"McCain's '100 Years': The Democrats' War On The Truth"

"You might have heard from the New Hampshire Democratic Party and Democratic Presidential candidates that Sen. John McCain wants 100 more years of war in Iraq. It is not even remotely true -- and they know it." -- The Union Leader

"McCain's '100 Years': The Democrats' War On The Truth"EditorialThe Union LeaderApril 6, 2008

You might have heard from the New Hampshire Democratic Party and Democratic Presidential candidates that Sen. John McCain wants 100 more years of war in Iraq. It is not even remotely true -- and they know it.

On Jan. 3 in Derry, Sen. McCain was asked about President Bush's comment that U.S. forces could be in Iraq for as many as 50 years. Here is McCain's response:

"Make it a hundred ... We've been in Japan for 60 years. We've been in South Korea for 50 years or so. That would be fine with me, as long as American, as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed.

"It's fine with me and I hope it would be fine with you if we maintained a presence in a very volatile part of the world where al-Qaida is training, recruiting and equipping and motivating people every single day."

McCain thinks it would be OK to keep American forces in Iraq to serve as a deterrent against al-Qaida -- as long as "Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed." That means, obviously, their presence would be maintained there in the absence of war.

Yet here are how the Democrats are characterizing his comments:

"John McCain Supports a 100-Year War in Iraq at the Expense of NH's Families" -- State Democratic Party press release, March 19.

"John McCain offers ... a 100 year war in Iraq." -- State Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley, March 31.

"(McCain) says that he is willing to send our troops into another hundred years of war in Iraq." -- Sen. Barack Obama, Feb. 19.

Zachary Roth of Columbia Journalism Review wrote last week, "Obama is seriously misleading voters -- if not outright lying to them -- about exactly what McCain said."

So is State Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley. We contacted Buckley last week. We provided him a link to McCain's actual statement and one to Factcheck.org's conclusion that the Democratic Party is being misleading when it asserts that McCain wants 100 years of war in Iraq.

His response? He said "the American people are not interested in fancy word smithing. The bottom line is that John McCain thinks it is acceptable to have our troops in Iraq for 100 years."
Buckley calls being accurate "fancy word smithing." Incredible. And he doesn't even have the excuse of being under sniper fire at the time.

Read The Editorial From The Union Leader