McCain Concedes He's a Patriot

05.09.2008

The Washington Post reports today:

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) conceded this week that McCain knew that his support both for the war and for the flow of additional troops he said was necessary for victory could doom his prospects in the election.

"Calling for more troops to be sent to Iraq was one of the most unpopular things John McCain could have done," Graham said. "Some said it was political suicide. But you know what? It was the right thing to do."

Conceded? A concession is when you say something that's against your interests or makes you look bad. Saying that your candidate took an unpopular position because he thought it was right does not make him look bad. So "conceded" does not apply here. (Unless the Post wants to start printing sentences like, "Barack Obama today conceded that he loves America and wants to bring needed change to Washington.") The proper term here is "boast."

On top of that, Graham's boast, though the media has repeated it endlessly for months, is not even true. Back in 2006, McCain was still anathema to most of the party base and elite. He needed to find issues of agreement with the administration. The surge was perfectly suited for that end. Sure, it carried somke risk of hurting McCain in a general election, but McCain's issue was finding a way to get nominated. After that, he could always finesse the surge if it wasn't working, or rely on his war hero/maverick image.

I'm not saying McCain took up the surge for political reasons. Surely he believed in it. But this wa a case where his beliefs dovetailed perfectly with his political interests. His persuasion of the political press corps is a triumph of spin.\

--Jonathan Chait

Posted: Friday, September 05, 2008 10:50 AM with 4 comment(s)

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Eos said:

Another ridiculous claim by Chait. At the time he supported the surge, it was an enormously unpopular position. He was way out in front on the issue while most other politicians were running from it.

Jonathan, you can't just make stuff up because you would like it to be so. Strive for some minimal correspondence with reality.

September 5, 2008 11:20 AM

miceelf said:

Breaking: McCain admits that he was, in fact a POW.

September 5, 2008 11:24 AM

mpatrickhendri said:

Eos, please, enough with the talking points. McCain took no risk in supporting the surge. His political fortunes was tied to the success of the war. Doubling down when things were going badly took no courage.

In any event, the Surge was advocated not three years after the war started, but before it began. McCain should shown some of that much talked about courage and stood with the generals rather than the adminstration when it came the war plan. After a surge in troops also called for by such panty wastes as Joe Biden and John Kerry, who were dismissed out of hand by the Republicans and the Bush Administration, McCan stayed quiet. Fact is, the Republicans were the last ones to admit there was a need for additonal troops.

September 5, 2008 12:01 PM

K.Crake said:

Since "surge" is really a byword for "escalation," the fact that McCain supported sending more troops while the majority of the country opposed it shows what a terrible president he would be. Does anyone care to imagine a year from now when President McCain is calling for escalation in Iraq to a half million troops?

Instead of discussing the "surge" in terms of John McCain's "heroic sacrifice" of poll ratings, we should discuss the surge in terms of how it demonstrates McCain's tactical thinking about the ongoing war: when the country is turned against the war, double down and escalate. Now imagine that kind of thinking in the oval office and think about whether the country is really ready to expand the scope of the war for another four years.

September 5, 2008 1:59 PM