TEAM McCAIN: MAKING SAUSAGE?

So I'm watching John McCain and Sarah Palin speak in Wisconsin, and what do I see? From the very beginning she's trying to pump up McCain's judgment on The Surge.

As I've said before, this is like putting lipstick on a pig. Here's why ...

The Surge wouldn't have been necessary if we hadn't gone into Iraq in the first place. This was a colossal error in judgment, which Senator McCain supported wholeheartedly. If McCain wants to own The Surge, he needs to own the war. He is the Godfather of Bush's Blundering Wars Project.

And let's be clear here ... While the military finally has the manpower they should have had from Day One (another error in judgment) The Surge was not the principle factor behind declining violence in Iraq. Here are the facts.

(1) Declining violence in Iraq is a product of Iraq's religious leaders in the Anbar Province coming together to reject al Qaeda - a group that had no presence in Iraq before Bush and McCain pushed America into a war built on a pack of lies.

(2)The "Anbar Awakening" followed the mass segregation of parts of Iraq, where Sunnis and Shiite moved away from hostile areas on their own. They simply got tired of being targets in a civil war, that Bush & McCain's policies made possible, and moveD into safer areas.

(3) Then we have a city of walls. Miles of concrete fences have been erected throughout Baghdad and other hostile areas (which you and I paid for). The lives of U.S. troops were saved in the process.

The Surge was put in place after all of this happened. What does it say about a party - and a man - that makes catastrophic errors in judgment about a war, and troop levels, and then wants kudos for not making things worse?

Let's make this real simple. This is like a Little Pig building his house out of straw then wanting a pat on the back because the wolf didn't eat him ... as he hides in his brother's brick house.

Anyway you put it, the war in Iraq represents a colossal failure in judgment. Unless you're a republican, you can't make sausage out this pig.

- Mark

UPDATE: A few days after the post, but better late than never ... Here's Joe Biden on Meet the Press explaining why The Surge should not be viewed as the success Bush-McCain-MSM want to portray it as.