McCain Must Not Be President

A big part of the 2008 election, unless John McCain craters and doesn't win the Republican primary, will be about bloggers taking special note of how McCain does not live up to his "straight talk" image and is instead just an example of a garden variety Republican liar.

Saw him on Meet the Press this morning and here are a few of his lies:

First, he said that Lieberman's victory in Connecticut is proof that the American people are not really against the Iraq war, despite what the polls say. This is ridiculous on its face. For one thing, Lieberman was in a local race, not a national one. For another, Lieberman campaigned by saying that nobody wanted to bring the troops home more than he did. These days, Lieberman supports an increase in troop levels. But back during the campaign, Lieberman said we'd be withdrawing troops by now.

Also, Lieberman ran a campaign that basically said "Okay, we disagree about Iraq, but I'm still a good senator and my opponent only has one issue." So, Lieberman asked his supporters to look past his Iraq stance. Yes, Lieberman won. But any rational observer would say that he won in spite of Iraq, not because of it.

McCain then said that any Democrats supporting bills that would prevent the troop increase are participating in a "vote of no confidence," in the American military. Nothing could be further from the truth. It would be a vote of no confidence in the President. But the Democratic argument is not that our military messed up Iraq, it's that out President sent the military into an unwinnable war. By framing the argument the way he did, McCain is basically stooping to the level of spin that he's respected for supposedly loathing. He doesn't loathe spin, though. He's really the worst of spinmeisters -- he's a man who will spin you while convincing you that he'd never even try to do so.

Also, he said quite bluntly, in case anyone wants to keep calling him a "centrist," that he is "A conservative Republican." Was the most honest thing he said this morning.