McCain: Was Former POW MIA on Iraq?

Senator John McCain came out earlier today to chide the administration for misleading the American people into believing Iraq would be "some kind of day at the beach". Frequent and loud administration protests to the contrary, I have to go with McCain on this one.

However, McCain's statement leads me to question whether the former POW and many of his colleagues were actually MIA on this issue. He, and nearly everyone else in the Congress, stood idly by during the run-up to the war and handed Shrub everything he asked for while cheering him on. They did this as long it looked like the Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight might just pull victory from the jaws of defeat, but when RummyCo started pulling defeat from the jaws of victory, they began slinking, running, jogging, or crawling away as fast as their previous statements of support would allow.

Some of them took the McCain approach. Let's call it the "I'll keep saying I'm for the war while pointing at El Jefe and talking about what an incompetent ninny is" approach. In some ways, this approach seems the most disingenuous of all, yet McCain is frequently cited for his "brave stand on the issue".

"I think one of the biggest mistakes we made was underestimating the size of the task and the sacrifices that would be required," McCain said. "Stuff happens, mission accomplished, last throes, a few dead-enders. I'm just more familiar with those statements than anyone else because it grieves me so much (emphasis mine) that we had not told the American people how tough and difficult this task would be." Really? Who knew?!

I have to agree with McCain on this point too. However, I'd be willing to cut him a little slack if he'd said it as part of a speech explaining why he wouldn't support the war back before it started and before we were eyeball deep in a vat of self-mixing quicksand.

He stands silent on that point today. That's a "brave stand" for you.

What I'd like to know is when McCain and the rest of the Congress, including BOTH sides of the aisle, will be willing to stand up and say "no mas". When will they and their supporters admit the situation is beyond a simple "we made a miscalculation, but time will cure all" scenario and see that things won't get better?

I guess they're as silent on that point as McCain has been.

Hmm, imagine that.

Truth Told by Omnipotent Poobah, Tuesday, August 22, 2006