Which Way Today McCain?

Wherever the wind blows...

McCain Pot Calls Republican Kettle Black

Even John "100 years in Iraq" McCain is trying to run away from his and the GOP's legacy:

John McCain's top economic adviser has attacked Congressional Republicans, saying they have brought "shame and disgrace" on the party.

In a BBC interview, Doug Holtz-Eakin accused them of busting the budget with profligate spending programmes.

The comments are part of a strategy by Senator McCain's camp to distance themselves from the Republicans and avoid blame for the economic downturn.

John McCain and his bestest friends forevah brought this economic disaster upon the country... Perhaps McCain could grow up and take responsibility for the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq and multiple economic disasters on the domestic side of policy that are largely responsible for our country's current dismal economic outlook?

Independent Republican Joe Lieberman, John McCain
and bush addresses the Dead Elephant caucus of the GOP.

U.S. army study says Iraq occupation was understaffed

No Kidding?

U.S. army study says Iraq occupation was understaffed
DENVER - A nearly 700-page study released Sunday by the army found that "in the euphoria of early 2003," U.S.-based commanders prematurely believed their goals in Iraq had been reached and did not send enough troops to handle the occupation.

FULL STORY

While bush was claiming that major combat operations had ended:

Planners in the Iraq headquarters said 300,000 troops would be needed for the occupation. Even before the invasion, some planners had called for 300,000 troops to be sent for the invasion and occupation.

...snip...

Some commanders told the authors they asked about plans for making the country stable and got no answers.

...snip...

Its writers said it was clear in January 2005 that the Army would remain in Iraq for some time, the writers concluded.

That was only about 7 Friedman units ago.
Take heart, dear reader, that our fearless leader took his military commanders advice on troop levels and... Oh wait! he ignored the military, never sent in the 300,000 troops they wanted and lied about the Friedmans too.

I would feel used if I didn't know this since the day they sacked General Shinseki for telling them, and us, the truth about needed troop levels.

Retired generals speak out to oppose Rumsfeld:
"In this, Powell echoed former Army chief of staff Gen. Eric Shinseki, who told Congress just weeks before the 2003 invasion that several hundred thousand US troops would be necessary to secure Iraq after the invasion. For this he was publicly contradicted by then Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. Rumsfeld named General Shinseki's replacement a year before he was to retire and broke custom by not attending his retirement ceremony."
--- csmonitor.com

In case you don't remember exactly what Shinseki said to get pushed out the door by the bush administration:

McCain makes a good point with his "whackamole" comment, but clearly the only other thing that McCain is correct in when he talks about sending 20,000 more troops to Iraq is at the end of the video where he says, "I don't know where the troops are going to come from."

He hasn't a clue that it would take a draft to get enough troops. Firstly, because we already don't have the troops to spare. And, secondly, because you need to be looking at the several hundred thousand pairs of boots on the ground deemed neccessary by General Shinseki, before he was chased out of the military by the neocons for being honest, if you really want to secure Iraq and you get the idea of how wrong McCain is.

“Something on the order of several hundred thousand soldiers, are probably, you know, a figure that would be required. We’re talking about post-hostilities control over a piece of geography that’s fairly significant with the kinds of ethnic tensions that could lead to other problems. And so, it takes significant ground force presence to maintain safe and secure environment to ensure that the people are fed, that water is distributed, all the normal responsibilities that go along with administering a situation like this.” [Sen. Armed Services Committee testimony, 2/25/03]

Now, of course, several years later we have a bush flack in charge named Petraeus. Nothing more than a yes man for the neocons and eternal war. He took over from a reasonable Admiral that stood in the neocons way when it came to attacking Iran.

All they need is to get their warmongering McCain in to the White House and we can be sure to be playing whackamole in Iran for a hundred years too!

Who the heck is Andrew Malcolm?

Almost everybody who Blogs knows who skippy the bush kangaroo is, and certainly they know who the link lovin' Mike Finnigan from Crooks and Liars is, as well. But, honestly, who the heck is Andrew Malcom? Never even heard of his Blog before either... skippy writes:

mike finnigan of crooks&liars responds to andrew malcolm's snide dismissal of skippy's question:

mr. malcolm,

having read your dismissive response to skippy, i'll address you in the tone that you apparently favor. i must say i wasn't surprised by the lack of respect and royal impatience your note conveyed. i guess peons like us should just be damn grateful you deigned to reply to the impertinent skippy. thank you, my liege! the unaccountable arrogance of our corporate press seems to be contagious, even when one of it's members turns to..(cough)..blogging. i'll be sure and see that the over 1 million visitors per week which read crooks and liars get a chance to sample how one of the denizens of our pathological press reacts to a legitimate question, politely posed.

mike finnigan

thanks, mike! we appreciate your time and effort!

Everyone appreciates what both Mike Finnigan and Crooks and Liars do so well. Mike's Blog Roundup also points to his royal heiny's, Andy "blogger wannabe" Malcolm, incompetence and failures:

skippy the bush kangaroo: The impertinent skippy had the gall to write to three journalists, questioning them on why the press corps insisted on framing Obama as “arrogant” in the presidential seal story when McCain’s own senatorial campaign committee did the same thing. Two ignored him, and another reacted the way royalty always does.

Seriously... I'd have never heard of this Andy Malcolm guy, nor his Blog (top of the ticket), had it not been for one of the big national Blogs that pointed to their little "B lister" corner of the internet...