McCain is in freefall. It is instructive, because it shows what the American public thinks about Bush's war...

Did they really? If they really did, they wouldn't let Bush send 15,000 more troops to Iraq while people in Iraq is shouting that they want American get out of there. What makes them feel so right to push their own values to others? I don't see any vision for "winning the war in Iraq" in his speech.
I still can't believe that they've already spent $340 billion on Iraq War thus far and $522 billion on US military budget. It is clear that the military solution is not working. why don't they try to bring peace by sending humanitarian aid instead of troops and weapons?
According to The Borgen Project, it only costs $19 billion to end global poverty and hunger. Compare to the amount Bush spent on "the war on terror", this is very little. I hope our next political leader will make a commitment to the UN Millennium Development Goals which will end global poverty and starvation. It is not so hard if we are willing to take an action!

I may have more to say later about Arizona Senator John McCain’s speech today at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) on the Iraq war.
I think he got the big points right. In a blogger conference call after the speech, James Joyner (via Instapu...

This is utter and complete nonsense.
Does he offer no respite whatsoever from the absurd Bush framing of "war on terror"? Its been said a million times, and I sense most everyone understands it - terror is a tactic, one used by the weaker force in an asymmetic conflict, and sometimes by the stronger as well (the US, in Germany and Japan). Wars are driven by conflicts of interests and desires for power, and a refusal to deal with those issues, by claiming to fight against tactics, is deeply dishonest.

And we are in Iraq to fight for the soul of Islam? Excuse me? How can anyone take this seriously? The soul of Islam is not a concern of the government of the United States of America. What various Islamic people do, in the real world may well be of concern to us, but a struggle for the soul of a religion is a business of the adherents of that religion, not for the United States military.

Aside from his positions on the specific issues of the war today - surging or withdrawing, this attempt at framing the issue is so divorced from reality that he should not be considered a serious player on a presidential level.

Huh. I admit I haven't followed McCain more than shallowly - I don't think I've sat & listened to an entire speech of his, let alone parsed it. But the impression I'd gotten from MSM (including Fox) coverage of him, at least for the last few years, has been of rather fawning obsequiousness. (there's your SAT word for the day!)

And is this goal advanced, or retarded, by continuing to occupy Iraq, four years after we invaded?

But he did and he has. Repeatedly. He did it again in the VMI speech and in the conference call. From the text of the speech:

We have a long way to go, but for the first time in four years, we have a strategy that deals with how things really are in Iraq and not how we wish them to be.

After my first visit to Iraq in 2003, I argued for more troops. I took issue with statements characterizing the insurgency as a few 'dead-enders' or being in its 'last throes.' I criticized the search and destroy strategy and argued for a counter-insurgency approach that separated the reconcilable population from the irreconcilable. That is the course now followed by General Petraeus, and the brave Americans and coalition troops he has the honor to command.

It is the right strategy. General Petraeus literally wrote the book on counter insurgency. He is a determined, resourceful and bold commander. Our troops, many of whom have served multiple tours in Iraq, are performing with great skill and bravery. But the hour is late and, despite the developments I just described, we should have no illusion that success is certain. But having been a critic of the way this war was fought and a proponent of the very strategy now being followed, it is my obligation to encourage Americans to give it a chance to succeed. To do otherwise would be contrary to the interests of my country and dishonorable.

Of course not, Tano. And for the same reason Lieberman seems so completely off-planet when he discusses Iraq. If he came anywhere near reality, he'd eventually have to criticise Bush for his continual mishandling of every single opportunity to actually accomplish anything in the GWOT. And McCain will never, ever do that - even after getting knifed by the Bush/Cheney/Rove campaign last cycle, he just can't let go of the teat long enough to have a spine anymore.