With today's news that Iraq's Prime Minister Maliki agrees with Barack Obama's plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq within 16 months, the McCain campaign has so far failed to comment on the story. But McCain did have something to say about it in 2004:

QUESTION: Let me give you a hypothetical, senator. What would or should we do if, in the post-June 30th period, a so-called sovereign Iraqi government asks us to leave, even if we are unhappy about the security situation there? I understand it's a hypothetical, but it's at least possible.

McCAIN: Well, if that scenario evolves, then I think it's obvious that we would have to leave because— if it was an elected government of Iraq— and we've been asked to leave other places in the world. If it were an extremist government, then I think we would have other challenges, but I don't see how we could stay when our whole emphasis and policy has been based on turning the Iraqi government over to the Iraqi
people.

Prepare yourself for spinning of Linda Blair-like proportions.

Bad news for John McSame's campaign in the Buckeye State...an Ohio Court has ruled that Libertarian candidate Bob Barr must be included on the November ballot:

Ohio must include the Libertarian Party's nominees on its ballot in November, a federal court has ruled, complicating Sen. John McCain's effort to win conservative votes in a hotly contested state.

More after the jump...

[From the diaries - BarbinMD]

Stupid is as stupid does.

The White House this afternoon accidentally sent to its extensive distribution list a Reuters story headlined "Iraqi PM backs Obama troop exit plan - magazine."

The story relayed how Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told the German magazine Der Spiegel that "he supported prospective U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal that U.S. troops should leave Iraq within 16 months ... ‘U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes,'" the prime minister said.

The White House employee had intended to send the article to an internal distribution list, ABC News' Martha Raddatz reports, but hit the wrong button.

My take: The WH was obviously freaking out after the announcement that al-Maliki supports Obama's plan, and of course was planning to email this around internally get some some advice from advisers and get their talking points together. This also ensures additional coverage of this issue. The Obama camp of course has already pounced on this:

The national security adviser to the Obama campaign, Susan Rice, said the senator welcomed Maliki's support.

"This presents an important opportunity to transition to Iraqi responsibility, while restoring our military and increasing our commitment to finish the fight in Afghanistan," Rice said in a statement Saturday.

This is just starting to hit the media; unlike McCain leaking Obama's travel schedule, this is just too big to ignore. The implications are huge, when you consider what would have happened had the opposite occurred:

To really understand the importance of Maliki's comments, you need to consider their opposite. Imagine if Maliki had walked in front of the cameras and said, "at this stage, a timetable for withdrawal is unrealistic, and we hope our American friends will not bow to domestic political pressures and be hasty in leaving Iraq just as the country improves." It would be a transformative moment in this election. John McCain would talk of nothing else. The cable shows would talk of nothing else. Magazines would run thousands of covers about "Obama's Iraq Problem." Obama would probably lose the race.

Indeed.

Update: I just had to relay this post on what the al-Maliki statement means for McCain (per Ambinder):

Via e-mail, a prominent Republican strategist who occasionally provides advice to the McCain campaign said, simply, "We're fucked." No response yet from the McCain campaign, although here's what McCain said the last time Maliki mentioned withdrawal: "Since we are succeeding, then I am convinced, as I have said before, we can withdraw and withdraw with honor, not according to a set timetable. And I’m confident that is what Prime Minister Maliki is talking about, since he has told me that for many meetings we’'ve had."

DIGG IT UP!!

In the NSN article listing McCain's foreign policy errors there was this one quote from 1996 that caught my attention.

"Motivated by romantic, anachronistic notions of Irish republicanism, some prominent Irish-Americans persuaded the president (over the objection of the State Department) to jump headfirst into the Northern Ireland problem, severely straining our relations with London." McCain that by President Clinton's "mistaken involvement in the Northern Ireland problem, President Clinton has deepened the risk to his credibility and further damaged relations with our British allies." [Foreign Policy, Summer 1996]

John McCain still hasn't given up on his idea of a gas-tax "holiday:

The Republican told an estimated 1,200 people at Union Station that suspending the federal tax on gasoline and diesel fuel would help put millions of dollars into the hands of businesses and lower-income Americans.

And he's still the only one who thinks it's a good idea:

The political vision of a summer gas tax holiday died a quick death in Congress, losing to a view that federal excise taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel will have to go up if they go anywhere.  [...]

Depriving the 52-year-old Highway Trust Fund of $9 billion at a time when it is heading into the red doomed the notion of a gas tax holiday in Congress.

The chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. James Oberstar, and the chairman of the highway subcommittee, Rep. Peter DeFazio, presented fellow lawmakers with a list of how many jobs and how much money each state would lose. It ranged from $30 million and 1,000 jobs in Vermont to $664 million and 23,000 jobs in California.

But still McCain presses on. Never mind that "only about $27 billion in federal money will be available next year to states and local governments for new infrastructure investment even though the current highway act calls for spending $41 billion a year," McCain thinks he's latched onto something that will resonate with the public, so damn the consequences.

Naturally, in leaving McCain's campaign, Phil Gramm had to blame Democrats. He's such a victim.

It is clear to me that Democrats want to attack me rather than debate Senator McCain on important economic issues facing the country," Mr. Gramm said in a statement issued by the campaign. "That kind of distraction hurts not only Senator McCain’s ability to present concrete programs to deal with the country’s problems, it hurts the country."

Mr. Gramm, a multimillionaire banker, has been under fire since last week, when he dismissed concerns about the troubled economy by referring to "a mental recession." He also said the United States had become "a nation of whiners," a remark providing fodder for Democrats to portray Republicans as out of touch with the concerns of ordinary Americans.

The Obama campaign declined to apologize for thinking the economic issues needing discussion are not purely psychological.

"The question for John McCain isn’t whether Phil Gramm will continue as chairman of his campaign, but whether he will continue to keep the economic plan that Gramm authored and that represents a continuation of the polices that have failed American families for the last eight years," said Hari Sevugan, a spokesman for the campaign of Senator Barack Obama.

Before you say, "what the fuck???", hear me out.

It is clear that the corporate media is willing to ask John McCain the tough questions like "don’t you think that Obama is a flip flopper", and that his repeated gaffes, double speak, lies, pandering and outright crazy talk is not only being ignored but is being dismissed as something that he "didn’t mean" or that he "has enough credibility anyway" or is "no big deal" - when what he says and does is far, FAR worse than anything that Obama may or may not have said.

And yet, Obama still holds leads in every poll (even when the results or samples are skewed) and is doing a pretty good job of defending himself from the outrageous attacks and smears.  Hell, he beat back the Edwards and Clinton campaigns pretty soundly - which is a very impressive thing.  However and more importantly, by continuing to defend himself (or for us to spend so much time defending him), we are missing an opportunity to set the narrative on McCain and force him to go on defense.  And when McCain is forced to go on the defensive, we see the angry, unstable, hothead McCain that is being hidden from millions of voters..

So Sue Me!

The great minds at the Republican National Committee are once again demonstrating their transcendent grasp of marketing, finance, and public relations.

In an action so preposterously witless as to scramble the common cranium, the GOP has sent a "cease and desist" letter to CafePress citing trademark infringement on the part of sellers using the term "GOP" or the elephant logo.

Brought to you by...
News Corpse, The Internet's Chronicle Of Media Decay.

Did John McCain have his ultimate senior moment?

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Friday that his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, is likely to be in Iraq over the weekend.

The Obama campaign has tried to cloak the Illinois senator's trip in some measure of secrecy for security reasons. The White House, State Department and Pentagon do not announce senior officials' visits to Iraq in advance.

"I believe that either today or tomorrow -- and I'm not privy to his schedule -- Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators" who make up a congressional delegation, McCain told a campaign fund-raising luncheon.

If there are two things that we know about John McCain, it's that he doesn't like to talk about being a P.O.W...except for when he's constantly talking about it or putting out ads featuring it, and that only he understands war and all that it entails. So why in the hell would he cheerfully reveal information like this? Did he forget that secrecy surrounds any notable person's visit to Iraq, or did he think Al-Qaeda was in Iran for the weekend and wouldn't be a problem?

See turneresq's diary on this.

                           

Rasmussen just released its poll results from the Pine Tree State.

From Media Matters:

ABC News and The Washington Post issued staggered releases of the results of their latest poll, withholding from their first release results favorable to Sen. Barack Obama, including the finding that 50 percent of registered voters would vote for Obama for president versus 42 percent for Sen. John McCain. The next day, the Post ran an article headlined "Poll Finds Voters Split on Candidates' Iraq-Pullout Positions," which did not mention Obama's 8-point lead over McCain. Later that day, ABC News and the Post issued a second release with additional poll results that stated: "Obama continues to hold most of the advantages in the presidential race."

Here's the article the Washington Post chose to run the next day, where they failed to mention that, when asked,

If the 2008 presidential election were being held today and the candidates were (Barack Obama, the Democrat) and (John McCain, the Republican), for whom would you vote?

...50% said Obama and 42% said McCain. The article also failed to mention that if Bob Barr was included in the choices, Obama's lead went up to 10 points.

ABC News went with a lengthly article titled, "McCain Tops Obama in Commander-in-Chief Test; Stays Competitive on Iraq," also without bothering to mention the most important finding in the poll.

Details, details, why bother their readers with the details when it would mess up the planned narrative? They can always release those later.

After a week of flip flops and ommissions on the Iraq war, Afghanistan troop levels/planning and dueling Messages between McCain and chief surrogates, on whether Obama's overseas trip is a fact-finding mission, or a glorified campaign stop.  The McCain camp continues to flub. This time behind the scene. Also (in the 2nd half), McCain stumbles on the war again. The video is below.

According to Robert Novack (via Michael Barone), Politico)says John McCain has already privately patched up his relationship, and welcomed back controversial "mental midget" economist, Phil Gramm back into the McCain brood. Mr. Novack even provides quotes.

Neither Barone, or Novack, mentioned where, when this conversation took place. But if this is true (quotes are provided), its very troubling; though not suprising for McCain.

Once again, he's displaying weasel-like tendacies.

Here's the link from July 18:http://www.politico.com/playbook/

Also, Don't miss McCain's startling Afghan Gaffe video, and Phil Gramms sordid connection to Big Oil & the subprime mess below.

No, really.

(UPDATE):  Here's a link to the Miami Herald article.
On a just-ended campaign conference call, Bud Day made this outrageous statement:

One of John McCain's fellow POW's in Vietnam defended the war in Iraq, saying, "The Muslims have said either we kneel or they're going to kill us.''

In a phone call with reporters arranged by the McCain campaign, Colonel Bud Day added: "I don't intend to kneel and I don't advocate to anybody that we kneel, and John doesn't advocate to anybody that we kneel.''

Note:  this was a CAMPAIGN conference call.  More on Bud Day below the fold.

- NOVA/DC OBAMA EVENTS UPDATE –
(please forward)

FEATURED EVENTS:
*** 8pm 7/17 "Campaign for Change" Bar Crawl in Clarendon! ***

*** 7/18 Sky Lounge Stoplight Party for Obama in Rockville! ***

*** 7/20 Jews for Obama Dinner and Discussion in Falls Church! ***

*** 7/21 Generation Obama Pre-Auction Flyering @ "The Candidate" for Screen on the Green, Metros, as well as your Office and Neighborhood! ***

*** 7/22 "Unify Your Love!" Date Auction & Mixer for Obama! (w/Open Bar) ***   -  AUCTIONEE BIO & HOST SIGN UPS DUE AT 5PM FRIDAY! -  DOUBLE DATES WILL BE AVAILABLE! -  OPEN BAR NOW STARTS AT 8PM!

*** 7/26 Arlington Platform for Change Café @ Cecilia’s ***

*** 7/28-8/11 Monday Night "Screen on the Green" Visibility ***

LOCAL CAMPAIGN EVENTS:
**7/18-21 ARLINGTON VOTER REG, PHONES & CANVASSING EVENTS**
**7/18-21 FALLS CHURCH VOTER REG & CANVASSING EVENTS**
**7/18-21 ALEXANDRIA VOTER REG, PHONES & CANVASSING EVENTS**
(plus canvassing in Lee and Mt. Vernon Districts)
*** 7/18-21 FAIRFAX PHONES & CANVASSING EVENTS***
*** 7/18-21 FAIRFAX VOTER REGISTRATION EVENTS***

Unfuckingbelievable.

Hillary needs to make this stop now.

Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co. and a top adviser to Republican Sen. John McCain, met with the former Clinton backers at a private home for more than an hour and a half. Fiorina said in an interview that over glasses of iced tea and finger food, she fielded questions from Democratic women she described as "intensely uncomfortable with the notion of a President Obama.’’

The Westchester meeting came at the behest of former Clinton supporters, some of whom have said – adamantly – that they won’t support Obama. Polls show Obama winning the majority of support from women voters while about a quarter of ex-Clinton supporters are leaning toward McCain.

Gallup alluded to the fact that the trip could really move the meter in the polls at it will likely be the first high profile story in July to actually break through the mailaise of the mid summer's back-n-forth.  

Obama will next week begin what is shaping up to be a highly publicized international trip, which could, at least in theory, have the potential to change the structure of the race.

Obama's trip doubtlessly could be the catalyst for the race in '08 breaking wide open.  Bars have been set high as Obama tries to address the one weak spot on his resume, foreign policy credibility, by addressing various world leaders and generally appearing Presidential in a variety of settings.  Yesterday, I broke the story about how McCain publically contradicted the official message of his campaign which was trying to lambaste and freedom fry it's way into framing the upcoming trip... much to no avail as the press is essentially mesmerized by Obama's upcoming tour, with stories about where and what he'll be doing dominating a week of otherwise slow news.

Looks like they want Iraq to go away by November.  Declare victory and begin leaving.  We suggested that long ago:

Statement by the Press Secretary on Iraq

In the area of security cooperation, the President and the Prime Minister agreed that improving conditions should allow for the agreements now under negotiation to include a general time horizon for meeting aspirational goals -- such as the resumption of Iraqi security control in their cities and provinces and the further reduction of U.S. combat forces from Iraq.

More, after the fold.