Reporting on Dems' "condemn[ation]" of McCain comment, Wash. Times left out McCain's inconsistency

Summary: Reporting on Sen. John McCain's speech about the Iraq war, The Washington Times asserted that "Democrats have condemned Mr. McCain for his 100-year comment, though Mr. McCain was saying Iraq could become a nation like South Korea, where U.S. forces have been stationed for more than 50 years." But the Times did not mention that McCain has been inconsistent on whether U.S. troop's future presence in Iraq would be analogous to that in South Korea.

In an April 8 article discussing Sen. John McCain's April 7 speech on the Iraq war, The Washington Times reported that "Democrats have condemned Mr. McCain for his 100-year comment, though Mr. McCain was saying Iraq could become a nation like South Korea, where U.S. forces have been stationed for more than 50 years guarding the borders of a stable country without insurgents." But the Times did not note that in an interview prior to his "hundred" years remark during a January 3 New Hampshire town hall meeting, McCain dismissed the idea of South Korea being an analogy for a future U.S. troop presence in Iraq. As Media Matters for America noted, on the November 27, 2007, edition of PBS' Charlie Rose, McCain was asked by Rose if South Korea "is an analogy of where Iraq might be ... in terms of an American presence over the next, say, 20, 25 years, that we will have a significant amount of troops there." McCain replied, "I don't think so." Rose then asked: "Even if there are no casualties?" McCain replied, "No. But I can see an American presence for a while. But eventually I think because of the nature of the society in Iraq and the religious aspects of it that America eventually withdraws."

By contrast, as Media Matters noted, during the January 3 town hall meeting, a participant said to McCain: "President Bush has talked about our staying in Iraq for 50 years -- " and McCain interjected: "Maybe a hundred. We've been in South Korea; we've been in Japan for 60 years. We've been in South Korea for 50 years or so. That'd be fine with me as long as Americans -- as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed, then it's fine with me. I hope it would be fine with you if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where Al Qaeda is training, recruiting, and equipping, and motivating people every single day."

During the April 6 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) specifically criticized McCain for making contradictory statements on whether America's future troop presence in Iraq would be analogous to the U.S. presence in South Korea. Kerry cited McCain's interview on Charlie Rose and asserted, "So you have a different John McCain today when he talks about 100 years or a million years."

From the April 8 Washington Times article:

Mr. McCain's Democratic opponents in the presidential race are determined to widen his vulnerability on his close association with the war.

"John McCain was wrong about the war from the beginning," Mr. Obama said yesterday in response to the McCain speech. "He's wrong to call for more resources in Iraq while the American people are struggling, and he's wrong to support a 100-year occupation of a country that needs to take responsibility for its own future."

Democrats have condemned Mr. McCain for his 100-year comment, though Mr. McCain was saying Iraq could become a nation like South Korea, where U.S. forces have been stationed for more than 50 years guarding the borders of a stable country without insurgents.

—M.G.