Have we forgotten? Tell me. Have we?
Remember when Nouri al-Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq said he agreed with Obama's timeline? Remember the next day when one of McCain's senior advisors said, "We're fucked"?
Well, al-Maliki hasn't backed off that one tiny bit.
Tonight, the pundits all noted that McCain's best line was,
"The next president of the United States is not going to have to address the issue as to whether we went into Iraq or not. The next president of the United States is going to have to decide how we leave, when we leave, and what we leave behind."
It was one of McCain's only lines delivered steadily. It was practiced. The Pundits liked it. This might be important. They'll start using it again tomorrow!!!!
Have we forgotten? You know... "We're fucked"?
Why would McCain's advisor say that?
Because, we (certainly Obama) can come back with,
No. Iraq has decided how we leave, when we leave, and what we leave behind. Look it up.
It's not our country, John.
They really are fucked! Don't forget they're fucked! Remember it!
As a bonus, here's Josh Marshall and one of his monkey scientist commentors. This is good! and so obviously true!
Link to TPM
And here's another note from TPM Reader TB. I guess I'm really not sure quite how to characterize it ...
I think people really are missing the point about McCain's failure to look at Obama. McCain was afraid of Obama. It was really clear--look at how much McCain blinked in the first half hour. I study monkey behavior--low ranking monkeys don't look at high ranking monkeys. In a physical, instinctive sense, Obama owned McCain tonight and I think the instant polling reflects that.
So McCain may have given away his status as a low-ranking monkey. I'd never even considered monkey rank.
Late Monkey Science Update: In case anyone's wondering, I looked up TPM Reader TB's page at the University he teaches at. And no doubt about it, he appears to be a genuine monkey scientist, or to be more specific a researcher on social cognition and behavior in primates. I'd link to his page. But readers remain anonymous, save for their initials, until they tell us otherwise.
--Josh Marshall