I WONDER WHY McCAIN MISSED THE MARCH IN IRAQ TODAY

Some clown in the White House, who probably isn't that important since Bush didn't pack him up and take him to the Crawford pig farm for his annual spring vacation, told reporters today that the massive anti-American demonstrations in Iraq today were a good sign since they show how democratic the country has become. They were ripping apart and burning American flags and chanting death to Americans.

Tens of thousands of Shiites-- a sea of women in black abayas and men waving Iraqi flags-- rallied Monday to demand that U.S. forces leave their country. Some ripped apart American flags and tromped across a Stars and Stripes rug.

The protesters marched about three miles between the holy cities of Kufa and Najaf to mark the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. In the capital, streets were silent and empty under a hastily imposed 24-hour driving ban.

Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered up the march as a show of strength not only to Washington but to Iraq's establishment Shiite ayatollahs as well...

Among the snapping flags and giant banners, leaflets fluttered to earth, exhorting the marchers in chants of "Yes, Yes to Iraq" and "Yes, Yes to Muqtada. Occupiers should leave Iraq."

Salah al-Obaydi, a senior official in al-Sadr's Najaf organization, called the rally a "call for liberation. We're hoping that by next year's anniversary, we will be an independent and liberated Iraq with full sovereignty."

And the head of al-Sadr's parliamentary bloc, Nassar al-Rubaie, blasted the U.S. presence as an affront to "the dignity of the Iraqi people. After four years of occupation, we have hundreds of thousands of people dead and wounded."

A key Washington official saw it differently.

"Iraq, four years on, is now a place where people can freely gather and express their opinions," Gordon Johndroe, the National Security Council spokesman, said aboard Air Force One. "And while we have much more progress ahead of us-- the United States, the coalition and Iraqis have much more to do-- this is a country that has come a long way from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein."

Col. Steven Boylan, a U.S. military spokesman and aide to Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, praised the peaceful demonstration and said Iraqis "could not have done this four years ago."

This report played down the vehemence and antipathy towards the U.S. but it is certainly a very different version from the vision of peace and flowers Bush and McCain are (still) trying to put across. Oh, yeah, McCain. Did you watch his Fork-Tongued Express appearance on 60 Minutes last night? Iraq is the make it or break it issue for him. He's wrapped himself up in it and refuses to let reality get in the way of his preconceptions. Although he "expressed regret" for "suggesting earlier that Americans could safely stroll some Baghdad neighborhoods on their own," he, like his pal Lieberman-- and unlike anyone in the U.S. military including David Petraeus-- thinks a military victory is possible there. In Saturday's Washington Post Michael Shear wrote McCain's desperate and even unhinged effort to "convince Americans that the Iraq war is winnable" is "the political equivalent" of a "double-down" in blackjack. Supporters say McCain "has little choice but to enthusiastically renew his support for the war." It's the media's fault or the Democrats' fault or even Bush's fault but the only thing that matters is that everyone vote for crazy old John McCain.


Now, back to 60 Minutes and Scott Pelley's examination of Senator Forked Tongue:

Pelley: "McCain says the House, the Senate and the majority of the American people are all wrong when it comes to Iraq, and he set out to prove it last week by walking into the heart of Baghdad. What he said about security after that walk set off front page outrage in the media. But we were the only reporters with McCain, and tonight for the first time, you'll see what really happened when the Arizona senator met the Iraqi wild west."
      McCain: "I disagree with what the majority of the American people want. Failure will lead to chaos; withdrawal will lead to chaos... I understand why they would provide me with that security, but I can tell you, if it had been two months ago, and I'd have asked to do it, they'd have said, 'under no circumstance whatsoever.' I view that as a sign of progress."
      Pelley: "You were a little annoyed with yourself, I think."
      McCain: "I'm going to misspeak, and I've done it on numerous occasions, and I probably will in the future. I regret that, if ... I divert attention to something that I've said from my message, but, you know, that's just life, and I'm happy with-- frankly, with the way that I operate. Otherwise, it'd be a lot less fun."
      ..."I think the president has great responsibility for [the Iraq situation]. The buck always stops there."
      Pelley: "But you seem to give President Bush a pass, even though you're so hard on this war was managed."
      McCain: "I say that he is responsible, and I'll continue to say that he is responsible. Should I look back in anger or should I look forward and say, 'Let's support this new strategy. Let's support his new general, and let's give it everything we can to have it succeed'? The consequences of failure are chaos and genocide, and we'll be back."
      Pelley: "CBS News did a poll in March, and asked people how old do you think the president of the United States should be? More than half said in his 50s. Would you hazard a guess how many thought the president should be in his 70s?"
      McCain: "I don't like this line of questioning at all. I find it offensive. I'm sure that it was a small number."
      Pelley: "It was zero, Senator."
      McCain: "OK. Zero. But the fact is that it's how you display yourself. I work seven days a week, 12, 14, 16 hours a day. I didn't see anybody in that town hall meeting who was worried about my age. It's how you conduct yourself. That's going to be the key to it."
     
      Pelley: "Let me bring up another issue that surrounded South Carolina in the year 2000. There was a political issue, a local issue about whether the Confederate flag should fly over the Capitol. ... You waffled on that."
      McCain: "Yes. Worse than waffled. ... I said that it was strictly a state issue, and clearly knowing that it wasn't.... That it was a ... very offensive symbol to many, many Americans."
      Pelley: "Why did you say that?"
      McCain: "I'm sure for all the wrong reasons. ... For ambition."

Pelley didn't ask him what lies he's telling to sate that ambition this year. But we'll keep you posted at DWT.


UPDATE: SURGE ON STEROIDS?

Meanwhile Arlen Parsa over at the BradBlog is insinuating that the Bush Regime might have misled us when they explained "the surge" that McCain and Lieberman are very so fond of. "When George W. Bush announced he would execute a 'troop surge' to send more American soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan in January 2007, it was billed as an increase of slightly over 20,000 soldiers that would cost less than six billion dollars... The 'surge,' recognized as an escalation by many, was immediately controversial for several reasons-- not the least of which was a concern that the increase of 20,000 American soldiers might turn into a much larger US presence in Iraq, and a much more expensive one, than promised. Three months after Bush's announcement, those fears have come to fruition." 50,000 troops looks a lot more like it and the cost? Not Bush's $5.6 billion, but another $27 billion.

Hey I didn't vote for him. People in Ohio, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Indiana did. Voters in those 4 states cast their ballots and gave their electoral votes to Bush in 2000 and 2004. Today it was announced that their sons and brothers and husbands and sisters and wives and daughters and neighbors and friends are being sent back to Iraq. "The Pentagon says it is sending four National Guard combat units back to Iraq, although most of the soldiers have already spent 18 months away from their civilian jobs and their families. Many have been deployed for the better part of a year to Afghanistan or Kosovo. Still other soldiers are returning to Iraq after less than three years. The four brigades, from Ohio, Arkansas, Indiana and Oklahoma, are being sent out on an unprecedented second tour."


UPDATE: AND IF YOU WEREN'T SURE THAT McCAIN'S FOREIGN POLICY WOULD BE A DISASTER...

He has been endorsed by ex-Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig, Lawrence Eagleburger and George Schulz