Ten days into being the frontrunner McCain has already had to pull the parachute to try and get revelations about his cozy relations with special interests off the front pages. And I reckon it might have even been his emergency parachute given that he has now flip-flopped, at least rhetorically, on the Iraq war. Just a month ago he was saying we would be in Iraq for 100 or 1000 years, and that there would be 'many more wars'. Now he is saying that the Iraq war is almost over.
That is a flip-flop on it's face, but is actually just more of the same in reality. If you listen closely to what he says he makes it clear that he is using the term 'war' in a very limited scope and that most of what we are embroiled in now would be a 'counter-insurgency' and thus not counted in the 'almost over' calculation.
So, once again, people will hear what they want to hear. McCain supporters squeamish about the war will hear that we are almost out. While hawks will look deeper to find that it's all just campaign rhetoric. But the Democrats get the best present of all which is great tape of McCain pulling a flip-flop on the central issue of his campaign.
The only two questions that remain are; how long will this flip-flop staunch the blood flow from the New York Times story, and will Romney jump back into the race to 'save the party'. What is certain is that McCain has few, if any, remaining parachutes he can use to slow down his rapid descent.
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