I think the subtext here is Yes, I know Bush and Cheney are pansies who would put your children into a war without sufficient basis because they don't know or don't care how bad it is. But in this case it just so happens that the Iraq war actually is justified even if my superior selectivity standard was applied, so trust me, we need to stay.

Now most voters won't think along the lines of what I am about to say, but just for fun, let's try a new angle on this. So McCain is saying that he understands the cost of war and would be even more selective than Bush in using it. But if despite that higher standard he STILL thinks we should have gone to Iraq and still thinks we should stay there, then his JUDGMENT in assessing the actual facts relevant to deciding whether a war meets that standard is actually WORSE than Bush's. At least Bush might have thought, well, the benefits aren't all that clear and/or this might flop but what the heck, going to war isn't a big deal.

Is hated war off the table? Or does he love the country enough to go to war to keep it safe even though he hates war? One presumes the latter. But, if that’s the case, what’s his point?

The point is that he was a POW, obviously. I mean, it's entirely possible that you've forgotten about that fact during any period when McCain isn't talking about it, so it's important to keep reminding you.

"5 years of Iraq war cheerleading from the AM radio crowd has created a significant population of Republican voters who actually do love war. They are pro-war in the most vulgar, unthinking sense."

I call BS. That statement is as farcically, on-it-face ridiculous as someone saying "5 years of 5th column defeatism from the peacenik crowd has created a significant population of democratic voters who actually do want our country to lose in war. They are anti-war only in the most vulgar, anti-American sense." The fact that you view your fellow countrymen in such zero-sum terms is depressing.

Poor production values. Syrupy music. And yeah, the copy sounds like it was originally written to be a 60-second ad, and the entire 30-second middle explaining "why I think we need to keep fighting, here's how it ultimately leads to less war" has just been guillotined.

He needs to run zero ads mentioning his POW history between now and mid-October. It's an amazing story — but he's wearing it out.

Ugh. Grim, grim, grim.

I hate war. And I know how terrible its costs are.

Great--now we have some wimp-monster trying to adopt a Jane Fonda-loving, John Kerry-style of campaign.

His surrender to terror is despicable.

since I know of no states without names

Perhaps not the states, but where the streets have no names.

I hate war. And I know how terrible its costs are.

Is followed by the video of his

bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran

comments.

since I know of no states without names

although it might be better for us all if some were to remain nameless.