Senator John McCain made quite a few statements on today's CNN Situation Room that really need to be highlighted for their blatant attempt to mislead American citizens and 2008 voters.
First, he claimed that General Petraeus drives around Iraq in an unarmored vehicle.
Yep, that's right -- I suppose Senator McCain thinks he's just working on his tan while he cruises around the country with the top down, the wind in his hair, and a loud tune on the radio. According to McCain, parts of Baghdad are that safe.
Wolf Blitzer said nothing at the time, but an hour or so later, he questioned Michael Ware (in Iraq) about it. Ware apparently asked around after McCain's interview and everyone he questioned laughed at the suggestion. Not only is General Petraeus' vehicle armored, but he also has a fleet of vehicle and air protection with him everywhere he travels. Ware also pointed out that any Westerner, especially an American, wouldn't last on the streets of Baghdad for more than 10 minutes if he / she was out alone.
Second, Senator McCain commented that the country supports the surge because Senator Lieberman was reelected in Connecticut. That's clearly also a false statement since Senator Lieberman's position on withdrawal was very different before he won reelection. But, Senator Lieberman thinks his win means the country wants more bipartisanship (which, to him, apparently means Democrats should fold to the Republican wishes even though the country clearly wants them to lead us in a different direction than Republicans have for the past four to six years), so it's not a huge surprise that Senator McCain also wants us to believe Senator Lieberman's win means what is most beneficial for Senator McCain's position.
Finally, McCain also claimed that polling showing the majority of Americans want to withdrawal from Iraq is based on the way questions are asked. (Having worked with research before, I know that reputable pollers try to frame questions without bias. Push polls do exist, but they're designed to be partisan rather than valid snapshots of public opinion. McCain is trying to imply that all polling is push polling and partisan, which is not true.)
And, he finished that claim by indicating that 80% of the population would be in favor of the surge if the question asked was whether they would support it if they were guaranteed success. Blitzer also didn't ask how McCain could guarantee such success. And, even with the question phrased that way, I sincerely doubt McCain could get an 80% approval for remaining until we achieved success (whatever that menas) at this time.
Apparently, the Straight Talk premise (and, I do mean premise, not promise) only exists when he's actually on the bus. Although, really, it doesn't exist much there either.