Comments on: Surging For Obama

National Review: McCain's Rearguing Of The Surge Is Counterproductive

[sam_lowrey]

No, McGoo isn''t leaning any conservatives anywhere - we have rejected him long ago and he will not win because if it. Crafty attempt to contiue to blur the difference between a Neocon (only ones supporting hopeless McCain) and Conservatives (who supported Ron Paul.)

[broadwayphi]

Correct the Couric interview, CBS.

Set the record straight on McCain''s historical ineptitude.

[broadwayphi]

CBS covered up McCain''s ludicrous assertion that the "Surge" was responsible for the Anbar Awakening.

The Surge was in ''07. The Awakening in ''06.

CBS owes us an apology for the doctored Couric interview, and CBS needs to set the record straight on McCain.

Do your job, CBS.

[grigjd3]

As someone often accused of being on the left, I found this article to be well thought out. I don''t often think that about editorials from either the NRO or The Nation but I really think this guy has hit on something. I don''t think McCain''s campaign will listen and I really don''t think McCain will win the election, but this guy is basically right on the key concept. By focusing on the past, McCain is allowing the discussion to be about the economy - where Democrats historically win.

[mr2258]

The guy that wrote this story SURGING FOR OBAMA is a damnn IDIOT.

[rayuk-2009]

Another stupid analysis by the NRO. Even CBS must be wondering about these dudes. There is no way to make McCain look like a future president, but they just keep trying.

[notblue]

mswolfstock, how many lives and families have been wiped out by Islamic extremism? Or like most simplistic thinkers is it all Americas and Bush''s fault?

[mswolfestock]

I want the war to stop for these reasons -

It is costing this country way, way too much money. We could fund health care and Social Security and all kinds of other programs without the financial drain of the Iraq war.

I don''t want any more young Americans to be killed. This war has torn apart too many families, it has snuffed out too many promising lives.

John McBushit does not understand this, and he never will.

[Razzl]

Only an NRO acolyte could continue to believe nonsense like "A silver lining for McCain is that Obama%u2019s arrogance and sense of indebtedness to his party%u2019s antiwar base have elicited a series of credibility-damaging zigzags on Iraq". At this point the whole population is antiwar, the party''s antiwar base is the bedrock mainstream of the population, and Obama''s primary stance on Iraq--get out asap--has been as straight as a laser. The NRO conservatives--make that "neoconservatives", by their own definition--qualify for the epithet "bug out righties" before any of Obama''s base could somehow be painted as "bug out lefties". When you recite lies in shrill fashion because nobody is listening to you and nobody agrees with you you tend to become a form of political self-parody, as McCain is also becoming because his campaign operatives daily lose their cool and get him to keep saying ridiculous stuff.

It''s way past time for the Reagan Republicans to step in and point out that being for expansionist war is not inherently conservative, but maybe all those guys registered as Democrats so they could vote in our primary...

[grumpas]

Taking into consideration all the lying this administration has done. Most of us are having a hard time believing anything that comes out of one of their mouths. So therefore, most of us are skeptical how well the surge has worked??????? The only people who have told us it''s worked are Bush, his favorite trained monkey and die hard Republican''s. But, I don''t see any peace agreements being signed, troops are still getting killed and the war keeps dragging on.

[mycomment-2009]

He has done everthing but jump up and down and scream, "I was right about the surge!!!!!!"
Posted by kansas1946 at 07:30 PM : Jul 23, 2008

Oh you mean the way Obama keeps jumping up and down and screaming ''I was against the war''....ad nauseum. But that''s Obama....all critism and no solutions.

[dashortround]

Let McCain keep beating the surge issue to death, because nobody even really cares about that any more, if they ever did.

It''s all about the economy now.

McCain (and the GOP) needs to answer the Big Question of just how he plans to pay off the $3 trillion dollars of borrowed money that the Iraq war is costing us. And he needs to answer that question soon.

If the Republicans CANNOT answer that question, then the GOP truly is guilty of being the most fiscally irresponsible political party in all of US history.

As an Independent, I refuse to vote for the candidate of any party that''s THAT irresponsible with the taxpayers money.

[ausus-2009]

Sorry about the extra "of the policies"

[ausus-2009]

Looking back at the Vietnam experience, I didn''t think the surge would be as successful as it was.

That said, it is time to shift our attention to the economy. It is time to ask the candidates what they would do about oil prices, inflation, unemployment, the balance of payments, jobs shifting overseas and illegal immigration. This should not just be an exercise of comparing Bush I and II with Clinton or any earlier Presidents, it should look at the policies of the policies of the candidates and parties going into the 2008 election.

[samthetvcat]

PS oops, McCain talking about the surge could be an advantage when in the context of talking about withdrawing from Iraq but with more prudence because it shows one that he''s not a ''warmonger'', he''s not out of touch with the concerns of the public, and that Barack may not really appreciate military machinations.

The catch is that I''m not sure McCain is really in that spot. In which case, yeah maybe talking about the surge might be counterproductive! :D

[samthetvcat]

pt 1
I noted this before, that when it came to the invasion of Iraq and the surge people seem to fall into 3 groups:
1) pro-war and pro-surge
2) anti-war and anti-surge, and
3) pro-war and anti-surge
Meaning that none of us fell into the 4th category of actually getting it right with an anti-war and pro-surge stance (?)

I think what''s wrong with the WAY McCain is talking about the surge is that he seems to still be stuck in the category #1 mentality of thinking the answer to every national security question is war at a time when both category #2 people AND category #3 people are thinking like category #2.

Substantively, McCain''s support and Barack''s opposition to the surge ARE actually relevant - it goes to HOW people want to withdraw from Iraq (IF McCain makes it clear that withdrawal IS his priority - right now he has not), and it goes to how well Barack understands and the capabilities of the military such that he''d know how to harness their power in the future.

But I think if McCain''s going to talk about the surge it needs to be from the perspective of category #4 - one that takes into account that the economy is in the toilet, that the military is exhausted, that we have other tools at our disposal like economic sanctions and negotiation, etc

[samthetvcat]

pt 2

Because keep in mind that even Barack''s tried to triangulate into a ''withdrawing hawk''. In a sense McCain ought to have an easier time triangulating into a ''military dove'' given that the swing voters in category #3 DO like the idea of coming home with a win. If the McCain camp show that he''s the better person to have in charge of the withdrawal by citing specific concerns which might take an extra say 8 months to achieve I think talk about the surge could be an advantage. But to try and persuade people that giving the GOP unlimited time and unlimited $ to continue working on the prosperity of Iraq when our economy is in the tank just isn''t going to fly (?)

[tawpdawg11]

the surge is the ONLY thing to go even halfway successfully, so its the ONLY thing they can point to. ONE THING IN EIGHT LONG YEARS.

It feels more like 80 years.

I hate to burst their bubble, but AlKado was already headin for the hills of Pakistan before the surge even began.

They blew out the Russians there back when Ronald Rayguns dubbed them FREEDOM FIGHTERS and armed them.

The Soviet Union was bankrupted trying to fight them (sound familiar?) and was sent home with tail between legs where their soon country splintered into pieces. So they have a blueprint.

Now they wait for us in those mountains with weapons WE supplied to them.

[observantx]

Hmmmmm. Now let''s look at this closely.

Almost 8 years ago, the repugnicons told us that they had it all under control and they were so wise and all knowing that our future was secure. They got Karl "Turdblossom" Rove to dupe far too many well intentioned people to vote for an amiable dunce.

So after having 8 years of our government run by these "really smart guys" where are we?

We are in the toilet.

Our economy is on life support, our money has been spent on a lie of a war, thousands of our brave sons and daughters have died for oil, we owe our entire treasury to foreign powers, our jobs are evaporating and everyone hates us.

Gee. Sounds like a really compelling reason to "stay the course".

The classic definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expecting different results.

So I have a simple statement for those hoping that voting for McRove will make it all better.

When pigs fly.

Start engaging your gray matter instead of letting the RINO machine push your fear buttons. Then maybe we can crawl out of this muck and rinse ourselves off.

[kansas1946]

Libs like this idiot always blow smoke to hide there agenda, they want to rule this country and bankrupt it by there lies and othe ***. McCan''''t is right and he will win and Goldberg and the rest of the liberal scum suckers can''''t do anything about it LOL!!!


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Posted by zgomer at 08:40 PM : Jul 23, 2008
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Oooooohhhh...a little testy, don''t you think. You might want to rethink who is going to bankrupt the country. Do me a favor. Check the deficit in 2000,,oh wait, there wasn''t one. OK, check the surplus in 2000, and then check the deficit in 2008. My, my. In those years we went from the largest surplus in history to the largest deficit. Six of those years had a Republican president and Republicans controlled both houses. Now WHO is going to bankrupt the county?