MAYBE WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT EXPERIENCE REALLY DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE-- AS OBAMA JUST PROVED... McCAIN ON THE OTHER HAND...

Today the Old Man of the Sea John McCain desperately felt he had to do something, anything to erase the impression of utter cluelessness he gave the country by declaring, first on radio and then on TV, that things were going so swimmingly well in Iraq that you could go for a stroll through "some" Baghdad neighborhoods without any kind of protection. It left even Republicans wondering if he was utterly delusional or even a bigger liar than Dick Cheney. So today McCain, his little closeted Mini-Me (R-SC) and right-wing fanatics Mike Pence and Rick Renzi showed up in Baghdad for a stroll. It's unclear how many people were killed in Baghdad violence today but Newsweek's account of McCain's stupidity is worth reading.

It wasn't your typical Sunday stroll. A Republican congressional delegation led by Sen. John McCain popped by the Shorja market in Baghdad this afternoon, a stop on an unannounced Iraq trip. They spent over an hour browsing market stalls, chatting with locals and drinking chai. "I bought five carpets for five bucks," Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina gushed at a presser shortly after the visit. (A helluva bargain by any measure)...

In the interest of presenting the full picture then, I think it should be pointed out that McCain and his fellow senators were accompanied to the market by a small army, upwards of 50 soldiers according to a source who accompanied the group on the stroll. Just another day at the market. And even though McCain cited a drop in violence, Agence France Presse on Sunday quoted an Iraqi official who reported a 15 percent increase in violence across Iraq in March. According to their tally, 2,078 civilians, cops and soldiers were killed last month, 272 more fatalities than in February.

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. Though he was argumentative, McCain wasn't completely out of touch on Sunday. Admitting "we have a long way to go," the 2008 presidential candidate acknowledged that previous rosy assessments have been inaccurate. "I'm not saying 'mission accomplished,' 'last throes' or 'dead enders.'"

McCain and his South Carolina Mini-Me are the ultimate Bush Regime dead-enders. And NBC Nightly News reports they were "accompanied by '100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead.' Still photographs provided by the military to NBC News seemed to show McCain wearing a bulletproof vest during his visit." Watch it. Some stroll. Let me call my travel agent immediately.


So what's McCain's obvious unraveling have to do with Obama's lack of experience? Glad you asked. Furiously campaigning for the presidency, Obama stepped in it big time today, basically ceding the high ground-- which was always rather shaky-- on his anti-war credentials. At a time when progressives are ramping up their opposition to Bush's extremist and disastrous policies-- and winning over the American people, Obama sounded like an amateur and all I could think was that after 8 years of Bush the last thing we need is another amateur. Yes, he's very charismatic but... WTF was he thinking? At a time when it looks more and more certain-- even to a shill like Andrea Mitchell-- that the congressional Republican opposition to peace is cracking, Obama just gave away the store. The debate, Mr Obama, should not be how Democrats can't "cut of funding for the troops," but about how the Democrats fully funded the troops and provided for a greater degree of safety for them and how Bush has vetoed that bill and cut off the funding.

If you're a regular DWT reader you probably know that I haven't been a big fan of either Clinton politically. I was fundraising for Obama when he was in fourth place in the Illinois primary for Senate. But the more I look at the catastrophic landscape the sheer incompetence and malfeasance of the Bush Regime is leaving us with internationally-- and, let's face it, National Security is a president's main job, and Bush's #1 failing-- the surer I am that we need someone in the White House with real experience. I'm losing faith in Obama and feeling better and better about Clinton, at least as being able to make mature, calculated decisions regarding National Security. I've always felt it was inevitable anyway.

UPDATE: JOHN McCAIN SEEMS TO FEEL SAFETY IS BREAKING OUT EVERYWHERE

The Real McCain has a great take on McCain's escorted little stroll through Baghdad, which was such a successful p.r. stunt-- for those who pay no attention-- that he's now "expanded his list of places you can walk safely to 1) Darfur 2) OJ Simpson's driveway 3) Keith Richards' bloodstream and 4) In between Rush Limbaugh and a vial of Oxycontin after a week on the wagon." Mike Rogers over at BlogActive is just concentrating on the gay member of the delegation and his giddy reaction to all those shopping bargains in war-torn Baghdad.


UPDATE: OOPS

Just hours after McCain and his heavily armed circus pulled into the Shorja Market to show Americans how safe Baghdad is, the snipers were back at work shootin' the place up. Maybe they missed McCain's press conference about how safe it is there.