McCain to Stake Bid On Need to Win in Iraq

John McCain's career actually fills me with sadness.

Here is a genuine war hero. A man once known for his independence, who has - for reasons best known to himself - so tied himself to the Bush White House, that he has not only destroyed any notion of the independence for which he was once so admired, but he has - by dint of his ridiculous march through a Baghdad market - made himself a figure of fun, a national joke.

The march through the market only came about because, in the middle of an interview with CNN, he made the ludicrous statement that it was possible for Americans to walk through Baghdad in safety. This remark was met with such approbation that he set out to prove his case. It would have been better for all if he had simply shut up, moved on, and hoped that people would forget.

When he finally did march through Baghdad, he did so in a bullet proof vest, accompanied by 100 soldiers with Apache helicopters circling overhead and snipers on the surrounding rooftops. As PR exercises go, it looked as if he had set out to show how unsafe it was for Americans to stroll through Baghdad. So far, so bad.

But then, shortly after his visit to the market, a violent Baghdad militia visited this same market and extracted their revenge, killing 21 innocent Iraqis.

One would hope that at this point McCain might back off from his "all is swell in Baghdad" political campaigning, but no. Far from it.

We are now told:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will launch a high-profile effort next week to convince Americans that the Iraq war is winnable, embracing the unpopular conflict with renewed vigor as he attempts to reignite his stalling bid for the presidency.

This is an act of political suicide. This is, indeed, proof that John McCain is unfit to be President. 21 people have already died because of his almost insane need to prove something that is manifestly false, namely that it safe for Americans to stroll through Baghdad.

When any policy is proving that harmful to one's campaign, surely any sensible person would - if not back away from that policy - then at the very least stop giving it such a high profile.

McCain is actually going much further and making the very thing that is harming his campaign his campaign's central theme. That is lunacy.

McCain's supporters say that though he is not declaring "mission accomplished," he has little choice but to enthusiastically renew his support for the war.

"You can't get around the elephant in the room, which is Iraq," said Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.), who discussed the speech with McCain as the pair flew back together from a congressional visit to Iraq this week.

Whilst it is true that one cannot ignore the elephant in the room that is Iraq, it is hardly incumbant upon a Republican candidate that he need climb on top of this same elephant and attempt to ride it to the finish line.

So, as I say, I find what McCain is doing to himself profoundly sad. This is a man who very nearly beat George Bush for his party's nomination. Indeed, had Bush and his cohorts not disgracefully labelled him as "the fag candidate" in a typically Rovian smear campaign he might very well now be President.

However, in order to win his party's nomination he seems to be embracing the failed policies of George Bush and presenting them as his own. This is a fatal error, not the least of which is because it betrays the independence which was the main reason that he was once admired.

And nowhere was that betrayal of independence more obvious than in that ludicrous walk through that Baghdad market place.

One GOP consultant said of the incident: "That strikes right at the heart of who people thought he was -- a truth teller."

Indeed, it does. And it's a mistake that he seems to be indicating that he intends to compound.

I just find the whole thing very, very sad.

Click title for full article.

Tags: McCain, Republican leadership contest, Iraq war, Baghdad