"I am not embarrassed to tell you that I did not watch the Democrat debate last night," McCain said at the beginning of a town hall meeting in Tyler, Texas.
"But I am told that Senator Obama made the statement that if Al Qaeda came back to Iraq after he withdraws, after American troops are withdrawn, then he would send military troops back if Al Qaeda established a base in Iraq."
McCain, R-Ariz., paused for a beat before continuing on with a hint of sarcasm.
"I have some news," he said. "Al Qaeda is in Iraq! It's called Al Qaeda in Iraq."
He continued, "If we left, they wouldn't be establishing a base. They wouldn't be establishing a base, they'd be taking a country. And I am not going to let that happen, my friends."
But Obama came back and chomped down on McCain's head:
He then launched into a strong retort, "Well, first of all, I DO know that al Qaeda is in Iraq, that's€™s why I've said we should continue to strike al Qaeda targets. But I have some news for John McCain, and that is that there was no such thing as al Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq!" he said.
"I've got some news for John McCain: he took us into war along with George bush that should have never been authorized and should have never been waged."
Obama finished, "I've been paying attention, John McCain! That's the news. So John McCain may like to say he wants to follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell but so far all he's done is follow George Bush into a misguided war in Iraq that's cost us thousands of lives and billions of dollars," he said.
That is exactly how we need to frame the debate on Iraq. Yes, there are terrorists there - but there wouldn't have been terrorists there had Bush, with McCain embedded firmly between his nether cheeks, not invaded Iraq in the first place. The mess in Iraq is firmly Bush's fault, and McCain is going to do nothing but continue Bush's failed policies.
There. McCain's head, in a white wine sauce, wrapped in bacon. Stick a fork in him, he's done.
