Sunday, April 29, 2007
The central issue of this election is the war in Iraq, and the senator is the candidate most identified with making the case for war in the first place and for not leaving precipitously now. He did not shrink from the issue in his announcement, admitting the war "has not gone well" and referring to it in appropriately cautionary terms. "America should never undertake a war unless we are prepared to do everything necessary to succeed, unless we have a realistic and comprehensive plan for success, and unless all relevant agencies of government are committed to that success," he said. "We did not meet this responsibility initially. And we must never repeat that mistake again."
Mr. McCain did not say so, but he has been making these points since well before the invasion. Whatever your position on the war, then or now, Mr. McCain deserves credit for foresight and consistency about how the war should have been waged. And he was, properly, unflinching about the terrorist challenge facing the country he hopes to lead: "a global struggle with violent extremists who despise us, our values and modernity itself."
This is Fred Hiatt of course in the Washington Post editorial once again showing how blind he is to reality as well as to the mood of the public. The war was a mistake. War of choice, aggression is not a good thing, especially when the reasons were bogus. McCain said he would have made the same error, but he would have been more skilled in committting the mistake. The Washington Post likes that kind of thinking.
It would be like saying I am a better drunk driver than that other guy who crashed into the SUV with the family. Give me a six pack, and give me the keys and I will prove it to you.
Can the meme of the liberal press be finally erased? When two-thirds of the country wants to get the hell out of Iraq, and the Washington Post is cheerleading Commander Cuckoo banana's folly in any brazen way they can, it is time to stop talking about the "liberal press".
Chris Matthews, who is wrong more often than not, said it right a few weeks ago when he noticed that the Post was now a neo-con paper, and any claims to liberalism have long been abandoned.
The neo-cons have really screwed up our foreign policy and our standing in the world. That the Washington Post continues to attempt to put frosting on this pile of dung damages not only it's reputation, but in a way is helpful to liberals who don't have to listen to conservative loudmouths complaining about the left running the media agenda. Just read Fred Hiatt's ridiculous editorials for a while, and perhaps even the most craven GOP mouthpiece would blush while trying to make this argument.
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