McCain Loses Argument: He Hedged On The Surge In 2007

Josh Marshall digs up a Salon.com article from February, 2007 arguing that John McCain hedged his bets on the surge:

By simultaneously endorsing the surge and harshly criticizing certain aspects of the Bush plan as potentially disastrous, McCain appears to be hedging his bets should the surge fail. "He is looking for an exit strategy if it does not work," said Stephen Wayne, a political science professor at Georgetown University. "It says: 'You just did not do it right, Mr. President.'"

The article points to a February 8, 2007 Senate floor speech by McCain opposing the nomination of Gen. George Casey to be Army chief of staff. I found video of it, and sure enough, McCain did hedge his bets on the surge -- and he wasn't subtle about it at all. Here's what he said:

I am very nervous about this new strategy. I am very doubtful that we have enough troops. I don't know if the Maliki government will be strong enough. But if General Casey is appointed to this position, my confidence will be lowered because it is not appropriate to put someone who does not support wholeheartedly the new strategy in a position where he will be responsible for a great deal of it.

Here's the video:

YouTube link

Keep in mind that Gen. Casey ended up being confirmed on an 83-14 vote and continues to serve as Army chief of staff to this day. Yet despite McCain's dire warnings, he now claims credit for the current situation on the ground.

Is it not the ultimate in double talk? (And if you're active duty or retired military, how do you feel about seeing a Navy guy throw an Army guy under the bus like this?)

Update: Just to be clear, McCain was covering his ass by simultaneously supporting the surge and also saying it was insufficient. He was giving himself an out so that if it failed, he could always say that there weren't enough troops. Perhaps that was smart politics, but his claim now is that he supported the surge no matter what the political consequences were. And that isn't what he did. He was actually quite political.

Original here