McCain on Romney’s notes comment
I asked John McCain what he thought of Mitt Romney’s "notes" comment. The Senator said that when Romney checks his notes: The record will show that he was looking at his shoes.
McCain blogger conference call
McCain starts talking about his trip to Iraq. The troops are happy with the success that we have achieved. They know that this strategy has been succeeding. In Anbar things are quiet. In Baghdad, things are better. … Petraeus believes that there could be an uptick in al-Qaeda activity because Read more…
economy
Economy most important issue?
Last week at Blog World Expo, a fascinating discussion broke out. Jerome Armstrong from MyDD and Markos from DailyKos, among other lefties, argued that Iraq was going to be a driving issue. They, furthermore, argued that success wouldn’t matter, because the failure was the initial decision, and Americans will stop Read more…
Two new Iraq talking points?
Yesterday, the Biden-Brownback plan passed the Senate with 75 votes. For the first time, someone on both the left and the right can claim genuine progress on pulling out troops. As Marc Ambinder points out, this is a good talking point for Biden, where Joe Biden is counting that liberal Read more…
Al Qaeda created “the civil war” in Iraq
Update: Rob Bluey got me the video and a proper quote. I was driving home from a meeting at church, and C-SPAN radio was playing in my car. Michael O’Hanlon was speaking (live) at Heritage. O’Hanlon said: They are the ones who created the civil war. A deliberate strategy by Read more…
Thoughts on McCain conference call
I got into the call a minute or so late. Several things occurred to me. First, John McCain is not as tired as he used to be. He is clearly energized by this fight. He talked about being on the bus with his POW buddies. That seems important for him Read more…
McCain Iraq blogger conference call
"If you are not tough enough to repudiate a scurrilous attack, I don’t know how you are tough enough to be President." Matt Lewis. He asks about where the other GOP candidates are on the surge. "I don’t pay that much attention to the other campaigns. The reason that I Read more…
Obama’s troop levels
It has been clear that the anti-war left is quite angry with the establishment of the Democratic Party. Today, Barack Obama tried to rally the anti-war left to his side. He wants to withdraw combat troops. From USA Today’s blog: "The best way to protect our security and to pressure Read more…
Thoughts before the spin room
John McCain did well with the national security focus. Mitt Romney always does best with a domestic security focus. I suspect that the commenters will say that McCain won. I was going to say that I am not sure that his position on Iraq was going to resonate with voters. Read more…
A Romney representative on Iraq
I’m at the debate media room at the GOP debate. A Romney representative says that Mitt Romney’s position on Iraq is nothing new and that no candidate believes that they will keep troops for a long time. I am not sure that that is true. After all, both Hillary Clinton Read more…