McCain: Evidence He is Whacko

Many of us have had the following experience. We have a series of exchanges with a person in which the communication seemed very clear and we felt like we were on the same page. Then, the person later does something, or fails to do something, that shocks us, making you think, "Whoa. What the heck? Is this person nuts?" or "WTF?"

Here's such an exchange between Obama and McCain:

• On Tuesday night Obama received a phone message from Republican Sen. Tom Coburn who suggested that Obama and McCain make a joint statement outlining their shared principles on the financial crisis.
  
• On Wednesday morning, after conferring with aides, Obama placed a call to McCain to run the idea by him and left a message.
  
• At about 2:30 p.m., Obama received a return call from McCain, which lasted about five minutes. They discussed the joint statement idea and exchanged contact information so their campaign aides could follow up.
  
• On that call McCain also raised the idea of suspending his campaign and delaying the debate. Obama said he didn't rule out either option, but told McCain he wanted to see how events unfolded and suggested the candidates first address the immediate priority of speaking with one voice before Bush's address.
  
• About 20 minutes later, McCain publicly announced his proposal to delay this Friday's debate.
  
• Obama's jaw drops. He stammers and thinks, "Whoa. What the heck? Does McCain have a screw loose?"
  
• When pressed by reporters Obama'a aides refused to accuse McCain of bad faith. "No, John's just a little Whacko sometimes."
  

Sources:

Washington Post, Obama: Debate Should Go On, Shailagh Murray, September 24, 2008.

Surprise Surprise: Troop Drawdown Delay

Surprise surprise, the troop surge has worked so well that we need to delay the troop draw down. This isn't a quagmire, it's an occupation.

Now that we know either Clinton, Obabma or McCain will be the next president, we know the US troops will be in Iraq, at some level, for at least nine more years, unless they are pushed out.

My estimate of the length of the occupation is still on track, but I'm not sure I haven't under estimated it.

In my original estimate I used a comparison of Iraq and Vietnam as the basis for estimating six more years from January 2007. Here's another possible basis for an estimate of how long we'll be in Iraq.... Bosnia:

TUZLA, Bosnia, Nov. 24, 2004 -- U.S. troops marked the end of their nine-year peacekeeping role in Bosnia on Wednesday as NATO prepared to hand over the task to the European Union in December.

Ooops! Forgot something:

A small number of U.S. troops will stay in Bosnia to hunt war crime suspects and help the country reform its military.

Sound familiar? Obama and Clinton always say have a similar disclaimer, like those words read really quickly at the end of a damn advertisement:

Thecandidatedoesnotrepresentthisstatementasfact and reservestherighttomaintaintrooplevelstomeetunforseenneeds astheyarise
including butnotlimitedto securityforcontractorsandembassyemployees
trainingiraqiforces interdictingterrorists

So, General Petraeus wants a little time for "consolidation and evaluation," and Defense Secretary Gates "had been kind of headed in that direction as well."

Fear and Worry are all Part of a Crumbling Empire:

Some fear the drawdown could result in giving up some recent security gains while many in the military worry that strains on troops from long and multiple combat tours will grow worse unless the troop reduction continues after July.

If people like Barak Obama have their way, who call for increasing the size of the US Military by 90,000, the latter worry should subside... for a while.

Crumble, crumble.

Sources:

CBC, U.S. may delay troop cuts in Iraq: defence secretary, February 11, 2008.