McCain Said a True Thing — Still a Lunatic

McCAIN HAD some ‘splaining to do yesterday after he said we send troops to the Middle East after oil. But not to fear, with a little backpedaling he had US all believing he was really talking about that other Iraq war, you know, the one over oil:

[Emphasis added to highlight that true thing.] At issue Friday was a comment at a morning town hall meeting in Denver, when he said his energy policy would eliminate U.S. dependence on Middle East oil and would “prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.”

He sought to clarify his comments after his campaign plane landed in Phoenix. He said he didn’t mean the U.S. went to war in Iraq five years ago over oil.

“No, no, I was talking about that we had fought the Gulf War for several reasons,” McCain told reporters.

One reason was Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, he said.

“But also we didn’t want him to have control over the oil, and that part of the world is critical to us because of our dependency on foreign oil, and it’s more important than any other part of the world,” he said.
[LA Times: ’91 war, not Iraq war, was over oil, McCain clarifies]

So yeah, he said that true thing, though it was couched in an astonishing amount of complete horse shit. What’s more, Your Montag is left somewhat confused about the dissonance between this professed hatred of foreign oil, and the candidate’s deep heartfelt love of the invasion and continued violent military occupation of Iraq.*

But this isn’t about my state of confusion. That, really, is neither here nor there. This is about something-or-other, which I am very sure is very, very judicious and serious. I know this because it involves saying serious, adult things like:

“The Congressional Record is very clear: I said we went to war in Iraq because of weapons of mass destruction.”

Thanks for clearing up the record, Senator. You’re infallible judgment and the courage of your convictions serve you well.

The constant whining about people taking your “hundred years” statement* out of context isn’t very presidential, though:

“It’s a direct falsification, and I’m sorry that political campaigns have to deteriorate in this fashion, because there’s legitimate differences between myself” and the Democratic presidential candidates on Iraq, McCain said.

Boo-hoo, boo-hoo! Al Gore invented the internet.

* Military presence to last up to a hundred years, if it is a peaceful presence where our men and women aren’t getting killed. No word yet on how long he is committed to staying in a violent, tenuous, failed-state situation where our men and women are being picked off daily. Only that we must win, and we are winning. After that, it’s smooth sailing for a fucking century. Lunatic.