Nope, I can't believe I'm pulling this crap either.
Remember when John McCain's public persona was all about a better politics? He'd defend the patriotism of Democrats, attack the anonymous smears of Swift Boat Veterans, and generally exult in media's adulation of the last American politician who refused to call his opponents traitors? Well, that didn't last long:This is a clear choice that the American people have. I had the courage and the judgment to say I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.Yes, McCain had the courage and judgment to publicly compliment himself for his courage and judgment. He also has the courage and judgment to accuse his political opponent of literally trying to throw a war in order to win a campaign. That is his characterization of a man who opposed the Iraq War in 2002, has argued for an end to the Iraq War in every year since, and has now seen his position validated by the Iraqi government and all polls of the Iraqi people. As Joe Klein writes, "This is the ninth presidential campaign I've covered. I can't remember a more scurrilous statement by a major party candidate. It smacks of desperation. It renews questions about whether McCain has the right temperament for the presidency...There is a reason why politicians who want to be President don't say these sort of things: It isn't presidential. A President exists in the straitjacket of literality. His words mean something. So John McCain has to literally believe that Barack Obama would 'rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.'" Meanwhile, Ben Smith finds that McCain's comment is repulsive enough to basically be without historic parallel.
