If only John Kerry had been defended by the likes of Andrea Mitchell, Marc Ambinder, et al in '04

[flpoljunkie]

(Remember how the talking heads rushed to John Kerry's defense about his saying "I voted for it before I voted against it" and the SwiftBoat lies? That's right! They didn't! Andrea Mitchell rose to McCain's defense on the "100 years in Iraq" on her show today, and she and Ambinder are not the first in the media to defend McCain--not by a long shot.)

100 Years Of Solitude? McCain And Iraq

31 Mar 2008 03:09 pm

It's fair to say that John McCain has said that some measure of U.S. troops might stay in Iraq for as long as 100 years. Or something like that.

It's not fair to say that McCain wants to war to continue for 100 years.

There is a school of thought that holds that the presence of troops contributes to and feeds the instability and so, it may well be fair to link the presence of troops to a perpetual state of war. But that's an argument one has to make and not simply assume into evidence.

When, in Derry, New Hampshire, McCain uttered the phrase "make it 100," he was comparing the U.S. presence in Iraq to the U.S. presence in South Korea.

Clearly, this comparison implies a healthy amount of troops in the region and continued high-level military cooperation and self-defense treaties. That should be enough for Democrats. "100 years" -- even in the correct context -- is just one of those phrases that politicians were invented to exploit.

Instead, Democrats imply that McCain wants to keep US troops in Iraq for 100 years under the same conditions they're fighting right now.

Which is simply not what McCain said. McCain explicitly said that US presence in Iraq long-term would be predicated on the absence of violence and on the establishment of stability in the region.

Now -- Democrats might pursue this avenue. In November of 2007, McCain seemed to reject the Korea model, arguing that the conditions in Iraq were different. He now accepts the analogy.

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/100_years_of_solitude_mccain_a.php

[DJ13]

1. The DC elites didnt want to defend Kerry, they wanted more Bush

With Clinton all but out of the race, McCain is all they have left (er, right).

[flpoljunkie]

2. NBC's First Read is defending McCain today. Some say the media is McCain's base. They're right!

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/31/845454.aspx

[flpoljunkie]

3. MSNBC is at it again today! Andrea Mitchell twice, Norah O'Donnell, and the entire PM crew!

Just think if they had been looking out for John Kerry like this! Their defense of John McCain is frequent and passionate. As Hillary might say, "Shame on you, MSNBC!"

[flpoljunkie]

4. Day Three of Andrea Mitchell working overtime to defend MCain's "100 yrs in Iraq!" Today she tried

to get John Kerry to side with her! Unbelievable!

John Kerry was having none of it. The good senator told her that McCain's policy, like George's Bush, was for an undefinable "victory in Iraq" with no timetable--just what we do not need to get the Iraqis to do the political work needed to get us out of Iraq.

Thank you, John Kerry!