McCain: We have won in Iraq

Or as TPM put it: Mission Accomplished 2.0.

I guess this means we can leave Iraq now, right? Yeah, I thought not.  Because this “victory” can be reversed if we leave.  Well, if it means that if we leave, we lose, doesn’t that mean we haven’t really won yet?

Update:

How can “the Iraqi government and military [be] in charge in the major cities in Iraq” when the White House has just put out a statement saying they are working on a timetable, part of which includes a goal for “the resumption of Iraqi security control in their cities and provinces”?  If we have to have a timetable for Iraqi security forces to resume control over their cities, then they aren’t in charge of their cities are they?

Methinks McCain and the White House need to communicate some more.

McCain: I have never flip-flopped

Oy:

Q: But you flip-flop a little bit too.

McCain: No, I didn’t.

Q: You flip-flop on drilling, on tax cuts…

McCain: Actually, I didn’t. Actually, on the drilling issue, when gasoline reached $4 a gallon, we’ve got to do things that we otherwise haven’t done in the past. I have not changed my mind on any other issue. On immigration, I said we need comprehensive immigration reform, it failed twice, so we’ve got to do what’s going to succeed.

Q: But you were against the tax cuts, now you’re talking about making them permanent. Isn’t there flip-flopping on both sides?

McCain: Actually, no.

Oh really? So far McCain has flip-flopped at least 64 times. And we’re still in July.

I eccho the statement that it’s fine to change your position, if you admit that you changed and that you can justify changing it.  I don’t want a president who never changes his mind, even when new facts come up or when the situation changes (we’ve already had 8 years of that).  But that’s different from just changing your position because that’s what sounds the best at the time.

Oh yeah, and McCain said that Obama “might” be a socialist as well.