Its amazing to me how little commentary there has been on McCain's brief visit to Colombia.
During the day of the visit people were trying to make sense of why McCain would go to Colombia, a country that rarely grasps the imagination or stokes the emotions of the American public, in the middle of the Presidential campaign in which the main issues have little to do with South American policy.
And then of course there ended up being a stunning hostage rescue operation that afternoon that transfixed Colombia and that was ready to be sold in a nice anti-terrorism package on American evening news with none other than John McCain in a guest-starring role.
What a coincidence!
Or, as the Washington Post at least had the maturity to qualify, an "apparent coincidence." Of course, the Post then went on to credulously report the story as if this wasn't planned from the get-go by Bush, Uribe, and McCain.
In a subsequent statement, McCain said he had been briefed by Uribe and the Colombian defense minister last night about today's operation. He said he spoke with Uribe today by telephone and learned some of the details of the rescue.
Two points really irk me here.
First, why can't the press call a spade a spade, or at least ask the questions of President Bush about how this kind of thing got planned? Isn't it a topic worthy of discussion whether the McCain campaign was given prior warning (the answer is obvious enough)? McCain should be pressed about whether a tip from the Bush Administration was the real reason for his trip to Colombia.
Second, I want to fill in why I think this is potentially dangerous behavior on the part of the President. It is not a good idea to time Presidential candidate visits with major security moves on the part of the host government. Next time McCain visits a foreign country--for instance, Israel--you can bet that nearby terrorist groups will go to ground with their hostages and their weapons stashes. More than that, foreign governments might delay optimal mission timing in order to play nice with Bush, jeopardizing people's lives.
Further, its just venal for the President and an aspiring President to behave in this manner. I think the American people would agree as much, that using desperate hostages as a stage prop for a campaign event has a tawdry air to it. Will the press call these guys on it?
I think the press was actually embarrassed by the fact that they weren't reporting this thing straight, which is why there was less coverage of McCain's trip to Colombia than one might expect. I don't think the press was comfortable juxtaposing the trip and the rescue too much given how weakly they were actually trying to investigate the link between the rescue and the trip's motivation. It was too much bullshit for the press to report with a straight face, but they didn't want to get to the bottom of it either. After all, this is straight-talking St. John we're talking about.
[Update] I see that the hostages' homecomings are the lead story on CNN.com right now. While McCain didn't get much direct coverage linking him to the trip, which is why I thought he flubbed this assist from Bush to some extent, it remains to be seen what sort of passive, irrational psychological props he'll get from the association "Colombia, hostages freed, cool, McCain was in Colombia, McCain must be cool."
[Further update]
The New York Times doesn't even question the "happy coincidence."
According to the times
"Although the timing of the rescue was a coincidence and Mr. McCain’s trip to Colombia had nothing to do with it, the event nonetheless put him in the middle of classified talks about covert operations with the head of another government."
Bullshit. Pathetic.