McCain's Straight Talk Express Takes a Diversion

McCain has permanently and irreparably damaged his reputation for telling the truth with his sad attempt to portray Mitt Romney as having advocated establishing timetables for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

McCain's appearance on Tim Russert's Meet the Press show hits a new low for him. Aware that the war is losing its promenence as an issue as the troop surge proves more and more successful and aware that his credentials on the economy and the private sector pale in comparison to those of Mitt Romney, he chose to attempt to change the focus of the campaign from the economy back to Iraq by lying about Governor Romney's record.

Here are McCain's exact words from Meet the Press:

SEN. McCAIN:"...Governor Romney obviously said there had to be, "timetables," although they had to be secret because we weren't going to tell the enemy when we were leaving. I mean, that's--that's just a fact. And if we'd have done that, as the Democrats and some Republicans wanted to do, we would've lost that surge and al-Qaeda would be celebrating a victory over the United States of America."

MR. RUSSERT: "Governor Romney said he never suggested a specific timetable, you're being dishonest and you should apologize."

SEN. McCAIN: "I see. Well, you know, you flash these up on the screen all the time. Let me just--let me just see, he said--when he was asked should a timetable--should there be a timetable for withdrawing the troops? "Well, there's no question the president and Prime Minister al-Maliki have to have a series of timetables and milestones that they speak about, but they shouldn't be for public pronouncement. You don't want the enemy to understand how long they have to wait in the weeds until you're going to be gone." That's, that's, my friend, is the quote. That was a clear indication of setting timetables that would--you know, but you don't want to tell the enemy when you're going to be gone. It's very clear."

MR. RUSSERT: "Senator Clinton, when she suggested timetables, you said was waving the white flag of surrender. Is Governor Romney waving the white flag?"

SEN. McCAIN: "Well, actually, Tim, what Senator Clinton said was that you would set a timetable within 60 days of withdrawal, complete withdrawal from Iraq. To me that's surrender. And I think in most people's view that would be surrender if we told al-Qaeda that we are leaving Iraq within a certain period of time."

MR. RUSSERT: "Is Governor Romney suggesting surrender? "

SEN. McCAIN: "I said that he has said--is wrong, and I think he has equivocated on it. In one of the debates, he said the serve-- surge is "apparently working." It was working. It wasn't apparently. Look, these were tough time in American history, and I think historians will look back at April of 2000 when Harry Reid, the majority leader of the United States Senate, declared the war lost; when Republicans, even, were saying that we had to have "timetables" because we needed to get out of there. That was a critical time. I'm proud of the role that I played at that time. And I don't believe that Governor Romney's statement indicated anything but that we were going to tell--we were going to have a timetable for withdrawal."

Hmmm...not so straight talk from the "Straight Talk Express." McCain is the least Republican of the Republican candidates. He has joined with the Democrats in several critical votes like the original tax-cuts President Bush proposed back in 2001 and he has co-authored two of the most abhorent pieces of legislation that have been proposed. McCain is the definitive RINO Republican. The only deviation from that archetype is his support of the Iraq war.

McCain has dallied with being dishonest in his denial that the McCain-Kennedy Immigration Reform Bill was first and foremost an amnesty bill. Clearly the "Z-visa" is a gift for illegal aliens in that it provides for permanent residency with no requirement for illegals to return to their nations of origin, but in this lie about Mitt Romney's comments on timetables and milestones.

This is a real problem for the Democrat's favorite Republican, but it is not his only problem. The very fact that McCain is "the Democrat's favorite Republican," makes him suspect in the eyes of most Conservatives. Even worse, McCain's words beg the question, "Senator McCain, do you not believe that leaders must set milestones and timetables for the successful prosecution of the Iraq War?"

"Aren't you the one that criticizes the Bush administration for not properly planning how to conduct the war?" Are you not speaking out of both of your two faces?"

No, John McCain is not a proper candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. He is not emotionally stable or consistently Conservative enough. I might consider him for appointment as Secretary of Defense, but never as President.

Long Live Our American Republic!!!

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