As I'm sure many of you are, I have been confused by Sen. McCain's assertion that we should elect him because he can win wars. I have sereral points of confusion.
First, no 'one' wins a war. Like it or not, war is the ultimate team event. Furthermore, a President can only win a war in the way a general manager wins a baseball game. The men on the field win the game, and it is both arrogant and disrespectful for anyone to suggest otherwise, as McCain frequently does.
Seondly, I'm not sure where the selling point is in a President who thinks first about any aspect of a war that how to avoid it. And there may not have been a less unavoidable war that Iraq.
I'm not sure where McCain stood on Grenada. I know he backed going into Bosnia (though he certainly didn't win it). The First war with Iraq was kind of a win, but not a decisive one, obviously. And he was captured and tortured during Vietnam.
By my count, John McCain has yet to win a war, or even command one. So, his proudest claim is his most oddly unsupported by anything factual.
To be fair, he was a big supporter of our current war in Iraq, which he agreed with Bush in claiming victory in June '03. To the 'Mission Accomplished' banner, McCain told Neil Cavuto : "Well, then why was there a banner that said mission accomplished on the aircraft carrier?"
Before the war, the Oracle of Arizona proclaimed: "I think the victory will be rapid, within about three weeks."
From 3 weeks to 100 years. He was only off by about 1733 times the length of time. I'm not sure where all of this proves he's a mastermind of military strategy.
Atop that, he failed to get the nomination in 2000, as he was crushed by the Bush Machine.
So, he got captured in the one war he actually took part in. He couldn't win major political battles against GWB. And he has been mind-numbingly wrong on both Iraq and Afghanistan.
McCain being awful on economics is well-known, and not entirely a surprise, he is a Reagan Republican. And of all the things the MSM seems to let lie, McCain's claims of military glory are the ones that bother me most.
In my dream world, someone will ask him about that at the town hall debate on Tuesday. I might phrase it:
"Sen. McCain, as an American, I am respectful of the years of service you gave to our country as both a military and congressional man. But, you frequently claim that you can win wars, would you please explain for us what in your impressive resume supports that claim?"