Howard Fineman writes:
"We are in the midst of a slow-motion war, and McCain is a warrior. He knows the world, its dangers and wonders; he knows the military, its powers and its limitations."
You see this sort of thing asserted about McCain all the time. The individuals asserting it almost universally agree that Iraq is a quagmire and the war a historic mistake -- but they don't seem to notice that McCain not only supported it, but supported it more enthusiastically than virtually any other prominent figure in the country, and that his full-throated advocacy of a catastrophic invasion should probably be taken into account when evaluating his judgment and knowledge.
McCain, rather clearly, doesn't understand the limitations of the military, otherwise he wouldn't have supported this war. And many pundits, rather clearly, don't care about the substantive results and outcomes of McCain's judgment -- it's enough that he seems like the sort of guy who gets the military, who could bullshit with enlisted men, who could drop his voice to a grave whisper when speaking of casualties. He fits their view of what a guy who understands the military would be like, and that's enough. That his plan for Iraq appears to be the doomed surge and an admonition to the Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds to "Stop the bullshit" is, of course, neither here nor there.
