McCain: Consequences Of Missed Benchmarks Are ‘Obvious,’ But ‘I Can’t Tell You’ What They Are
McCain: Consequences Of Missed Benchmarks Are ‘Obvious,’ But ‘I Can’t Tell You’ What They Are
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has introduced an Iraq resolution which sets out “benchmarks” for the Iraqi government, but does not spell out any consequences if the benchmarks aren’t met.
Asked about the resolution this morning on ABC’s This Week, McCain declared, “Well, the consequences are obvious.” But, he said, “I can’t tell you what the other options are, because there are no good options to this.” Watch it:
McCain isn’t the only one who can’t make sense of toothless benchmarks. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said last week that benchmarks were “the best way to determine if the Iraqis are holding up their end of the bargain but he stopped short of saying what the U.S. should do it the Iraqis fall short. ‘I think everyone knows what the consequences are,’ McConnell said without specifying what he thinks they are, even when pressed. ‘I’m not going to start playing out the scenarios,’ he added.”
Transcript:
STEPHANOPOULOS: And in fact, your resolution lays out benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet. But critics of it say there are no consequences spelled out if they don’t meet these goals. There’s no teeth.
MCCAIN: Well, the consequences are obvious. I mean, if they’re not meeting those benchmarks, then obviously the new strategy isn’t succeeding. And I can’t tell you what the other options are, because there are no good options to this. If there was a good option to what we’re doing, to sending more young Americans in harm’s way, I’d tell you. They’re all bad options, in my view, if this one isn’t supported and succeeds.
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23 Responses to “McCain: Consequences Of Missed Benchmarks Are ‘Obvious,’ But ‘I Can’t Tell You’ What They Are”
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They are so obvious that he cannot see what they are?
Alzheimers has set in McCain… Time to retire.
February 4th, 2007 at 11:34 ami dont like the escalation either, but mccain said he doesnt know what the “options” are to the escalation, not that he doesnt know what the consequences are if iraqis fail
February 4th, 2007 at 11:37 amThe consequences won’t be known until the Suadi’s tell Bush what they are.
February 4th, 2007 at 11:45 amHe can’t tell us what the benghmarks are, because he slept throuhg that meeting as well.
Comment by Spudge_Boy — February 4, 2007 @ 11:40 am
LOL… Oh, he’ll make a fine President (sarcasm)
February 4th, 2007 at 11:47 amMcain is hiring the top guns that Bush hired used to smear Mcain.
February 4th, 2007 at 11:59 amWas there ever a time in politics where someone ACTUALLY SAID SOMETHING WHOLE HEARTEDLY INSTEAD OF SKIPPING AROUND THE ANSWER!!!!!!
Why are people even accepting this?
George Stepanopawhatever should of water boarded McCain until he fessed up
February 4th, 2007 at 12:02 pmChecking in, read, nothing new, gone again….Blessings
February 4th, 2007 at 12:02 pmNone of these frigging clowns have an answer for anything. Is it any wonder the people have stopped listening to thier nonsense? Pink Floyd’s THE WALL makes an awful lot of sense to me, these days. Maybe we just need to “tear it down”, and start all over again.
February 4th, 2007 at 12:04 pm#4, ahahahha so true…
And McCain could never afford to get Rove who pretty much killed McCains campaign in 2000 with a “whisper” campaign against McCain that he was “sodomized in the butt when he was a POW in Vietnam”
People thought this meant McCain is nuts so they didn’t vote for him
Poor guy! It seems Bush has screwed up his election 8 years down the road, because to look like a “Centrist” McCain is allying with Bush, but it’s just backfiring because McCain is too stupid to look at a poll and go “So everyone in America see anyone that Bush is friends with as evil… so that means I’ll try to do what Bush does but twice as good!”
February 4th, 2007 at 12:05 pmChecking in, read, nothing new, gone again….Blessings
Comment by Sharon Cox — February 4, 2007 @ 12:02 pm
Hasta la vista,babe,don’t let the creaking screen door hit you on your way out.
February 4th, 2007 at 1:35 pmWhat really drives me up the wall is that all this wrangling over the so-called benchmarks, is really nothing more that political maneuvering and posturing by this administration to try to make Iraqis responsible for the mess Iraq is right now -when Iraqis were little more than witnesses to the blunders the White House committed time and again, from the dissolution of the Baath party, to the disintegration of both the police and the Army, to the banning of former Baathist from any government positions, to the failure in rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure, the corruption surrounding construction projects, etc.
Instead of taking any responsibility for their mistakes, they are passing the buck to the Iraqis, and giving them “benchmarks”, when the Bush administration has refused over and over again to give themselves any time line at all, and its minions ridiculed the idea that some semblance of a plan was even needed.
On the up side, it might signal this administration is looking for a way to extricate themselves from the disaster the occupation of Iraq has turned out to be -even as they refuse to acknowledge their role in it.
February 4th, 2007 at 1:41 pmHey, McCain campaign workers!!
February 4th, 2007 at 3:05 pmTake your guy aside and set him straight. He can’t win. He’s losing any support he had. He appears sick. He isn’t thinking straight. He contradicts himself. Please take him home and let him rest.
Barfly, Are you really Mark Foley?
February 4th, 2007 at 6:01 pmComment by Barfly
[SQUEEK! SQUEEK!]
Rachael! Come here girl! You’ve got poop on your foot, and you’re leaving tracks all over the place! Sit! Rachael! Sit! I’ve got your favorite chew toy . . .
[SQUEEK! SQUEEK!]
February 4th, 2007 at 6:21 pmBarfly,
When can I tongue your browneye?
Ooops! wrong blog.
TP PLEASE DO NOT LET THIS GO THRU
too la
February 4th, 2007 at 7:07 pmWhat is this -an animal hybrid of half man-half gerbil? He really looks like he’s been packing away those nuts.
February 4th, 2007 at 7:26 pmMcCain is not packing nuts in his cheek > the gerbil lives in there > lol.
February 4th, 2007 at 8:04 pm#19 -Wait a minute… Is he a hybrid gerbil, or does he have a gerbil in his cheeks, or does he have a gerbil up his ass? Maybe the gerbil is crawling out of his ass and is going after his nuts. Or, IS he just plain nuts? This is getting too damned confusing! Oy!
February 4th, 2007 at 8:59 pmThe New World Oligarchy is calling all the shots. These guys are all puppets. What’s gone wrong is among the Straussions, Strangelove, neocon operatives now planning to launch on Iran while assuming Russia and China will do nothing. There’s a schism over this, and a faction of the NWO is leaning on certain politicians and working behind the scenes in a mad scramble to rein in the madmen before they start WWIII.
They’re doing this by allowing copious limited hangouts on the 911 coup, essentially calling it an intelligence “failure,” not the stunning intelligence “success” that it was; e.g. NORAD tapes, first responder tapes, books by Woodward, Lance, Drumheller, Ritter, et al. — all in an effort to change course without blowing the 911 coverup, exploding the biggest constitutional crisis since the Civil War and precipitating a global financial meltdown, all of which is inevitable — best to get it over with and wipe the slate — Support 911Truth - End War of Terror
February 5th, 2007 at 1:06 amComment by unbelievable — February 4, 2007 @ 8:06 pm
It is doubtful that unbelievable wrote # 20.
February 5th, 2007 at 2:32 amMcCain: “Consequences Of Missed Benchmarks Are ‘Obvious,’ But ‘I Can’t Tell You’ What They Are”
…that’s okay, neither can your bosses.
February 5th, 2007 at 4:03 amI thought so too, but listen to it again jak. McCain misinterprets the question. The question was regarding toothless benchmarks, the consequences of missing the benchmarks aren’t laid out.
His use of the phrase “The consequenses are obvious” refers to the ensuing chaos when the escalation doesn’t work, not the unspelled out consequences in his resolution. Was that on purpose? I don’t know. But his answer that there are no good options DEFINITELY refers to options after the escalation fails.
By the way, does anyone know what these benchmarks are? I keep hearing that word, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard what they actually are.
February 5th, 2007 at 10:17 amThe only smart thing McCain has done in months. This was a savvy pre-emptive strike. Maybe he plans to pay ‘em to sit quietly in a backroom doing nothing and saying less. You think he wants these guys to go on Romney’s payroll?
February 5th, 2007 at 1:04 pm