Is John McCain utterly delusional? Seriously, I used to like this guy, but what happened to him the past few years? Recently, McCain said that "There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today." Later, McCain added the adverb "freely" to his description of walking through Baghdad.Well, now he's proved that this is indeed possible, taking a leisurely, several-minute stroll through a Baghdad open-air market yesterday accompanied by:
*100 U.S. soldiers
*3 Blackhawk helicopters
*2 Apache gunships
*1 bulletproof vest
Yeah, that's "walking freely" alright. Hey, don't you take your morning constitutional every day in an armored Humvee with a few Abrams tanks riding shotgun? Well, of course you do! :)
Anyway, here's the question du jour: who's more delusional, George W. Bush or John McCain? Ee gads.
P.S. CNN reports that military reaction to McCain's "walk freely" remarks was "laughter down the line." I presume it's not a goal of the McCain campaign to be the luaghingstock of the media AND the military. Unless they have a secret plan for success...sort of like the one we've got in Iraq?
And worse yet he leaves the impression that the soldiers probably are safer also. Yet the figures show he is hiding the truth: 80 soldiers killed in March in Iraq...no drop since the "surge". And 600 Iraqis were killed just last week in Iraq!
Since the very lives of American fathers, daughters, sons, and mothers serving in Iraq are at stake, for McCain to portray the conditions in Iraq as he has is a disservice to the troops and a very cheap, political ploy.
From the Arizona Republic of Mar. 31: http://www.azcentral...
WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain's campaign for the White House has pulled him away from his day job more often than any other presidential candidate in the Senate.An Arizona Republic analysis of voting records found that McCain has missed 42 votes this session. That's 33 percent of the 126 roll-call votes that had been held before lawmakers left town Friday for a weeklong Easter recess.
Only Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., has missed more votes***
Leading candidates for the Democratic nomination have posted far better voting records. New York Democrat Hillary Clinton and Illinois Democrat Barack Obama missed only three votes each this session.
So is this incompetence? Disdain for his duty to represent Arizona voters? A sign that he's too old for the job, i.e., he can't do both jobs because he's exhausted?
In any case, it didn't take the insurgents long to send their reply. Less then 30 minutes after McCain wrapped up, a barrage of half a dozen mortars peppered the boundaries of the Green Zone, where the senators held their press conference.http://checkpointbag...
Michael Ware stoutly denies even having had the chance to ask McCain a question at the news conference, and there apparently is absolutely no video footage that backs up Drudge's claim.
Is the Rabid Right suffering from delusions? Or is it simply engaged in straight-out Goebbelsian lying? Does it make any difference? Yeah, it was April 1st, but if Drudge was trying to make a joke, it was a cruel and utterly tasteless one.
On a tangentially related note, I noticed at Haaretz.com that both Nancy Pelosi and Angela Merkel are in Beirut today. I wonder whether they will meet to have a discussion about keeping the Boys in the Bunker under some kind of restraint. Here is the link:
Senators Reid and Feingold today announced legislation proposing to place even stricter restraints on Bush's war plans if Bush goes ahead to veto last week's funding bill.
Bob Gates remains quiet and is not making threatening statements toward Iran. I wonder what he is doing behind the scenes, for he is the one Bush Administration official who is clearly tethered to reality and who can comprehend the consequences of actions.
It seems as though the world's adults are trying--desperately and in concert--to intervene to put limits on the delusional decision-making coming out of the Bush/Cheney bunker.
Under Bush and Cheney, he argues, the GOP has moved away from principles of small government, prudent foreign policy and leaving people alone to live their private lives -- all views Gold associates with his hero, Goldwater. "Invasion of the Party Snatchers" makes plain Gold's contempt for the direction of his party and the guidance of its leaders."For all the Rove-built facade of his being a 'strong' chief executive, George W. Bush has been, by comparison to even hapless Jimmy Carter, the weakest, most out of touch president in modern times," Gold writes. "Think Dan Quayle in cowboy boots."
Gold is even more withering in his observations of Cheney. "A vice president in control is bad enough. Worse yet is a vice president out of control."
Ouch!
Thanks for the post. I was saving a similar one for the right moment today, but you scooped me!
Matthew Dowd, Bush's chief campaign strategist, jumps ship over the weekend. Victor Gold, longtime Republican staffer and scribe, jumps today.
Soon there may be no room left in the water. Bush/Rove/Cheney's ship is aflame, and only the delusional (or criminal) zealots will stay aboard to await their martyrdom.
You are now entering a region of sight and sound where war is peace, up is down, George Bush is a great leader, and John McCain walks freely in the streets of Baghdad.
P.S.
I don't think that you can be more delusional than george bush. However, McCain is making me wonder.
Rather than repeat the whole story about Matt Drudge attacking a CNN reporter for "heckling" McCain in Baghdad, and the CNN response (with video of the press conference), I'm directing you to John Aravosis' nice write up.
"You're traveling through another dimension. A dimension, not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone!"
Yes, I'd say McCain could be a permanent resident these days.