two weeks, the number of American troops killed in Iraq is likely to reach 4,000, assuming that the average number of fatal casualties per day remains steady. It is an arbitrary number, given meaning by the fact that the nation may briefly take notice, but a day will come in this presidential campaign when Senator John McCain must explain what he thinks we have gained by the sacrifice of those men and women.
Anticipating that prospect must make Mr. McCain uneasy, or so his latest remarks on the war seem to suggest. Speaking to reporters on his campaign bus the other day, he blurted out his concern that unless he can persuade voters that the current policy is succeeding in Iraq, “then I lose. I lose.”
Almost immediately he regretted his candor and asked for a quick rewrite. “If I may, I’d like to retract ‘I’ll lose.’ But I don’t think there’s any doubt that how they judge Iraq will have a direct relation to their judgment of me, my support of the surge,” he said.
As the presumptive Republican nominee—representing the continuation of a presidency that has fallen from favor with as many as eight out of 10 Americans—Mr. McCain has ample reason to worry. His forthright support of President Bush, the war, and the escalation of the past year is unlikely to endear him to independent voters who otherwise admire his maverick image and reform record. They still feel betrayed by the exaggerations and lies that led us into war. They want to spend no more lives or money on this misadventure.
(Continued here.)
The New York Observer
February 26, 2008
Within the next two weeks, the number of American troops killed in Iraq is likely to reach 4,000, assuming that the average number of fatal casualties per day remains steady. It is an arbitrary number, given meaning by the fact that the nation may briefly take notice, but a day will come in this presidential campaign when Senator John McCain must explain what he thinks we have gained by the sacrifice of those men and women.
Anticipating that prospect must make Mr. McCain uneasy, or so his latest remarks on the war seem to suggest. Speaking to reporters on his campaign bus the other day, he blurted out his concern that unless he can persuade voters that the current policy is succeeding in Iraq, “then I lose. I lose.”
Almost immediately he regretted his candor and asked for a quick rewrite. “If I may, I’d like to retract ‘I’ll lose.’ But I don’t think there’s any doubt that how they judge Iraq will have a direct relation to their judgment of me, my support of the surge,” he said.
As the presumptive Republican nominee—representing the continuation of a presidency that has fallen from favor with as many as eight out of 10 Americans—Mr. McCain has ample reason to worry. His forthright support of President Bush, the war, and the escalation of the past year is unlikely to endear him to independent voters who otherwise admire his maverick image and reform record. They still feel betrayed by the exaggerations and lies that led us into war. They want to spend no more lives or money on this misadventure.
(Continued here.)
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