The only reason that the public and the media are buying the surge is that American troop fatalities have greatly decreased in the last two months. That will unfortunately change as Iraq comes unglued in the next few weeks.

The only good to come from all of this is that the war will once again become front page news as things get progressively worse and then John W McBush will look like the real fool that most of us (not Jeffy) already know him to be. The headlines will change and John W McBush will have to answer for his failing strategy..say right around the time of the general debates in the fall...maybe he'll even lose his cool and have a tantrum, right on a televised debate!

If you need any more proof that McCain is an old senile fool, you missed his speech on foreign policy yesterday. It was a real winner; even the Repubs in attendance only gave him polite applause at best, and only on his applause lines. He's ripe for the picking. He's a ticking time-bomb, whose out of control temper will betray him.

This has the makings of a pre-victory tour considering the chaos in the Democratic party. When you look at McCain, you see a distinguished senator, a war hero who suffered torture and didn't break at the hands of a fierce enemy, and a statesman who can bring America together. When you look at the two kindergarten brawlers on the other side, it's scary.

Is he going to stop by the former headquarters of American Continetal Corporation, to talk about how the investors there lost their money in part because McCain intervened to protect his contributor, Charles Keating?

Is he going to stop by the Boeing plant in Seattle to talk to the workers there anout how he intervened to ensure that they did not get the tanker contract? Is he going to talk to the workers who will lose their jobs and tell hthem how proud he is to have helped that happen? Is he going to give a speech about how he's all in favor iof sending US defense work overseas?

In comments to reporters in Jordan, John McCain demonstrated that he does not understand even the most basic of facts about his signature issue, the Iraq War.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/03/18/a_mccain_gaffe_in_jordan.html

Sen. John McCain, traveling in the Middle East to promote his foreign policy expertise, misidentified in remarks Tuesday which broad category of Iraqi extremists are allegedly receiving support from Iran.

He said several times that Iran, a predominately Shiite country, was supplying the mostly Sunni militant group, al-Qaeda...

McCain said he and two Senate colleagues traveling with him continue to be concerned about Iranian operatives "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back."

Pressed to elaborate, McCain said it was "common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate." A few moments later, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, standing just behind McCain, stepped forward and whispered in the presidential candidate's ear. McCain then said: "I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda."
Al Qaeda in Iraq is of course entirely dominated by Sunni extremists who view all Shiites as heretics. The rise of Al Qaeda in Iraq and everything it has done there has been shaped by it's contempt for Shiites. The course of the insurgency, down to and including the "Sunni Awakening", has reflected that fanatical hostility that Al Qaeda brought to bear inside Iraq. Iranian involvement in financing and supporting Shiite militias in Iraq came partly in reaction to the rise of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

This isn't just a minor slip. This betrays a profound lack of foreign policy expertise, a shallowness so extreme that if the remark had been made by Barack Obama, say, it would have called into question his viability as a presidential candidate.

So you should expect the "serious" thinkers of the traditional media to dismiss the gaffe as 'trivial'. We are not allowed even to consider the possibility that John McCain is a foreign policy lightweight...not with all those splendid foreign policy advisers he's assembled.

McCain made the same crazy assertion later on Hugh Hewitt's program.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/18/mccain-iran-al-qaeda/

So if getting captured by the enemy makes you a hero, what does that make John Kerry? He never got captured, and I believe he served more than 20 hours of combat like McCain.

This is "nice". Only an idiot would deny McCain's service to the country. But ultimately this just a ploy to distract the multitudes from the issues. With which, he will not have a leg to stand on against Obama.

I can't wait for Obama to just destroy him in the debates.

McCain a lightweight?

Yes, he barely made it out of the Academy, finishing last in his class.

Mc Cainapalooza may tug on the heartstrings of the 50+ crowd. But most people under 50 only know Viet Nam from the movies. He is going to be telling the "youth vote", I come from a world you don't even remember.

How does this field trip through History help the 20-something or 30-something who can't buy a home or even afford a full tank of gas?

I've always thought that a distinguished veteran like McNut would have a tremendous advantage in an election.

But that was dis-proved in the last election when another distinguished veteran,John Kerry,was treated with utter contempt and the so-called Patriotic wing of America choose the draft dodger who lied this country into war.

The Republican voters should expect a total trashing of McNut and his war record.His wife's fortune and past drug use are all fair game.This you can thank the wing nuts for.They have dis-graced the voting public one too many times.

"MCCAIN SPEAKS"

SCREW THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION. I'M JOHN MCCAIN.

SCREW THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION, I'M A REPUBLICAN AND THEY WOULDN'T THINK ABOUT UPHOLDING THE LAW. I WASN'T SLAPPED WITH "INHERENT CONTEMPT"
MY NAME ISN'T HARRIET.
MY NAME ISN'T ALBERTO.
I'M NOT A IMMIGRANT, I WAS BORN IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

SO WHAT IF IT WASN'T ON "AMERICAN SOIL"

SCREW THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION I OPTED IN TO BEAT A "MORMON" NOT AN AMERICAN HERO LIKE ME.

"MITT THE QUIT" QUIT IN TIME OF "WAR" NOT ME.

SCREW THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION, I "HAVE SERVICE TO ATTEND TO"

AS LONG AS THERE ARE NO VETERANS OF WAR, VIETNAM WAR, WW1, WW2 LOOKING FOR SOME MEDICAL LONGTERM MEDICAL CARE.

AS LONG AS THERE ARE NO "TROOPS" FROM IRAQ JUST GETTING BACK FROM THEIR 3RD "STOP-LOSS" TOURS.

SCREW YOU, SCREW THE CONSTITUTION. I'M THE ONLY VIETNAM HERO, WHO STAYED IN THE "HANOE HILTON HOTEL"

WHAT NEXT, MY MEDICAL RECORDS. MY TREATMENT FROM BEING "CAPTURED" FOR FIVE (5) YEARS.

SCREW THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION THEY AREN'T HOMELAND SECURITY.

I'M NOT ILLEGAL ALIEN.

I USED PUBLIC FINANCING, TO PAY FOR MY NEW 4.1 MILLION CONDO, NOT FINANCE MY PRESIDENTIAL RUN. THAT WAS WHAT THE LOAN WAS FOR.

JUST ASK VICKI, I MEAN CINDY.

NOW I HAVE "SERVICE IN AMERICA" TO DO.

KEANTING WHO, YEA, I KNOW HIM. CALL RICK RE NZI RE NZI AND HE WILL HELP TAKE YOUR "PUBLIC DONATIONS"

The bottom of the class at The United States Naval Academy is probably equal to the top of the class at any other school except M.I.T. or Cal Tech .But the author of the article probably doesn't know that .

Nice guy but...I can't get with his program.

P.G. Mueller -- how do you know this? The author was stating an objective fact. You just stated some stupid opinion with absolutely no facts to back it up.

The bottom of the class at "The United States Naval Academy is probably equal to the top of the class at any other school except M.I.T. or Cal Tech .But the author of the article probably doesn't know that."

A truly ridiculous comment. The Academy graduates large numbers of second-raters.

"The bottom of the class at The United States Naval Academy is probably equal to the top of the class at any other school except M.I.T. or Cal Tech"

C.O.D. graduates more intelligent people than have ever passed through the Dipstick Universities.

Sorry, Grampa McCain is not intellectually competent enough to hold Obama's jockstrap. (Although, that would be a good job for him considering he's not fit for anything else.)

Being a graduate of any college should not be degraded, it is an acomplishment. I can not support Mr. McCain, because I live in AZ and feel he has failed too many times to fix so many wrongs that would have made my life better- including a situation involving organized kidnapping in the Yavapai Courthouse where he spoke today. This is a exciting time for us all, the minorities are speaking out, and for once they have a spokeperson- if not for being s tired of being political hostage, and knowing that slavery is alive and kicking under this administration, I could support McCain, but my life has gone from bad to worse under the Republican rein, and I honestly feel it is time for a SERIOUS change in attitude about what we cover up, and how we deal with people who speak out against governen cover ups. My life has been a living hell as a result of this conduct, and honestly I hope more than anything that something changes soon for us all- we are going belly up with all this war business and I really can not support the end of freedom as we know it- I wish Obama had more experience, but hell even if he did they would have just ruined him anyway-
I think I am going to have to support Obama because ANYTHING would be better than being a political hostage under the Republican administration!