GOP Fantasy World

Speaking to Wolf Blitzer on CNN, Senator John McCain blasted the recently passed Senate bill setting a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq. McCain claimed that the Bush troop surge was working, stridently insisting that Baghdad was now safe for Westerners to roam. When challenged on this claim by Blitzer, McCain adopted what has become a typical conservative stance—I know more than you, you stupid idiot.

But McCain was horribly wrong.

As reporters on the ground in Baghdad continue to point out, the city remains absolutely lethal for Westerners to travel and very little has changed. Some sectarian death squads have moved to outlying areas, but car bombs continue unabated, disappearances are rampant and revenge killings still the norm.

McCain displayed an all-too-familiar Republican mindset. Ignore reality and make up "facts" to fit a wishful fantasy. When challenged, act outraged and indignant...

I wish Baghdad were safer…so I’ll claim that it is.
I wish Global Warming weren’t happening…so I’ll claim it’s a hoax.
I wish we didn’t torture prisoners…so I’ll simply deny it.
I wish we didn’t fire US Attorneys to obstruct justice…so I’ll make up an excuse.
I wish Iraq had something to do with 9/11…so I’ll pretend it did.
I wish Evolution weren’t a scientific fact…so I’ll call it an unproven theory.
I wish Dick Cheney didn't smear Joe Wilson...so I'll lie about it.
I wish we didn’t staff departments with inept cronies…so I’ll ignore their failures.

“Heck of a job, Brownie!”

Republicans used the horror and widespread fear generated by 9/11 to take Americans on a fantasy ride, painting the world in simplified, black-and-white terms while providing rosy, wishful justifications for forcibly remaking the Middle East in our own image.

But their dream has become a nightmare. Six years of lies, distortions, manipulations, failures and scandals have created an atmosphere of distrust and intense scrutiny. When politicians like George Bush, Alberto Gonzales or John McCain make pompous, self-serving and wishful claims, the press and public no longer give them the benefit of the doubt. But Republicans have yet to learn the lesson.

McCain’s statement to Blitzer was either a bold-faced lie or a mistake born of unforgivable ignorance. Either way, Americans are sick of it. Until Republicans prove they have a handle on reality and stop peddling fantasies and half-truths, Americans will punish them in the media and at the ballot box.

Today, Senator John McCain looked like a fool, not a President. And it’s becoming increasingly difficult to imagine him or any other reality-challenged Republican becoming the next President. We should all be so lucky.

- JT Compton