You remember how McCain was saying that all of his questioning of Obama's motives in ending the Iraq war wasn't questioning his patriotism, but instead his JUDGMENT? Well Obama saw through that BS. Sounds to me like Obama's gloves have also come off on Iraq. First Obama called him the liar that he is.
On Thursday, Obama took umbrage with this interpretation of events. "I expect [John McCain] to show me the same courtesy that I showed him," said the presumptive Democratic nominee. "Then yesterday he tried to say he wasn't challenging my patriotism, he was challenging my judgment. What does it say when you say someone would rather lose a war than lose an election? Of course he was challenging my patriotism."
I don't have the exact quote, but Obama also pointed out in the town hall that McCain is trying to backtrack now that he realizes he's jumped the proverbial shark and people are starting to call this attack what it is, not an attack of judgment, but an attack of loyalty and patriotism.
Obama goes on to hit him over the fact that he (McCain) has been WRONG about everything BUT the surge, and as quiet as it's kept he may be wrong about that too.
"His whole argument when it comes to foreign policy and how his judgment is superior is all based on the surge," said Obama. "He will argue, he is wrong on everything else, but 'I stood by and committed to doubling down more troops in Iraq and General Petraeus was with me and I seek victory and Obama wants defeat.'... Let me just close by saying this. I will put my judgment on foreign policy over the last seven years against John McCain's anytime. And I think that an objective analysis will say that I've been right a lot more than he has for all that time he has spent in Washington.
And Obama is right. In fact, those of us paying attention know that he tends to be found on the right side of the issue before that side becomes "popular" for instance, he had the judgment in 2002 to say going into Iraq was a bad idea, and he knew to say it for all of the right reasons too. In fact, check out what he said in 2002:
But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history. I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.
You really should read the whole speech (it's not that long), but he was saying the SAME THING in 2002 that he's saying now,and he's been proven largely correct. While Obama was saying that McCain was ready to go take down Sadaam. Who do you think had the better judgment?
If you match up the decisions Obama's made on foreign policy with the judgements McCain has made, you'd wonder why McCain wouldn't just stick to the "experience" argument and not go anywhere NEAR judgment. I suppose now that Obama is hitting him on this, perhaps he will.
John Kerry also weighed in:
"I just don't get it," Sen. John Kerry told the Huffington Post. "It's one thing that John McCain has made so many false claims about the surge. He claimed that it started the Anbar Awakening when the Anbar Awakening was already well underway when the surge was announced, and he seems to confuse Sunni and Shi'a repeatedly. But this false argument that opposing the Bush policy could only be done for political reasons is the place where reason and debate go to die. You call him out on the facts and he questions our integrity? That sounds an awful lot like George W Bush."
And there you have it. But then again, that's what happens when you try to have a serious debate over solutions with someone who has none.
As always tips, recs, and comments are welcome.
[UPDATED 7:13 PM ET]: In case you don't know Obama's doing a town hall right now in VA. He's still giving his stump, and he's hitting McCain pretty hard, especially on the economy. He not only mentioned McCain's houses and that there are 7, maybe 8, of them, he also mentioned the $5 million= Rich thing and tied it to why he thinks there has been good economic prosperity under Bush. He's hit on oil (I think he really loves the "drill here drill now" bit). He hit him on education too, pointed out that McCain has been in Washington 26 years, yet is still complaining and asked "well what are YOU doing John McCain."
The Q&A is about to start, but he's been pounding away on McCain in the town halls lately (boy am I glad I finally got broadband and now I can watch every townhall if I'm home ~lol~)
[UPDATED 7:15 PM ET]: Also using his new favorite line "Republicans know how to win an election, but they don't know how to run an election" and he specifically said that McCain is not a maverick because he's using the same people that helped Bush. I also notice that he's back on his "change" message, pointing out what's wrong with politics and why he doesn't think it's going to work, and the crowd is loving it.
This audience is super interactive, I love it! It's so great to see him interact with crowds
[UPDATED 7:19 PM ET]: LOL@ this:
h/t eclecticbrotha
Obama's also been very consistent about using the "Are you better off now than you are when Bush took office?" question more, and the crowd usually loves it. Got HUGE applause on ending Iraq War and using that money here at home.
[UPDATED 7:24 PM ET]: Right now he's hitting Bush on Civil Rights and the fact that Bush has completely abused his power based on 9/11. He also hit McCain for the "follow bin Laden to the gates of hell" statement, stating that he didn't have to go to hell, he just needed to go to Afghanistan/Pakistan. Despite Scott McClellan's plea, Obama WILL have his AG investigate this administration and the executive orders sent by Bush.
[UPDATED 7:38 PM ET] He was questioned about mental health and people who are not getting help that they need ending up incarcerated for stealing food. He agrees that mental health needs to be treated just as physical health is. He also points out that we have a huge problem with PTSD among Veterans leaving Iraq and Afghanistan. This is the third TH where I've heard him asked this type of question regarding ex-criminals. He wants to do more rehabilitation, but he also wants to keep the criminals out of jail in the first place. Ties it back to the parent accountability issue.
[UPDATED 7:44 PM ET] He pointed out that Condi is in Iraq right now helping to draft a plan that is much like the one he proposed, once again showing that his judgment was superior (he didn't say that, that's my note).
[UPDATED 7:58 PM ET] Hit McCain on Afghanistan for saying we were just going to "muddle through" when it was the central front on terror. Also, I learned something new, there's a drug trade in Afghanistan that is funding the Taliban. Points out that we can't just stop the population of poppy if we don't have something to replace it with because those farmers are very poor, and if we don't then we just helped the Taliban recruit. I didn't even know about that, but it's a great point, these wars and their outcome affect more than us here in the U.S.