Are republicans having buyers remorse?

By Weekly Archive On Jun 18, 2008

You
almost have to feel sorry for Republicans. As presidential nominee of
their party, they could have chosen Rudy Giuliani, or Mitt Romney, or
Mike Huckabee.

Instead,
they got stuck with John McCain. And McCain’s already starting to
show signs of losing it. Especially on Iraq.

His
first slipup, made while visiting Iraq, was accusing Shiite Iranian
forces of training Sunni al-Qaida terrorists. Only after Joe
Lieberman, standing by his side, whispered in his ear did McCain
correct himself. Still, after eight visits to Iraq, you’d think he’d
know Shiite from Sunni.

Then
McCain volunteered that it would be OK with him if American troops
remained in Iraq for 100 years. He wasn’t talking about combat
troops, he hastened to add, but simply forces stationed long-term in
Iraq, much like American troops now serving in Germany or South
Korea.

But
surely the former chairman, and now ranking member, of the Senate
Armed Services Committee should recognize the folly of attempting the
permanent occupation of a foreign land. Didn’t we learn anything from
the mistakes of the Russians in Afghanistan or the French in
Indo-China?

Sowing
further confusion, McCain next suggested we might be able to start
bringing some troops home, but not until 2013 — as if we could
afford, or endure, five more years in Iraq. He also goofed in
claiming that George Bush’s surge had allowed us to reduce the number
of troops in Iraq to pre-surge levels when, in fact, the exact
opposite is true.

And
now McCain has stepped in it again, asserting that it really doesn’t
matter whether we disengage from Iraq or not. Appearing on NBC’s
"Today," he was asked about consequences of the surge by
Matt Lauer: "If it’s now working, Senator, do you now have a
better estimate of when American forces can come home from Iraq?"

Get
this. "No," replied McCain, "but that’s not too
important. What’s important is the casualties in Iraq. Americans are
in South Korea. Americans are in Japan. American troops are in
Germany. That’s all fine."

Oh,
yeah? Does he really believe that the question of when American
forces start coming home from Iraq is "not too important"?
Try telling that to the families of 140,000 Americans still serving
in Iraq, many of them on their second or third tour of duty. At
worst, McCain’s response suggests a callous disregard for the dangers
still facing American troops every day. At best, it reflects a man
who, in the words of Sen. John Kerry, is "unbelievably out of
touch" with reality in the Middle East — if not with life in
general.

McCain’s
conflicting statements on America’s continuing presence in Iraq are
especially troublesome because the U.N. mandate allowing the presence
of American troops in Iraq expires at the end of the year. Because of
that deadline, the United States and Iraq are now in the middle of
negotiating a new Status of Forces Agreement, under which the Iraqi
government has authority to decide when American forces must leave
the country. How can the Iraqis trust any deal offered by the Bush
administration when the would-be next president says we’ll stay in
Iraq as long as we damn well please?

For
John McCain, it’s been one misstep after another on Iraq. And,
remember, after George W. Bush, he’s the war’s biggest defender.
McCain has made Iraq his number one issue. It’s too late for him to
change his focus now to the economy. After all, in December 2007,
McCain admitted to reporters: "The issue of economics is not
something I’ve understood as well as I should."

Given
McCain’s increasingly embarrassing public statements on the war, it’s
small wonder that so many Republican members of Congress have
distanced themselves from him. In a survey conducted by The Hill
newspaper, 14 GOP senators and congressmen refused to endorse John
McCain. Another 17 simply declined to comment.

Yes,
you almost have to feel sorry for Republicans. It’s still two months
before the convention, but already they’re starting to experience
buyers’ remorse. They’ve got to wonder whether John McCain is really
up for the job. Ron Paul, anyone?

Bill
Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a
new book, "Train
Wreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too
Soon)."
You can hear "The Bill Press Show" at his Web site:
billpressshow.com. His email address is: bill@billpress.com.