The biggest flip flop

 After building its third cycle case for continuing the war in Iraq on the premise of democracy building and nurturing the spirit of Iraq' sovereignty, the Bush Administration and its heir apparent in the Republican Party, John McCain, now are pooh-poohing Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki statement that there needs to be a time table for withdrawing foreign troops. The matter came up as Maliki was working with U.S. to decide the rules of how the two countries will divide power there once the U.N. resolution that currently (ostensibly) governs the relationship ends Dec. 31.

 The New York Times carried a report from the pool reporter of McCain's response to Maliqi's statement, "Mr. McCain said it was the same as when Iraqi officials said recently that they doubted an agreement with the United States could be struck over the status of American forces. “Prime Minister Malki, is, has got his, he is a leader of a country,’’ Mr. McCain said, according to a pool report. “And I am confident that he will act, as the president and foreign minister have both told me in the last several days, that it will be directly related to the situation on the ground, just as they have always said. And since we are succeeding and then I am convinced, as I have said before, we can withdraw and withdraw with honor, not according to a set timetable. And I’m confident that is what Prime Minister Maliki is talking about since he has told me that for the many meetings we have had.”

 What an outrageous comment to continue to trumpet his experience over Obama in visiting with the Iraq leaders, and then whittling statements to peg them into his stance. McCain faces the prospect of flipping for a third or forth time on why we are in Iraq and why he supports a war against the Iraqi people or flopping over his insistence that he will react to the "situation on the ground." That by the way is my favorite silly expression that has come out of the war debate "Troops on the ground; commanders on the ground; conditions on the ground." Where else would they be? 

 The scariest part of this most recent exchange is that McCain once again, even as he is twisting agonizingly in the air, is promising by his actions to be another leader who cannot bring himself to say that he makes mistakes or finds new facts to change his view.

 This reluctance is partially our fault in the media because we are so punishing when we discover someone has changed his or her mind. And we do not discriminate between changing a stance based on new evidence or reformed thinking versus shifting and flipping for political expediency. 

 Voters and the media that serve them must all do a better job of educating ourselves on the difference between rethinking or better explaining old positions in the face of new information and morphing ever more often to capture a few extra votes.