John McCain: is he lying, or does he have Iraq-zheimer’s disease?

(crossposted at dailykos)

St. John McCain, the little old general and resident maverick turned butt-kissing winger-for-president, told a little whopper, no, a BIG WHOPPER yesteday. In fact, it was so much of a whopper that he might want to get somebody to do a mental status exam on him. After all, when these elderly guys run for president, well…you know…
Anyway, here is the lie, from ThinkProgress:

Today on MSNBC, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) claimed that he knew the Iraq war was “probably going to be long and hard and tough,” and that he was “sorry” for those who voted for the war believing it would be “some kind of an easy task.” “Maybe they didn’t know what they were voting for,” McCain said.

What Johnny ACTUALLY said in the runup to the war: (Not safe for work, if you work at McCain campaign headquarters.)

“Because I know that as successful as I believe we will be, and I believe that the success will be fairly easy, we will still lose some American young men or women.” [CNN, 9/24/02]

“We’re not going to get into house-to-house fighting in Baghdad. We may have to take out buildings, but we’re not going to have a bloodletting of trading American bodies for Iraqi bodies.” [CNN, 9/29/02]

“But the point is that, one, we will win this conflict. We will win it easily.” [MSNBC, 1/22/03]

Wouldn’t be the first time Johnny Mac got caught in a lie.
At best, the old guy has become a world class flipflopper:

* McCain went from saying he would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade to saying the exact opposite.
* McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as “an agent of intolerance” in 2002, but has since decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans “deserved” the 9/11 attacks. (Indeed, McCain has now hired Falwell’s debate coach.)

* McCain used to oppose Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy, but he reversed course in February.

* In 2000, McCain accused Texas businessmen Sam and Charles Wyly of being corrupt, spending “dirty money” to help finance Bush’s presidential campaign. McCain not only filed a complaint against the Wylys for allegedly violating campaign finance law, he also lashed out at them publicly. In April, McCain reached out to the Wylys for support.

* McCain supported a major campaign-finance reform measure that bore his name. In June, he abandoned his own legislation.

* McCain used to think that Grover Norquist was a crook and a corrupt shill for dictators. Then McCain got serious about running for president and began to reconcile with Norquist.

* McCain took a firm line in opposition to torture, and then caved to White House demands.

* McCain gave up on his signature policy issue, campaign-finance reform, and won’t back the same provision he sponsored just a couple of years ago.

* McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he was for it.

* McCain was anti-ethanol. Now he’s pro-ethanol.

* McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag.

* McCain decided in 2000 that he didn’t want anything to do with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, believing he “would taint the image of the ‘Straight Talk Express.’” Kissinger is now the Honorary Co-Chair for his presidential campaign in New York.

Gee.

Maybe John is trying to parse the Iraq stuff here; what he “thought” and what he “said” don’t necessarily have to jibe. But still, I am worried about the old boy. I mean, he’s been through a lot, what with all the buttkissing and all….maybe he should make an appointment…I know that there is a virus, Iraq-zheimers™ going around rightwing circles that causes selective memory loss for the years 2002-2003, but it could be something more serious. Trust me. I’m a doctor.