John McCain's comments at the Adams Memorial Opera House in Derry, New Hampshire, Thursday provide another good reason (as if we needed one) that so many of us would love to see his (and Joe Lieberman's) backsides as they leave Washington permanently.
Transcript:
Q: President Bush has talked about our staying in Iraq for 50 years --" (cut off by McCain)
McCain: "Make it a hundred."
Q: "Is that ..." (cut off)
McCain: "We've been in South Korea ... we've been in Japan for 60 years. We've been in South Korea 50 years or so. That would be fine with me. As long as Americans ..."
Q: [tries to say something]
McCain: "As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed. That's fine with me, I hope that would be fine with you, if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where Al Qaeda is training and equipping and recruiting and motivating people every single day.
Uh-huh. Could you recall for us, Senator, how many Americans were killed by resistance forces in postwar Korea, Japan and Germany? Slip your mind? Well, the number is zero. In Iraq last year, 901 Americans in uniform lost their lives.
That fantasy of a serene Pax Americana is the kind of world you and your hug-buddy George Bush would love to persuade us we can have, with no casualties, no sacrifice. Another Republican illusion abetted by your new hug-buddy Joe Lieberman.
But, don't listen to me. Just keep pounding the 100-year proposal for the next four days. If this approach nudges you up a few percentage points in New Hampshire next Tuesday and gives you momentum in your comeback campaign, maybe you can put Mister Bush on the stage touting your proposal during the later primaries. Then both you and Joe can hug him tight all the way to November.