So What's The Real Story On McCain?

Is he just a garden variety political liar? Or is he seriously delusional? Before you answer, please watch the 80 second clip:



That was the short version; very much to the point, right? Joe Conason has a more nuanced analysis up at Salon, one that is no less devastating for John McCain and other Republican-- and some Democratic-- rubber stamps.

[D]espite McCain's claim to greater experience and judgment in foreign policy, he just doesn't seem to know what he's talking about. If he did, the latest developments in relations between Baghdad and Washington would dampen the Republican nominee's enthusiasm for a prolonged occupation.

Negotiations between the Bush administration and the government of Nouri al-Maliki over the presence of U.S. forces have reached an impasse that no longer seems certain to be resolved until George W. Bush has left office. If any resolution is achieved over the coming weeks, moreover, it will render McCain's hard-line position on the war null and void.

Gone are the fantasies-- if not the lies and the delusions of the seriously senile-- "of the neoconservatives, who once imagined the new Iraq as a permanent base for American troops in the Middle East, with a client government that would reflect U.S. priorities. What has come to exist instead is an Iraq much closer to Iran than to the United States, one that will countenance no permanent U.S. bases and prefers that our troops depart sooner rather than later." Tell it to McCain. He makes Bush look like a peacenik.