Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is trying to convince the American people that he is the person with the soundest advice about how to proceed in Iraq. On November 12, 2006 he told NBC’s Tim Russert “I believe that a lot of Americans trust my judgment on issues such as [Iraq].”
Here’s what McCain said almost exactly a year ago:
“I think the situation on the ground is going to improve. I do think that progress is being made in a lot of Iraq. Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course. If I thought we weren’t making progress, I’d be despondent.” [The Hill, 12/8/05]
Now McCain wants you to believe that sending 20,000 more troops to Iraq would improve “the situation on the ground.” McCain’s recommendations were explicitly rejected by the bi-partisan Baker-Hamilton commission.