"Straight Talk" McCain Bashes Bush's Iraq Optimism, Ignores His Own

Think Progress.org

McCain Faults Admin. For Painting Iraq As ‘Some Kind of Day At the Beach,’ Ignores Own Rosy Rhetoric

The AP reports that Sen. John McCain “faulted the Bush administration for misleading Americans into believing the conflict would be ‘some kind of day at the beach.’”

(McCain) said the administration had failed to make clear the challenges facing the military. … McCain said that talk “has contributed enormously to the frustration that Americans feel today because they were led to believe this could be some kind of day at the beach, which many of us fully understood from the beginning would be a very, very difficult undertaking.”

McCain appropriately criticizes the administration for painting an unrealistic picture of the situation in Iraq, but he conveniently neglects to mention his own rosy assessments as he was cheerleading the nation to war. While McCain hopes the public will see this as another example of his “straight talk,” here are some quotes that McCain wants you to forget:

Hardball, 3/12/03:

MATTHEWS: Are you one of those who holds up an optimistic view of the post-war scene? Do you believe that the people of Iraq or at least a large number of them will treat us as liberators?

MCCAIN: Absolutely. Absolutely.

MATTHEWS: And you think the Arab world will come to a grudging recognition that what we did was necessary? I mean by that the modern Arab leaders, the people that we have to deal with.

MCCAIN: Not only that, they’ll be relieved that he’s not in the neighborhood because he has invaded his neighbors on several occasions.

Hardball, 3/24/03:

MATTHEWS: Do you think it’s working? Do you think we’ll shake them — shake them to the roots so they will give up eventually and avoid a huge bloodbath of people?

MCCAIN: I don’t know how long they’ll hang out. It doesn’t take a large number of people to cause difficulties in house to house fighting we’ve just seen that in southern Iraq. But there’s no doubt in my mind that we will prevail and there’s no doubt in my mind, once these people are gone, that we will be welcomed as liberators. These guys are the real bad guys and they’re telling everybody, we’re going to shoot you and so, of course, we’re not being welcomed cause they’ve got people that will kill them if they do. Once that’s done, I’m confident.