Quotes From Around Yon Blogosphere

You have to hand it to [John] McCain. It's impossible to imagine any of the other Republicans engaging in this kind of extended conversation with a citizen. There was more real debate in this exchange than in any of the so-called real debates.

But what the context shows, I think, is that yanking that sound bite out of context isn't really all that unfair. McCain wants to stay in Iraq until no more Americans are getting killed, no matter how long it takes and how many Americans get killed achieving that goal—that is, the goal of not getting any more Americans killed. And once that goal is achieved, we'll stay.

-- HENDRIK HERTZBERG

And so as long as the hawks persist in not presenting to the public what they're actually talking about, the doves are going to have to use the footage available -- which is McCain talking about 100 or 10,000 rather than eight -- to make the point that in their more candid moments the hawks do concede that they're talking about a long hard slog in Iraq.

-- MATTHEW YGLESIAS

Here's why Republicans are scared to death of this. No one wants to be in Iraq 100 years from now, even if McCain stipulates to the fantasy that Iraqis will be happy having us occupy their country forever and that the place will become like Finland. And none of our soldiers will ever get killed there and it won't cost any money. If that's the explanation for why we shouldn't be concerned that he's happy to stay in Iraq for a century, that just tells people that McCain is living in a fantasy world.

-- JOSH MARSHALL

Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a Barack Obama supporter, apologized to John McCain Tuesday for suggesting to a West Virginia newspaper that the Arizona senator does not care about "the lives of people" caught in the wars he champions, dating back to his Navy service in Vietnam. . . .

"McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit," Rockefeller told the newspaper, which published the article on the interview Tuesday. "What happened when they [the missiles] get to the ground? He doesn’t know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues," he is quoted saying.

On Tuesday, Rockefeller issued a statement, saying, "I have deep respect for John McCain’s honorable and noble service to our country. I made an inaccurate and wrong analogy and I have extended my sincere apology to him."

-- FOX NEWS

Is McCain a moderate, as many believe? He has been called the worst senator in Congress for children by the Children's Defense Fund, rates a zero for his environmental voting record from the League of Conservation voters, and thinks Roe v. Wade should be overturned.

While the public and press are fascinated by the fratricide of the Democrats, John McCain is getting a free ride to the White House. We all know he is a war hero. It's time we learn about the other stuff.

-- DEBORAH LEAVY

SENATOR McCAIN: There are numerous threats to security in Iraq and the future of Iraq. Do you still view al Qaeda in Iraq as a major threat?

GENERAL PETRAEUS: It is still a major threat, though it is certainly not as major a threat as it was, say, 15 months ago.

SENATOR McCAIN: Certainly not an obscure sect of the Shi'ites, all overall, or Sunnis or anybody else.

-- FRANK JAMES

Photograph by Paul Combs/Tribune Media Services