McCain "Documentary" On Obama And Iraq Fails To Draw Real Blood

[Hope And Change]

McCain "Documentary" On Obama And Iraq Fails To Draw Real Blood

By http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/profile/sargent">Greg Sargent - July 17, 2008, 5:15PM

I just watched the http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/mccain_campaign_rolls_out_docu.php">McCain campaign's new "documentary" on Iraq a few times, and while it does find scattered inconsistencies in Obama's positions, it doesn't really draw blood.

Let's dive in.

The first thing the "documentary" tries to do is prove that Obama reversed himself on whether he said the surge would fail. It seizes on an early Obama quote where he said that the surge wouldn't "solve the sectarian violence," and added that "it'll do the reverse." Then it cites him later saying that he'd always said "we would see an improvement in the security situation."

It's true that Obama originally said that it would "do the reverse." So there's a slight inconsistency here. But Obama's broader original point was that the surge wouldn't solve the political problem. His later quote was strictly focused on whether there would be military gains. Whatever slight inconsistency there was is just not really meaningful when looked at in the broader context of his larger arguments.

Let's move to the next set of charges.

The "documentary" quotes Obama saying in July 2007 that the surge hasn't worked and we wouldn't see anything different in the future. It then quotes him in February 2008 saying that it's "indisputable" that violence has been reduced, and again in July 2008 saying the same. But so what? In July of 2007 the surge hadn't worked! That summer was the http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380749746&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">deadliest one of the war.


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