This latest gaffe by John McSame is really the same gaffe as the "100 years" comment that he disavowed and claimed was twisted around.
He's saying that leaving Iraq is not the priority, that as long as we reduce casualties the troops can remain there indefinitely. But he's also said that he would add as many troops as necessary to reduce those casualties. That's a prescription for endless war. And so he's disavowed this comment, too, but the fundamental truth of his words remains - he doesn't care if American troops are in Iraq forever. In fact it's central to his "victory" strategy.
"The Obama campaign is embarking on a false attack on John McCain to hide their own candidate's willingness to disregard facts on the ground in pursuit of withdrawal no matter what the costs. John McCain was asked if he had a 'better estimate' for a timeline for withdrawal. As John McCain has always said, that is not as important as conditions on the ground and the recommendations of commanders in the field. Any reasonable person who reads the full transcript would see this and reject the Obama campaign's attempt to manipulate, twist and distort the truth."
Well, it's always a distortion, isn't it. We might need to start using what they used to say about George Romney, that the most prevalent line in news stories written about him was "he later clarified his remarks."
Look, this isn't that hard. McCain was asked about withdrawal and he said that wasn't as important as making sure there weren't any casualties. He was asked the day before about sending troops back in to reduce casualties and he said that he would add as many troops as needed to do so. He will keep troops in there forever until casualties stop, and he'd keep troops there afterwards in a support role. He thinks withdrawal means losing as opposed to the only hope in Iraq for stability and reconciliation between the factions. He wants to be vindicated for his catastrophic mistake of cheerleading the invasion. So he can never leave and admit fault.
The voters don't want us there anymore. The Iraqis don't want us there anymore. The only people in the world who do are John McCain and George Bush, and those with fragile egos who were wrong to begin with and want to protect their own perceived superior judgment.