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McCain Doubles DownHe's not just pro-war, he's anti-Democrat.

By John DickersonPosted Wednesday, April 11, 2007, at 6:42 PM ET

Sen. John McCainToday, John McCain did the full Cheney. In his speech at the Virginia Military Institute in which he laid out his extensive support for the war in Iraq, the Arizona senator matched the vice president's scorn for his political opponents. McCain said Democrats who oppose the president's plans for Iraq are not just wrong on the facts but are seeking "advantage in the next election" and "the temporary favor of the latest public opinion poll."

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A lot of people have written about McCain's visit to Liberty University after calling Jerry Falwell an "agent of intolerance" as the ultimate act of sucking up to his party's conservative base. Yes, but that was a single visit. McCain has hardly become a flamboyant panderer on abortion, gay marriage, or stem-cell research. With today's speech, however, McCain can no longer be said to be holding much red meat for the right in reserve.

What's new here is obviously not McCain's unhedged support for the war. He's talked about that at length. What makes this speech different is the full-force, no-caveats attack on his opponents. It went beyond attacking policy inconsistencies—such as the fact that Democrats voted to confirm Gen. David Petraeus as Iraqi commander but against his plan for action—or raising questions about how opponents of the war would deal with the chaos following an American withdrawal. It repeatedly questioned not just their views but their motives, ending with a moving story about a heroic Navy SEAL officer whose bravery McCain juxtaposes with those seeking "temporary political advantage."

Seventy-five percent of Republicans still support Bush on the war. They also like to see their party fighting back. (That's why Bush picked the fight with Democrats by handing a recess appointment of Swiftboat Veterans backer Sam Fox.) The question the McCain camp wants Republican voters asking is whether Mitt Romney or even dream candidate Fred Thompson has the personal experience or military background to win the war while simultaneously whomping on Democratic opponents.

Will Republicans buy the aggressive posture? They distrust McCain in part because Democrats have often said he's their favorite Republican. But it's certainly easier for McCain to win them over on the war than it would be on social issues, the way Romney is trying to do. McCain has the advantage of believing what he is saying on this subject quite passionately. He does believe in the surge, and in Gen. Petraeus, and in doing what it takes to win the war, even if it means sending a lot more troops. Lest there be any doubt about his sincerity, McCain's son Jimmy is about to be deployed as a Marine.

Throughout the speech, McCain is judicious about his military assessments. Though there are signs of progress, victory is not certain, he says. If victory is ever achieved, it will be bloody and costly. He knows, he says, the cost of listening to politicians and military leaders who are too optimistic. He even recites the wildly rosy predictions made by Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney to prove that, despite his view that the surge is working, he's not delusional.

When it comes to talking about his political opponents, though, there are no caveats. Even President Bush, not a man known for seeing the world in shades of gray, regularly throws a line into his Iraq speeches to the effect that while he disagrees with Democrats and their policies, he doesn't question their motivations. McCain not only questions, he draws a conclusion. Democrats are motivated not by their beliefs and judgment but by sheer, cynical politics. (This goes further than Cheney, who explained to Rush Limbaugh about Democrats: "I don't want to question everybody's motives.")

This choice has costs. McCain has said he'd rather win the war than the election, and his supporters argue that he's trying to wake people up about the situation the country is in. But politicizing the issue so blatantly is likely to polarize the debate further and make McCain's task of selling a bigger commitment in Iraq even harder. By giving Democrats the finger, he helps them consolidate not just their anti-war base but everyone who doesn't see the issue of America's disastrous occupation of Iraq as a battle between the righteous and the grasping.

In New Hampshire and Michigan, independent voters can cast ballots in the Republican primary, and in 2000, they helped McCain win in both places. But independents don't like the war or the troop surge, and these days they have strong negative feelings about the Republican Party. They also tend to balk at talk that seems excessively political. McCain truly may care more about winning the war than winning the election. But at the moment, he looks poised to lose both.

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John Dickerson is Slate's chief political correspondent and author of On Her Trail. He can be reached at . Follow him on Twitter.

Photograph of Sen. John McCain by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

COMMENTS

Remarks from the Fray:

As long as John McCain advocates The Left's ideals, he is a media darling. A man of the people. A voice in the Republican wilderness. No one "from the other side of the aisle" questions that McCain is sincere in his beliefs. Both parties can agree that one of McCain's greatest qualities is speaks his mind and stands by his words. Yet the moment he expresses ideas that don't ape the populist line, Mr. Dickerson writes McCain is unreasonable and damned to lose the affection of the people, and most assuredly, any chance of election.

John McCain believes in America and her military; he is a product of that fine institution. He learned to depend on his fellow man's word and others lived and died on McCain's. He bet his own life on a code of honor and an understanding of history that demonstrated that America was a righteous country. He is willing (and mightily proud) to send his son off to war because he still believes America is a light unto other nations. McCain retains his faith that America has the moral authority to act with forthrightness and bravery. Despite much caterwauling from the media and a poorly informed public, he knows America has the intestinal fortitude to keep her commitments. He is not blind to the costs, but he is not willing to buy into the false comfort of "peace at any price."

Clearly, McCain, a harsh critic of this Administration, sees that the war has been run without proper foresight or management, but he believes that given a chance he can correct this sorry state of affairs. He is not willing to wait until his ass is the one to warm the chair in the Oval Office; he is offering suggestions now, no matter the political costs. Unlike The Boy President, he is not governing by consulting Dick Morrison and his polls. Unlike Bush II, McCain is not looking at a ledger to see what political capitol he has to spend; he is speaking up for what he believes in. Our government would be better run if more people did likewise.

John Dickerson questions the integrity and wisdom of McCain's position. Suspicion is a healthy thing in all men, and this is especially so in one who deals with politicians on a daily basis, but it is also healthy and wise to remember not everyone in the pig pen that is covered with mud is a swine. Sometimes the farmer needs to get in there too. McCain is a man among pigs.

--IMKessel

(To reply, click here.)

Democrats question the motives for invading Iraq all the time, even though the Senate unanimously voted to change Saddam's regime in 1998, before Bush was even in office.

Keeping that in mind, questioning the motives (and sanity/honesty) of the Democrats is absolutely fair game. What credibility would the United States have if something the Senate unanimously decided to do just 9 years ago is now something the president tricked us into doing? That's horseshit, and it's an abdication of responsibility.

When we pull out of Iraq, the US becomes a nation that refuses to even try to keep it's word. That refuses to even try to confront brutal dictators. That walks away from every genocide, even the ones it creates!

--Madai

(To reply, click here.)

As an Arizona Republican who has never voted for McCain, I think you should know about how McCain treats local political critics.

After his power in AZ was totally consolidated, he faced opposition in primary elections more than once. Each time, he took legal steps to have an opponent removed from the ballot. If this did not work, he would do the LBJ trick and pretend that there was no opponent. All this when there wasn't a snowball's chance in Phoenix of beating McCain.

I have always been suspicious of McCain's arrogance and political thin skin. I think if you pricked him, he would deflate immediately. I don't question his military credentials, but other than McCain-Feingold, I don't see much accomplished in all his years in Washington.

--rustysaint

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