A Blog Called Hope

McCain backtracks on support of Iraq war and President Bush, in direct conflict with past assertions

Given the length of the conflict, and slumping position in world affairs, there are few things the American people are more concerned about than ending the war in Iraq and bringing our brave men and women home.

Sensing this ever-present reality, John McCain’s camp has ramped up the anti-Bush/Iraq war machine.

On Meet the Press this past weekend, McCain Victory ‘08 Chair Carly Fiorina sidestepped from McCain’s history of support of President Bush and his war on Iraq.

“To say John McCain was aligned with President Bush on the prosecution of the war in Iraq is to change history.” -Carly Fiorina, July 13, 2008.

The only persons hoping to alter history is the McCain camp. The truth of the matter is that John McCain was one of the leading proponents of the war in Iraq, and even when the battle began to go array, McCain steadfastly supported the President’s decision to go to war and strategies implemented during the war.

“I think the President has led with great clarity and I think he’s done a great job leading the country.” -John McCain, April 23, 2003.

“We’ve got to stay the course.” -John McCain, June 29, 2005.

McCain and his supporters continue to feed the American public what they want to hear, all the while leaving the truth behind a smokescreen of lies. McCain’s history is one of prolonged Bush and Iraq war support coupled with public double-talk and political deceit.

John McCain may claim he’s a different kind of politician, but his efforts to cover up his misstatements about the war in Iraq instead of admitting he was wrong ring of the same kind of dishonesty we’ve come to expect from the Bush Administration. After seven years of a president who will distort the truth for political purposes, Americans don’t want four more years of the same with John McCain.

Last week we saw the lengths John McCain and his campaign will go to cover up misstatements he made about the facts on the ground in Iraq.

After inaccurately stating that U.S. troops were “drawn down to pre-surge levels,” McCain refused to admit his error and claimed what he said was “just facts.” [Wisconsin Town Hall, 5/29/08, http://youtube.com/watch?v=42ke9Q-qXg4]

Likewise, his campaign went into Washington spin-mode, organizing a last-minute conference call where McCain advisor Randy Scheunemann said that McCain’s mistake was an issue of “semantics” and that “[w]e are talking about a verb tense.”

But no one was buying it. One reporter wrote that “the attempt by the McCain media machine to spin the mistake as a simple matter of ‘verb tenses’ is an insult to our intelligence.” [The Fact Checker, Washington Post, 5/30/08; http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/30/mccain-call-nitpicking/]

McCain Says U.S. Troops At Pre-Surge Levels. “We have drawn down to pre-surge levels.” [Wisconsin Town Hall, 5/29/08, http://youtube.com/watch?v=42ke9Q-qXg4]

Troops in Iraq Not Expected to Return to Pre-Surge Level Until End of July. “The increased U.S. presence in Iraq — which topped out at about 170,000 troops — is expected to go down to 140,000 by the end of July. U.S. officials plan to keep 15 combat brigades in Iraq through the end of the year, though ongoing assessments could allow commanders to change those numbers.” [Washington Post, 5/20/08]

Check out the DNC’s latest spot which hit the airwaves today. Chairman Lynch joined other state party leaders calling attention to the ad by issuing this statement.