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Thursday, August 28, 2008

John McCain is Doubling Down, Upping the Ante, Playing Double or Nothing but at least he isn't and Metaphrs

From the now famous Time interview

"You were a very enthusiastic supporter of the invasion of Iraq and, in the early stages, of the Bush Administration's handling of the war. Are those judgments you'd like to revisit?
Well, my record is clear. I believe that the world is better off without Saddam Hussein. I believe it's clear that he had every intention to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction. [snip]

Before the war McCain claimed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and that he might give them to terrorists. Now that it is known that he had no weapons of mass destruction, McCain claims that "it's clear that he had every intention to ... use weapons of mass destruction". Much less supporting evidence implies a much stronger claim.

I think I understand what is going on. To McCain frankness and uhm "leadership ability" is shown by pushing back. He often makes absurd claims when challenged (got to watch that during the debates Senator -- I doubt I'm the only one who has noticed). Also thousands of US lives, hundreds of thousands or Iraqi lives and hundreds of billions of dollars later, the war is a harder sell and more absurd claims are needed.

The bit about Saddam Hussein attempting to acquire WMD is actually more absurd than the claim which I didn't elide. WMD include chemical and biological weapons which, we know, Saddam could acquire, because he had acquired them before destroying them. No one thought that his capacity to make such weapons had been eliminated (nor had it been eliminated if you count what was counted as WMD).

Most people correctly focus on the news that James Carney and Michael Scherer asked toughish questions, that McCain was rude in response *and* that Time played the story as "McCain has changed" and didn't let it slide off the teflon. Still I think it is also worth noting the non news that he is still insane.

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