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Obama and McCain -- We've Got Ourselves a Pissing Match, Folks

After Barack Obama opposed the recently-approved war funding bill that replaces timelines for withdrawal with toothless benchmarks, John McCain said the position was "the equivalent of waving a white flag to al Qaeda." Mitt Romney also had harsh words.

Obama responded:

"This country is united in our support for our troops, but we also owe them a plan to relieve them of the burden of policing someone else’s civil war. Governor Romney and Senator McCain clearly believe the course we are on in Iraq is working, but I do not.

"And if there ever was a reflection of that it's the fact that Senator McCain required a flack jacket, ten armored Humvees, two Apache attack helicopters, and 100 soldiers with rifles by his side to stroll through a market in Baghdad just a few weeks ago."

(For background on what Obama is referring to, see these blog posts.) McCain shot back less than two hours later:

"While Senator Obama's two years in the U.S. Senate certainly entitle him to vote against funding our troops, my service and experience combined with conversations with military leaders on the ground in Iraq lead me to believe that we must give this new strategy a chance to succeed because the consequences of failure would be catastrophic to our nation's security.

"By the way, Senator Obama, it's a 'flak' jacket, not a 'flack' jacket."

Who needs policy analysis, right? We've got eighteen months of petty sniping to look forward to!

Actually, this should take the humor out of this whole situation -- the insurgents made an example out of that bazaar McCain visited in a flak jacket, ambushing, binding, and murdereding 23 workers shortly after the Senator's visit.

Comments

John McCain is a tired, has-been. Pathetic. He won't even last the early primaries.

Posted by: john jones on 05/25/07 at 3:47 PM

McCain is a has been. He also should have known the Flak is spelled both ways since he is a Senator
The term "flak" refers to the fire from an anti-aircraft gun.

According to Webster's New World Dictionary, the American Heritage Dictionary, and the Oxford English Dictionary, "flack" is an alternate spelling of "flak," though the main listing for the term is under "flak." Two additional dictionaries, the Merriam Webster Dictionary: Home and Office Edition and the Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary, list only "flak," and do not indicate "flack" as an alternate spelling.

A press spokesman, which incidentally is another possible definition for the term "flack" but not "flak," for the U.S. Army says the military generally does not use either spelling in official written communications, opting instead to refer to specific types of armor or weaponry. The spokesman added that while both spellings are used informally, "flak" is more common.

Posted by: ethel on 05/25/07 at 5:32 PM

Speaking as a political independent, I would give this round to Obama. His criticisms seemed on-point and he laid out his points quickly and effectively, whereas McCain's response seemed like a naked appeal to authority unsupported by any facts. Also, the whole flack/flak thing did indeed seem petty.

Posted by: * on 05/28/07 at 5:08 PM

Now that dubya's got his new secret directive, I'd be surprised if the 2008 'elections' even happen....too late to impeach...too late to vote...http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070509-12.html

Posted by: Sunrise Harmony on 05/28/07 at 7:04 PM

"You pay for this, they give you that". (Neil Young)

Posted by: Sunrise Harmony on 05/28/07 at 7:19 PM