War Room

John McCain's revisionist history

"We have turned things around from a failed strategy of Rumsfeld, which I was the only one that spoke strongly against, to a new strategy, which I supported, which is succeeding."

That's Sen. John McCain in an interview with Charlie Rose, and there are two points worth making about the "straight talk" he was delivering.

First, as Think Progress has noted before, McCain didn't always "speak strongly" against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's strategy in Iraq. In March 2004, he declared that the United States was "on the right course" in Iraq. And in December 2005, he predicted that, "a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course."

Second, to the extent that McCain did "speak strongly" against the Rumsfeld strategy, he was hardly "the only one." While McCain was campaigning for George W. Bush's reelection in 2004, for example, Bush's opponent was criticizing Rumsfeld's war strategy and calling on him to resign.

Gonzales to DOJ on wiretapping: Who cares about you?
The then-White House counsel wrote a scathing letter to Justice saying the president had decided what was legal
The curse of Obama's old Senate seat
The president's last job certainly helped him out -- so why does no one else want it?
Iran frees journalist after 18 days in prison
The reporter says he was mainly treated well, but was slapped during one interrogation
Report: Bush's surveillance program larger than previously thought
The previous administration's surveillance was even more extensive than we'd known, and DOJ didn't like it

Current Salon Politics Stories

Salon Politics Blogs

Recent Posts

The curse of Obama's old Senate seat
The president's last job certainly helped him out -- so why does no one else want it?
Iran frees journalist after 18 days in prison
The reporter says he was mainly treated well, but was slapped during one interrogation
Report: Bush's surveillance program larger than previously thought
The previous administration's surveillance was even more extensive than we'd known, and DOJ didn't like it
Previous Posts…

War Room RSS Feed

Posts by date

July 2009
SuMoTuWeThFrSa
1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031

About War Room

War Room is written and edited by Alex Koppelman, with contributions from Salon reporters around the country.