The McCain campaign responded to questions about his gaffe on the CBS Evening News on the timeline of the Sunni Awakening and it was reported by Ed Henry on AC 360 tonight.
The surge strategy that was supported by John McCain and opposed by Barack Obama was responsible for the reduction in violence we have all seen over the last year and a half. If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda, and the US forces would have already left Iraq in defeat.
Watch the panel at AC 360 try to spin this one in the video below the fold.
They try to downplay how serious this gaffe is by McCain and write it up to age and something which could be a problem for the McCain campaign if it can be turned into a narrative about his age. If Barack Obama had said this, he would not need to have the McCain campaign make it an issue. The media would do it for him. They also seem to think that McCain saying that Obama wants to lose a war is a bigger deal. Since John McCain is supposed to be running on his national security creds that they keep espousing day after day, I don't see how that could possibly be true, but that's their latest set of talking points for the evening.
Update:
Thought I'd throw this one in for good measure. Here's Keith's report on Countdown for anyone that missed it.