McCain Reaching on Condemnation of Romney

I like John McCain. A lot. Within the next 48 hours, I even plan on laying out my reasons for supporting him here, in an effort to persuade whoever might read it to do the same.

That said, I cannot condone the tack he's taken against Mitt Romney over the past few days. As most of you have probably heard, McCain accused Romney of "[wanting] a timetable for withdrawal" from Iraq.

The quote he appears to be referring to was spoken by Romney on Good Morning America back in April of last year:

Mitt Romney - April 3rd, 2007

Well, there's no question but that — the president and Prime Minister al-Maliki have to have a series of timetables and milestones that they speak about. But those shouldn't be for public pronouncement. You don't want the enemy to understand how long they have to wait in the weeds until you're going to be gone. You want to have a series of things you want to see accomplished in terms of the strength of the Iraqi military and the Iraqi police, and the leadership of the Iraqi government.

This is a stretch any way you slice it. While it may be technically correct that Romney was supporting timetables, he was not supporting the kind that McCain has often warned about. You can make the case that timetables of any type -- public or private -- are a bad idea. If that's what McCain wants to say, then that's what he ought to say. But he's admittedly reaching when he says Romney simply "supported timetables" or "supported withdrawal."

This is a pity, not only because of the misrepresentation involved, but because it comes on a front in which McCain does not need to exaggerate his role. He has trumpeted -- for good reason -- his push for the surge and his call for Rumsfeld's resignation. He took difficult positions and was right. His record on the war is better than any other politician in the nation; he doesn't need to twist Romney's words with a record like that.

» January 27th, 2008

posted @ 10:00 PM in Elections '08

Calendar

More Entries

»	Selective Forgiveness
»	"The Capacity to Be Outraged"
»	Busting McCain Memes
»	The Kodak Theatre Debate
»	Hugh Hewitt Didn't Major in Mathematics
»	The California Debate
»	Reflections on the Rallies
»	The Ironic Prescience of Matchbox 20
»	McCain Wins Florida
»	The Case for McCain