McCain Shifts Position on More US Troops to Afghanistan

Jake,
The media ragged on Obama for his “refine” Iraq policy as being a flip flopper. Why can’t the media call McCain a FLIP FLOPPER for totally CHANGING his Afghanistan policy.
You can see there is a disparity between how the media treats Obama vs McCain.
McCain is the flip flopper on his Afghanistan approach and NO ONE IS CALLING HIM ON IT.

I hate this election.
Obama flip flopped on undivided jerusalem and no mention.

Jeremy,
McCain said he will move troops from Iraq.
McCain said he hopes Petreaus recommend more troops from Iraq.
McCain said the goal of the surge was so iraqis can take over and our troops can come home.

Where the hell is McCain going to get the troops to go in Afghanistan when McCain wants to “win” in Iraq (what ever that means) which may mean staying there for 100 years.

What exactly is McCain talking about when he says “success in Iraq”?? No one has, in seven years clearly defined what the mission is in Iraq. The man is making things up as he goes along, just like George Bush has!!

Can You say FLIP FLOP that’s all he does John “the Flipper” McCain his new campaign slogan should be John McCain “There isn’t an issue I won’t change my mind on, yes there is, no there isn’t ” Or John McCain ” whatever W says “

Wait a minute, you are trying to condemn McCain for changing his war strategy from 2006 two years later? LOL…..Yes, things have changed in 2 years.

and chattyway they showed Keryy footage from 16 yrs prior and said he was a flip floper if you can’t change a position in 16 yrs how can you in just 2 ? don’t you know you can’t change your mind based on new info in American Politics

There should be more NATO troops sent to Afganistan but unfortunatly we cannot get them to step up to the plate. Now like always the US will have to take care of business. McCain is right about NATO troops, but with things faultering in Afganistan his position has changed to send in US troops. No suprise here, sounds like he is going to do the surge agin, this time in Afganistan. I guess Obama has learned his lesson on opposing surges.

One of the things that differentiates the human being from other species is our ability to digest new information and adjust and adapt our point of view because of it. McCain is no more (or less) of a “flip flopper” than any one. The problem with McCain in this instance is, he is urging success in Iraq, when no one has qualified what success might be regarding Iraq. In this way he is guilty of blowing smoke and just mimicking the Bush administration’s ability to say what they like whether it’s true or not and make it up as they go along regardless of the fact that they lost sight of the reality of the situation, long ago.

We have been fighting the WRONG WAR for almost seven years. We shouldn’t find fault with McCain or anyone else for realizing that our enemies are in Afghanistan (and Pakistan).
It’s time to admit Bush’s mistake and exit from Iraq, concentrating on Afghanistan. And we should tell Pakistan that we ARE coming after the enemy forces which take refuge over the border. Musharraf is NOT our “ally”.

What’s scary is not a “flip-flopper.” That is a word made up by the media. Spooky Language everybody!!
What scary is someone whose views are entrenched in what they believe so much so that they wouldn’t be willing to possibly shift their position when new, vital information changes the game.
Not considering new information would be like Bush still fighting the war in Iraq, citing WMD’s, long after it was determined there were none. Oh wait, he did that!!

In either case (Iraq or Afghanistan) we have been fighting the wrong war for 7 years. Osama has been literally missing for those 7 years which means if he were any other person on the planet, he would be considered legally dead by statute by now. Instead of accepting this as we would with any other person who has been missing for this long, we feel it necessary to ratchet up the military presence in a war that has no more real definition to what would qualify it as a success any more than we have for Iraq.
Give up the ghost. The largest, most technologically advance nation and military in history has not so much as reported spotting this guy in 7 years. Do we really have to wage an unending war in some middle eastern equivalent of the 1930′s dust bowl for 7 more years to justify our sense of vengeance and the failure of our leadership to apprehend a man who has succefully alluded the United States president’s promise of his dead or alive capture?? No.

McCain’s latest flip-flop proves Obama’s been right all along.
Will be good to have an intelligent president again. America thanks you, Sen. Obama.

chattyway, not from changing his war plans from two years ago but from a WEEK ago.

Just goes to prove Obama is the leader and McCain is the follower although McCain has been to both Iraq and Afghanistan, he still needs to follow Obama’s stance because McCain doesn’t really know what is happening. McCain is not a good leadaer and not presidential.

fathead check, “Yes, right, nuke ‘em.”
McCain’s the one with the itchy trigger finger, remember, “Bomb, Bomb, Bomb …. Bomb, Bomb Iran”

During the GOP reign, we’ve had the worst national disaster and response in history, the worst terrorist attack on our nation in history, one of the worst and unncessary wars (Iraq) in our history, one of the worst recessions in history, one of the worst financial fraud impacts in history, the worst environmental status in history, the worst educational system in history….should I go on?

if you want more of the same Bush=McCain, then vote against Obama. If you want progress, solutions to real issues both domestic and abroad, vote Obama. Obama has a clear and realistic plan for the economy, clean energy, education, foreign policy, domestic safety and the environment. McCain has admitted he knows very little about the economy and wants war with Iran. He wants no timetable for Iraq, despite the fact that most Americans want out. He basically will take over where Bush left off–a place of dispair and incompetance.

m: Don’t you think you are over stating the crises you say are the worst in history? There have been many wars worse than Iraq. The 911 attacks happened 9 months after Bush became president and was basically set up by a seperation of the CIA and FBI imposed by Clinton. Katrina was setup by placing many people in poverty in a vulnerable city. I cannot believe the Democrats could have done a better job. Have you heard of the Great Depression? I guess you must be a product of the worst educational in history. Rational thinking isn’t part of the curriculum anymore.

McCain Flip-Flopped. Someone should make a list of all of McCain’s Flip – Flops on issues.

I read this story and I can’t see a flip flop. He said he would like more help from NATO. He would like to hear from commanders in Afghanistan. I am sure he would like NATO to step up but you can’t count on anyone else so we have to send in our troops.

Can NO ONE come up with another word besides flip-flop? If this board is any indication of the mentality of the voters in this election, it is no wonder that you think Obama would make a competent leader of this country. Please, be careful what you wish for. Obama is a fraud in every sense of the word.

Obama: Always multiple answers to singular problems!

McCain did not shift position, He is repeating what Sen.Obama has been saying since running for President!!!!

I didnt see a huge change in mccains opinion for Afghanistan he said before if we need to add more troops we will and now he is saying we need more troops the thought is did we always need more troops and he just didnt see this need or did this need just come about?
“In life and warfare, failure breeds failure, success breeds success.”
if he believes this he has already admitted that we have failed. The iraq war was not needed and brought more problems and death than was before and for what? i have yet to have a straight answer as to why we are even in iraq?!!
i would call that a HUGE failure! I think the level of respect and trust we have from other countries vs 8 or 10 years ago is a problem because of failures and our refusal to admit them. but i dont agree that because you fail at one thing that you are doomed to always fail.

Of course McCain flip-flopped, whatever little bit of supposed “maverick” he ever had in him is definitely gone now. He is a weak, pathetic, right-wing patsy who would be VERY dangerous as POTUS.

Obama: Mister ‘never accomplished a single noteworthy thing’.

Look Jeff – I believe only the Truth!

Lisa Again (and Patrick and Jefferey):
You of course realize that the term ‘flip-flop’ was invented by your party, right? We’re just giving you a taste of your own medicine. Only this time, McCain has *actually* changed positions (not just changing them for good reason, mind you, but often denies that he has ever done anything different). Whereas Kerry was labeled so due to a carelessly-worded statement.
See, Democrats (or most anyway), would never have come up with such a shallow, politically-resonant term to derail someone–that’s what Karl Rove was so good at. We’re just retaliating. Feels good, doesn’t it?

McCain has flipped and flopped all over the place and it has been called shifting his position by the media. There has not been fair reporting when it comes to McCain against, then for tax breaks for the wealthy, for, then against his own bill(McCain/Feingold) campaign finance reform, against, then for off shore drilling, against, then for religious right. Republicans have been blindly following Bush while he made sure he screwed up as much as possible. Obama will do nothing blindly, his decisions and actions will be careful and thorough. Something that has been seriously lacking in these pitiful Bush years and we can’t put up with any in the future.

McCain flip flops again. After constantly calling Obama naive, McCain admitted the war on terror front is Afghanistan.
Maybe if McCain could read a teleprompter, he would realize Obama has been arguing this since McCain authorized the war in Iraq.
Obama called it a major mistake to not focus on Afghanistan and the head of Al Qaeda.
This is the most disgusting flip flop I’ve ever seen. McCain should have a “I love to flip flop tattoo” on his forehead.

Obama has been talking about Afghanistan for months now. McCain has been calling him ‘naive’ and ‘inexperienced’ for this stance.
As recent as last April, McCain said Afghanistan poses no problem. All of a sudden, McFlipFlop now embraces Obama’s policy on Afghanistan.
This is even more than just a flip-flop for McBush. It shows he is out of touch on foreign policy, inconsistent in his views, or at least lacking in short term memory.
This shift would suggest that Obama has the better handle on foreign policy, terrorism, and international relationships than does McCain. But, wasn’t foreign policy supposed to be McCain’s strong suit?

I say will all vote for General Custer
Mcbush will set us free..if not in this
World then in the Next….
The US Military should have reported
and got more troops before …
how is it Obama called for it
almost a year before Mcbush?

Hey Millie,
Right, Obama was talking about an increase in troops for Afgahnistan when he was an Illinois state senator voting present all the time. Experience you can count on.
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Obama and trust — don’t count on it.
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Is this now 63 or 64 flip-flops for McCain? I’ve lost track.

Mccain flip flops and the media ignores him.He is so incompetent!

WestCoastMessenger – Experience doesn’t count for much when the principle is wrong. 26 years of experience should have taught McCain better. The concept of doing the same thing over and over and over, hoping for a different outcome doesn’t make it right.
This election is about Judgment. Repeatedly, Obama is showing significantly better judgment on issues than McCain. This most recent flip-flop of McCain’s is just one more in a long line of ‘shifts’. The last thing we need is a POTUS that continues the experience we’ve seen the past 7 years. More of the same isn’t good enough.

West Coast Messenger:
Get your facts straight. Those ‘present’ votes? Yeah, those amounted to maybe 1-3% of his total votes cast, and most of the time–for instance on an anti-abortion bill–that was what the pro-choice groups wanted him to do.

Besides getting more of our troops killed, how will McSame be different than Bush? Is Phil Graham McSame’s brain? Face it..this man is senile and incompetent. After looking stupid to the world the past 8 years, it will be refreshing to have an articulate and intelligent commander that I can be proud of again; one that can at least read a tele prompter.

“He’s never been to Afghanistan, he’s never been briefed on Afghanistan personally by the commanders.” McCain
Based on this reasoning, I suppose Roosevelt should have gone to Poland and France before deciding to enter WWll>

McCain graduated from the US Naval Academy 894th in a class of 899. He wrecked five jets before they finally got rid of him. Obviously he is not the brightest bulb on the tree. He was shot down by an out-of-date Soviet missile by men with no experience in anti-aircraft warfare because he did not follow the rules of evasion taught at the Academy. Let’s just say the man has only one oar in the water.
He disses two in five people on the face of the earth by referring to all Asians as “Gooks.” He may be viewed as a “hero,” but I don’t think being shot down qualifies him for the job of president.

AkaDad – the count on McCain’s flip-flops is now up to 70! Of course, that was yesterday’s total – McCain pulled another one today. The self-professed candidate of “straight talk” and “experience” spent today changing his position on gay adoption, adopting Senator Obama’s position that we need more troops in Afghanistan after having resisted taking that position, flip flopping on whether he’d send U.S. or NATO troops (he actually offered three different explanations on where those additional troops would come from), and referring to a country that hasn’t existed since 1992 for the second time in two days.

AkaDad – As of yesterday McCain’s flip-flops were up to 70. Of course, that was before today. The self-professed candidate of “straight talk” and “experience” spent today changing his position on gay adoption, adopting Senator Obama’s position that we need more troops in Afghanistan after having resisted taking that position, flip flopping on whether he’d send U.S. or NATO troops (he actually offered three different explanations on where those additional troops would come from), and referring to a country that hasn’t existed since 1992 for the second time in two days.

is grandmaisgold.. sandy?
or do they share the same script?
on purpose?

Bush went as President… not as a candidate for office looking for a photo op.
Mccain made a quiet trip to Iraq
around Father’s Day to visit his son.
Most of us weren’t even aware of it until it was over.

At least McCain is smart enough to come around to Obama’s way of thinking.
It may be another flip-flop from the “Double-Talk Express”, but at least it’s George W McCain’s first INTELLIGENT flip-flop.

GOP mass hypnosis is making it’s way through the MSM. War is good, wrong is right, the economy is healthy, health care for the few, fight them over in Iraq….
So many blind, deaf and dumb to choose from the GOP has a large circus tent filled to overflowing.

More flip flopping from the double talk express. What’s new?

Man it must irk John Sydney McCain III that the so-called naive one has been right on foreign policy issues more often than him the last few weeks. The Iraqis want a timetable (JSM III doesn’t), the war commanders want to re-focus on Afghanistan (JSM III just now gets it) and the US and others are talking more to Iran (JSM III just wants to bomb them or kill them with lung cancer). Let’s not even mention that John Sydney McCain III keeps referring to a country that hasn’t existed for 15 years. Man is this guy serious or what?

dl made at comment at 8:40 that made a lot of sense. It is worth reading and thinking about.
As for the topic of this article, McCain is following Obama on sending more troops to Afghanistan. Obama has been saying more troops were needed there for many months. The troops themselves have been saying the same thing in many news articles that they feel forgotten, that their numbers are too few, leaving them open to attack in many situations and unable to make progress.
What McCain doesn’t seem to understand is that is doesn’t take prior military experience to lead an army. It takes someone that is intelligent and willing to listen to the troops, the generals, and good old common sense. Obama has proved over and over he has the ability to make the right calls.

The only “connection” between Iraq and Afghanistan is the total incompetence by the Bush Regime, including Juan McCain, in running both Wars. Iraq has nothing to do with 9/11 or any so called War on Terror. It was supposedly a War of Liberation and to enforce UN Resolutions regarding WMD’s, foreign fighters showed up there as Al Qaeda in Iraq because the U.S. Military was there, the insurgents there have every right to fight against any foreign occupation of their country, they are not Terrorists.
Bush keeps saying that’s it’s better to fight them “over there” instead of here, but does he believe he’s punishing Al Qaeda by making their trainees travel to Iraq, while Bin Laden and other Al Qaeda an Talaban leaders have been practically ignored since Bush abandoned his War on Terror for a War For Oil.
It really doesn’t matter what either Juan or Barrack plan for Iraq now, the Iraqi’s themselves are ready to kick us out and then move forward with becoming a new Iranian State. Hundreds of Billions of U.S. Taxpayer dollars, borrowed from China, and more than 4000 American lives, all spent in aiding Iran.

West coast mess
You need help first of all hillary lost understand that second hillary voted yes to the war in iraq so that should tell where her judgement was during the primaries i never heard hillary speak about afghan the taliban or none of that face it obama has been right all along he has good judgment hes willing to listen to our military that is the kinds of things we need as potus obama 08