John McCain is still delusional

Top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and 2008 Presidential hopeful John McCain said today that those who support a non binding resolution opposing President Bush's Iraq war strategy are "intellectually dishonest, and "demoralizing."

Aww, so now we're going to hurl insults at people who disagree with us, huh? Wow! That's definitely someone I want to be my President!

McCain said the BIPARTISAN resolution was a demoralizing vote of no confidence.

No, Senator McCain, this illegal war is demoralizing, the fact that George Bush plans to cut domestic spending to fund his illegal war is demoralizing, seeing almost 150 civilians die in Iraq yesterday is demoralizing, seeing one of the worst Presidential administrations in America's history run a muck in Washington is demoralizing, watching the last session of Congress LEAD BY THE REPUBLICANS, mind you, become the most corrupt in American history by far, is demoralizing. However, there is NOTHING demoralizing about opposing this sure-to-be disastrous plan. You sir, are delusional.

McCain pulled a page out of the GOP playbook, saying essentially that to disapprove of the President's plan was to disapprove of the troops.

Via the AP:

"In other words, this is a vote of no confidence in both the mission and the troops who are going over there," he said, noting the proposal does not seek to cut off money for troops.

"I do believe that if you really believe that this is doomed to failure and is going to cost American lives, then you should do what's necessary to prevent it from happening rather than a vote of "disapproval," which is fundamentally a vote of no confidence in the troops and their mission," McCain said.

Of course, as we all know (except for a select few Republicans, including John McCain, apparently), the non-binding resolution proposed by Senator John Warner (R-VA), is being supported by a group of Senators who HAVE proposed alternative plans, but may not all agree on the exact same one.

Chuck Hagel said the Warner resolution strikes a careful balance for a majority of senators who oppose a troop buildup but differ on the appropriate response. If the resolution passes, some Democrats may choose to move forward with stronger measures against the war, he said.

"This is not a cut and run resolution," Hagel said.

He called McCain's proposal meaningless because it offers benchmarks but does not spell out what the U.S. government will do if the Iraqi officials fail to meet them.

[Cross posted on Raising Kaine, and Daily Kos!]