April 2, 2007
John McCain, Senator from Another Planet
What sort of planet McCain might be operating from is anybody's guess. Perhaps it's Altair IV. It's certainly not planet Earth. A week or so ago he told Wolf Blitzer on CNN's Late Edition that things had improved so wonderfully in Iraq that a Westerner like McCain or Blitzer could actually walk around certain neighborhoods in Baghdad with no security at all. Why, things are going so well that even General Petreus goes around in an unarmored Humvee. The "surge" he says, is working.
Right.
Fact is, there's been little improvement in Iraq as a whole. Certain neighborhoods in Baghdad might be quieter, but that could simply be the Shiite insurgents lying low and letting the US to the Shiite's dirty work. No one really knows. But in terms of the total number of carbombings, snipings, IED attacks and firefights, there's been no change at all. Hundreds of Iraqi civilians are being killed each week and US casualties steadily continues. Fact is there's no place in Baghdad where a Westerner can walk around without protection and General Petreus goes around in an heavily armored Humvee with a phalanx of air and ground protection.
So, why did McCain come out with the sort of nonsense he told Wolf Blitzer last week?
Could be McCain's succumbed to a disease peculiar to Neocons, which is a form of mental illness that causes one to simply ignore reality when that reality conflicts with a pre-set ideology.
Let's hope it's not catching.
Posted 10:30 AM PST