McCain's Folly

I don’t get it.

John McCain was – repeat, was – someone whose politics I disagreed with but who I viewed as a rare honest politician, someone truly driven by purpose.

And now he’s apparently totally unhinged. It’s not that he’s insistent that things are great in Baghdad and the media isn’t reporting it – though that is hard to believe, I certainly haven’t been to Iraq, so who the hell knows?

Well, anyone who is in Iraq right now, apparently. When McCain first stated that General Petraeus walked freely down Baghdad streets, the priceless reaction on CNN was this:

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: You know that's where you ought to catch up on things, Wolf. General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed Humvee. I think you ought to catch up.

Wolf Blitzer then consulted with the CNN correspondent in Iraq, Michael Ware.

BLITZER: Michael, you've been there, what, for four years. You're walking around Baghdad on a daily basis. Has there been this improvement that Senator McCain is speaking about?

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'd certainly like to bring Senator McCain up to speed, if he ever gives me the opportunity. And if I have any difficulty hearing you right now, Wolf, that's because of the helicopter circling overhead and the gun battle that is blazing just a few blocks down the road.

Is Baghdad any safer? Sectarian violence, one particular type of violence, is down. But none of the American generals here on the ground have anything like Senator McCain's confidence.

I mean, Senator McCain's credibility now on Iraq, which has been so solid to this point, has now been left out hanging to dry. To suggest that there's any neighborhood in this city where an American can walk freely is beyond ludicrous. I'd love Senator McCain to tell me where that neighborhood is and he and I can go for a stroll.

And to think that General David Petraeus travels this city in an unarmed Humvee? I mean, in the hour since Senator McCain has said this, I've spoken to some military sources and there was laughter down the line. I mean, certainly, the general travels in a Humvee. There are multiple Humvees around it, heavily armed. There are attack helicopters, Predator drones, sniper teams, all sorts of layers of protection.

So, no, Senator McCain is way off base on this one -- Wolf.

I don't know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad.

OK, so that’s pretty balls out for a news network, and I appreciate it. But again – maybe McCain knows something even Michael Ware doesn’t.

And lo and behold, Sens. McCain and Lindsey Graham show up in Iraq this weekend and proclaim that they just got back from a leisurely, free stroll around Baghdad where Graham boasted of buying five rugs for $5.

Except of course it was not just a lie, it was a bald-faced lie.

Factor out that the area where this press conference was held was bombed just an hour after it was over, suggesting a response time that’s fairly rapid. Forget the point that McCain and Graham’s stroll was in the heart of the Green Zone, the most protected part of the country, let alone the city itself. And add to that that within this Green Zone, McCain and Graham could only walk through these streets while wearing bulletproof vests, flanked by 100 troops, three Blackhawk helicopters and apparently two Apache gunships (which doesn’t quite make sense to me.)

Don't even factor in that security was apparently ramped up everywhere on his route that day far beyond normal.

“What are they talking about?” Ali Jassim Faiyad, the owner of an electrical appliances shop in the market, said Monday. “The security procedures were abnormal!”

The delegation arrived at the market, which is called Shorja, on Sunday with more than 100 soldiers in armored Humvees — the equivalent of an entire company — and attack helicopters circled overhead, a senior American military official in Baghdad said. The soldiers redirected traffic from the area and restricted access to the Americans, witnesses said, and sharpshooters were posted on the roofs. The congressmen wore bulletproof vests throughout their hourlong visit.

“They paralyzed the market when they came,” Mr. Faiyad said during an interview in his shop on Monday. “This was only for the media.”

He added, “This will not change anything.”

Regardless, the way McCain and Graham talked of their trip was in such stark contrast to what had literally just occurred that I just don’t get the motivation. McCain is a seasoned politician – surely he knew this would get out. That his transparent, bald-faced lie was not going to simply be covered up.

Either way, McCain knew he was lying – outright LYING – about a war going on with American troops at risk. I don’t get that – how can he hang on to this and hope to be taken seriously even by those who also support the war? Doesn’t this action just make it even more obvious how awful the situation is over there – where two civilians can’t walk through the most secured neighborhood without the protection of one hundred men and women, plus air support?

Frankly, I didn’t think things were THAT bad over there, and was pretty pessimistic about things before this past weekend. I’m genuinely terrified that it’s Thunderdome in there now.

In any case, McCain is either a politician so sleazy he can see some political gain out of lying about something like this, or he’s just lying for lying sakes. Either way, not exactly that inspiring.