John McCain makes his "change" argument
Manchester, N.H. -- With John McCain battling not only his fellow Republicans in New Hampshire but also Barack Obama in the fight for the state's precious independent vote -- folks who can cast a ballot in either primary -- he stressed today that he would steal a page from the Illinois Democrat and cast himself as the real "agent of change."
And one of the key points he will spotlight to make his case will be his longstanding support for the increase of the U.S. military involvement in Iraq -- a position that only a few months ago was seen as evidence that time had passed McCain by.
The Arizona senator, in comments to bloggers during a conference call, said he was "very proud" that he had pushed and pushed and pushed President Bush's administration to adopt what became known as the "surge" strategy. He returned to that theme frequently during the conversation, at one point saying the changed policy had "saved America's most precious resource" -- the lives of soldiers.
Not so long ago, it would have been unimaginable that full-throated support for the larger troop presence in Iraq could be a political asset in New Hampshire, where discontent with the war's course fueled sweeping Democratic gains in the 2006 midterm election. But McCain clearly believes the significant drop in U.S. casualties has altered the political dynamics.
He also contined to live up to his reputation as an inveterate movie buff. When one caller said he should be referred to as "Sen. Lazarus," a reference to his seeming rise from the political dead, McCain cracked that his preferred moniker was "I Am Legend."
-- Don Frederick
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
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Why is McCain campaigning on the fact that he was a strong proponent (if not one of the "masterminds") of the "surge" this year? Here's some straight-talk for McCain: 2007 was the deadliest year for American troops in Iraq.
Don't believe me? Check it out:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/06/iraq/main3456876.shtml
Aside from this, McCain also repeatedly stated that Iraq was going to be a "cakewalk" (then later stated that "No one claimed it was going to be a cakewalk."), got schooled by Ron Paul on foreign affair knowledge during one of the last debates, and thinks that torturing people in Guantanimo is completely acceptable and moral.
So... uh... why is anyone voting for this guy?
Posted by: Joshua T. Newell | January 04, 2008 at 07:33 PM