McCain: Two-faced Kitten?

I saw this little gem on the Countdown with Keith Olberman



The piece on the Olberman show was more or less comparing McCain two a cat born with two faces- they both have two opinions on the Bush tax cuts! Ha! How funny!

Just in case you had any doubt MSNBC had a liberal pundit, Olberman reminds us that comparing Obama to Paris Hilton is mean, but comparing McCain to a cat with a birth defect- Honey, clear off the mantle! We're gonna need somewhere to put that Pulitzer.

Hold the phone, Iraq critics

I read Real Clear Politics first thing every day, since it generally does a good job of presenting one or two of the best articles out there on whatever the big topics for the day will be. RCP is generally un-biased, but the articles they link to aren't necessarily so. Here's an example of an excerpt from Politico:

John McCain, who once voiced concerns about Bush and Cheney’s handling of the war, is now unrestrained in his enthusiasm for the indefinite occupation of Iraq.

The article is trying to argue that McCain has become more conservative for a general election audience, which obviously he has (but not nearly to the degree Obama is veering to the center). But this is exactly the kind of backhanded little statement conservatives need to to a better job fighting against.

For those of us who have been following Iraq, we know that Bush/Cheney were botching the hell out of a war that should have been a cakewalk for US troops to win. Of *course* McCain spoke out against their mis-management, anyone who knew anything about the military was speaking out against it. But that doesn't mean his support for the war ever weakened. He was always one of the most vocal supporters of the Iraq war, regardless of calling Bush/Cheney out on their terrible mismanagement.

We also know "indefinite occupation" is misleading. Recall that US troops are technically still occupying Germany, Japan and Korea- countries we haven't been at war with for decades. We do this to offer support to nations still adjusting to post-war life and to help them out should they have any trouble. We also do it for strategic reasons- having troops in South Korea ready to go to battle at any moment is a good plan considering how things are going with North Korea lately. We will probably never need to engage these troops, but it's good to have them there.

Iraq is in the middle of the hotbed of the Middle East. Of COURSE we would keep troops there indefinitely. It doesn't make sense not to. Should anything happen with Iran 5, 10, 15 years from now our troops are right there waiting for it, and in the mean time they're helping the new Iraq security forces keep the newly democratic nation running. It would be stupid of us to spend billions of dollars in Iraq and then leave without having any way to ensure our investment is paying off. We didn't liberate them so they could go back to exactly how things were in 2001.

With a bit of critical thinking we conservatives know the above statement is misleading bullshit, but lots of people see this sort of thing as fact. We really need to do a better job of correcting each and every person who makes statements like this. If we can't call Obama a Muslim then liberals can't say things like this.

NAACP

Today Sen. McCain spoke at the NAACP conference. Despite being polled at only having 4% of the African-American vote, he went to the convention and spoke to these voters anyway. He was respectful and didn't try to pretend he was anything he isn't. Despite knowing there was no possible way they'd be persuaded to vote for him, the crowd was warm, enthusiastic and packed.

From the speech:

Let me begin with a few words about my opponent. Don't tell him I said this, but he is an impressive fellow in many ways. He has inspired a great many Americans, some of whom had wrongly believed that a political campaign could hold no purpose or meaning for them. His success should make Americans, all Americans, proud. Of course, I would prefer his success not continue quite as long as he hopes . . . Senator Obama talks about making history, and he's made quite a bit of it already . . . Whatever the outcome in November, Senator Obama has achieved a great thing -- for himself and for his country -- and I thank him for it.

This is exactly what you should do when in territory that is not traditionally friendly to you. Don't pretend you're anything you're not. McCain isn't pulling up a chair at the local diner and pretending to like fried chicken, he's not sharing a 40-oz in any photo opps and he sure as hell isn't adopting their slang. He's being himself, and it is appreciated.

Most importantly, he's not slamming the voters he just tried to woo behind their back, a la the infamous "clinging to guns and religion" comment. McCain understands that the American people need a leader, not someone who pretends to be just like them.