Given that McCain will be the (shell of a) man to beat in ‘08 - and given the gratuitous teabagging the msm is treating him to - methinks it’s time for some McCain bashing. So, a new series: Hitching a ride on the Straight Talk Express. John McCain, in his own words (and some lolz, of course). The whole point is to show misguided independents that McCain is not, in point of fact, some kind of maverick. Unless “maverick” is now slang for “panderer”.

I caught a bit of the Senate Armed Services Iraq hearings on CNN this morning. McCain’s “grilling” of Petraeus damn near had me gagging on my raspberry toast. Seriously, McCain was two reacharounds away from asking the man if he could plz plz plz taste his sweet salty balls? Even Shane of “o manz r they gonna politicize this”* fame did a double take. ‘Twas that shameless.

Yeah, like that.

Anyway, here’s the gist of it (transcript via):

MCCAIN: There are numerous threats to security in Iraq and the future of Iraq. Do you still view Al Qaeda in Iraq as a major threat?

PETRAEUS: It is still a major threat, though it is certainly not as major a threat as it was, say, 15 months ago.

MCCAIN: Certainly not an obscure sect of the Shiites overall…

PETRAEUS: No.

MCCAIN: … or Sunnis or anybody else.

Al Qaeda continues to try to assert themselves in Mosul, is that correct?

PETRAEUS: It is, Senator. As you saw on the chart, the area of operation of Al Qaeda has been greatly reduced in terms of controlling areas that it controlled as little as a year and half ago.

But, clearly, Mosul and Nineveh province are areas that Al Qaeda is very much trying to hold onto. All roads lead through the traditional capital of the north.

MCCAIN: They continue to be a significant threat?

PETRAEUS: They do. Yes, sir.

The Raw Story notes:

Last month, the Arizona senator got a whisper in his ear from Sen. Joe Lieberman, after he said that Iran was providing aid to Al Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni group. Iran, however, is actually a Shiite nation. On Fox News Sunday, McCain also got wrong the details of an Iraqi ceasefire.

“His friend, Joe Lieberman, who was also on the trip, had to famously whisper in his ear to correct him,” the LA Times writes today. “This allowed McCain’s two Democratic rivals for the presidency, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to criticize McCain for his mistake, which came in the area that’s supposed to be in his wheelhouse: national security and foreign policy.”

At today’s Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, McCain seems to have gotten it wrong again, when interviewing Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus.

At least Lieberman’s still a contender for the veep seat.

* Said I: “It’s a Fucking! War! How is that not political?”

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Tagged: john mccain straight talk express 2008 elections politics lol lolz General Petraeus Iraq war war on terra