Laying the Groundwork

Manifesto

John McCain says:

By the way, a lot of us are also very concerned about the possibility of a, quote, "Tet Offensive." You know, some large-scale tact that could then switch American public opinion the way that the Tet Offensive did.

It is an interesting comment given that, as others have pointed out, a newly released poll shows that 63% of Americans want a timetable to withdraw from Iraq by 2008.

Obviously, McCain is delusional and blinded so much by his own rhetoric and beliefs that he ignores that fact that he is in the minority now. But I can't help to think that McCain is laying the groundwork for the next in the long line of excuses for why "we" lost Iraq. After the Tet Offensive, conservatives and Viet Nam war supporters made no bones about who was responsible for losing the war. General Westmorland, Commander of US forces in Viet Nam from 1964-1968, wrote in his memoir:

The war still could have been brought to a favorable end following the defeat of the enemy's Tet Offensive. But this was not to be. Press and television had created an aura, not of victory, but defeat.

Why do I think that McCain will include a similar statement in his memoir after the inevitable failure of the "surge"?