News Feeds

Chat away...

Governor Dean will appear on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight at 11pm. And to keep with the day's theme, this segment from a couple years ago shows the most clever take on the Mission Accomplished banner I've seen to date (2:37 in):

Just how far will John McCain go to defend Bush? Even further than Bush's spokesperson, apparently. This just in, from the Associated Press: "Republican John McCain says President Bush should not be held responsible for the much-criticized "mission accomplished" banner five years ago, but he should be blamed for bungling the early months of the Iraq war." Let's not forget, as I mentioned earlier today, that "mission accomplished" was going to be in the speech, as well, and that it took Donald Rumsfeld -- of all people -- protesting in order to get it out of there. Specifically, the speech initially said, literally, that "the guns are silent." That's the context. Not the bogus explanation they're shopping around now. And that's not to say 'mission accomplished' didn't essentially make its way into the speech anyway. Let's not forget his claim that major combat operations were over. But more than that, what we've got here is a Republican presidential candidate who's willing to do more to protect Bush than Bush himself is willing to go -- for fear of looking out of touch. So what does McCain have to gain by this? Maybe it's more about his own statements. This is a man who declared "massive victory" in Iraq. Maybe it's because he's the one who said that the war will be "over soon." Or maybe he's so tied to Bush there's just no way out of it.

• Veterans to bring a Mission Accomplished banner to the White House.
• How the media covered it five years ago.
• And I'm curious... does anybody know what ended up happening to the actual banner? Is it sitting in a closet somewhere?

Chat away...

With the White House spinning the context for Mission Accomplished today, it's worth noting what the actual intention of the phrase was -- which was initially in the speech until Rumsfeld took it out. MR. WOODWARD: Just one quick thing not on the list but someone told me about the other day, which I found fascinating. When the person that gave that speech on the Lincoln with the "Mission Accomplished" on the back, somebody told me that the White House speechwriters had used MacArthur's surrender speech on the Missouri as a model. And they literally had in that speech "the guns are silent," and you edited it out. SEC. RUMSFELD: I took "mission accomplished" out. I was in Baghdad, and I was given a draft of that thing to look at. And I just died, and I said my God, it's too conclusive. And I fixed it and sent it back..

White House Spokesperson Dana Perino: "President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific, and said, Mission Accomplished For These Sailors Who Are On This Ship On Their Mission." Just to illustrate the absurdity of this point:

"Major combat operations in Iraq have ended." - President George W. Bush, May 1, 2003 "The war will be over soon." - Senator John McCain, February 25, 2008 And not only is the mission not "accomplished." There's no clear mission to begin with. The White House says one thing, John McCain says another. Except he's in favor of staying there for 100 years, which completely changes that mission. It'd be nice to elect a president whose vision of finally getting out of Iraq doesn't occur at a time of robots and flying cars. So on this Mission Accomplished Day, my own personal question to McCain is what mission does he see for our troops for the next 100 years? What goal would he give them? And how, exactly, is it going to be just like Germany, Japan, or South Korean like he claims? There are a lot of lessons. But one you should certainly take away is that just because somebody declares that we're going to stay in Iraq with an open-ended commitment and no combat doesn't make it so. It didn't make it so for Bush, and it won't make it so for McCain's vision of 100 years in Iraq. Of course, McCain used to know this. But flip-flopped on it so many times I'm not sure he remembers what he has said. Asked by Charlie Rose if he thought the South Korean model would serve as an analogy, even if there were no casualties, he said "No..." But times have changed; namely, he had to win a Republican primary.

Chat away...

Chat away...

I don't want to jump the gun, with the anniversary of "Mission Accomplished" tomorrow, but let's not forget it wasn't just about a banner. He also declared in his speech that "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended."

Senator McConnell spent over $1,500,000.00 in television ads to restore his image after all the hits that it's taken. But it turns out that when your entire agenda is blocking things from getting done in the Senate, no amount of proclaiming yourself the "Godfather of Green" (no joke) will make up for it. Right now, only 46% approve. That's bad territory for him in Kentucky, but not nearly as dangerous as the trend. Best take at Ditch Mitch: "That would be a 20% drop in his approval rating over one month. And a 25% increase in his disapproval over one month."

• Report: al-Qaida gaining strength in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• Ted Stevens in trouble... again.
• Speaker Pelosi's blog responds to the firing of Doan.

Chat away...

Smooth: At his health care policy event yesterday at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Florida, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was introduced by the institute's chairman, former Republican senator Connie Mack. But, as Hotline reports, Mack is more than just a chairman. He's also a registered state lobbyist "advocating for health insurance companies." Apparently the McCain campaign didn't like Hotline's reporting on Mack's role as a lobbyist. The McCain campaign lobbied On Call feverishly to tank the post. Spokesman Tucker Bounds said this item "borders on ludicrous, absurd and ridiculous." Reporting facts, according to McCain's camp, "borders on ludicrous, absurd and ridiculous"! Reminds me of the criticism the RNC and the McCain campaign have levied against our ad, paraphrase of course: "How dare you use John McCain's own words against him!"

MoveOn.org launched an ad targeting John McCain's 100-years-in-Iraq line to coincide with the 5 year anniversary of Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech tomorrow. The RNC says they're "maliciously misquoting" McCain, but the audio that's in the clip is simply John McCain talking. Letting his words speak for themselves is apparently unacceptable to the RNC, a claim that's pretty laughable on its face. Watch it: With the anniversary tomorrow, you can expect much more coverage of the Mission Accomplished anniversary to come. Maybe in 100 years we'll be able to declare it once again.

Chat away...

Chat away...

Chat away...

Chat away...