McCain Doubles Down

With regard to the post below, Marc Ambinder's report on how John McCain hopes to revive his dying presidential campaign by giving a speech in which he "will steel his audience to prepare for a 'Long War'" is a reminder of why McCain and Rudy Giuliani are both so dangerous. They both rely on mindless warmongering as their only hope of securing the nomination. The contract they're making with the GOP base is "you may not like where I stand on X or Y, but at least I'll go to war with Iran." Romney's stated views on foreign policy are no less idiotic than his rivals' but one can at least imagine him flip-flopping away from them.

When McCain promises that his approach to resolving our failed policy in Iraq is to let that same failed policy continue for another 18 months, then take office as president, and keep continuing the same failed policy forever and ever, that's all he's got. That's his pitch. He won't -- and, indeed, can't -- back down from the view that "Defeatism will not buy peace in our time" and we just need to continue our futile effort to occupy Iraq contrary to the wishes of Iraq's population.

Photo by Flickr user Sooz used under a Creative Commons license