The funniest of the Road Runner cartoons is an episode in which Wiley Coyote skis off a cliff wearing a ridiculous snow-making machine laying a path of snow before his skis. The hilarity of the sequence comes from the brief moment in which Wiley keeps skiing as though he was still on solid ground.
John McCain has now decided that he can determine reality by fiat, and like Wiley Coyote, he has decided to keep skiing by manufacturing the information he needs to declare the the "surge" is working in Iraq. Presumably General Petraeus will keep him supplied with statistics sufficient to dispel the criticisms of the reality-based community. Let's consider why McCain would do such a bizzarre thing.
- The 30% core supporters of Bush cannot accept defeat in Iraq. Thus anyone who says that we are winning will be embraced, no matter how fatuous the claim.
- McCain has decided that he can run against the "media." This is another Vietnam wound that never healed. Just as Vietnam revisionists believe that the US was stabbed in the back by the "liberal" media, McCain will attack the media for undermining US resolve in Iraq. The smearing of CNN reporter Michael Ware is evidence of this tactic.
- McCain knows that one good surge deserves another. There is nothing to stop him from repeating his advocacy of "one last try" right through the election.
- McCain is deliberately surrounding himself with the trappings of war, not the ingredients of diplomacy or statesmanship. He relishes exposing himself to the dangers of Iraq, as proof of his combative spirit.
- McCain believes that the country may be having doubts about the Iraq war, but it is still in love with warriors, men like McCain, who exist outside of reason, reality, and democracy. He believes that America would rather read a military comic book that live in the real world.
In short, John McCain is betting his presidential run on pure, unadulterated American militarism. If you love war, McCain is your man.