McCain and Political Posturing

It should be obvious to anyone that read my previous post on the McCain/Lieberman plan for Iraq that I whole-heartedly reject the suggestion that political scheming is behind McCain's calls for increased trooop strength.

But as I browse the various blog postings on this topic, I see that many bloggers believe that McCain's plan is politically motivated. To those individuals, I reccommend this article from Newsweek examining the differing approaches to Iraq as embodied by Senators John McCain and Chuck Hagel. This article is something of a psychological character study of the two men, and provides some solid answers about why McCain is proposing this course of action.

But one passage, in particular, should clear up the question about whether or not McCain supports sending young men and women into harm's way to further his presidential ambitions.

McCain can sound a little matter-of-fact about sending young people off to combat, but he marches to a different drummer than most Americans. His 18-year-old son Jimmy, a newly enlisted Marine, may soon be deployed to Iraq, the fourth-generation McCain to go to war.

Without being overly dramatic, McCain has some credibility when he talks about the sacrifices that will be required if his plan is adopted by the Administration. I find it impossible to believe that he is playing politics with the lives of the young men and women in the military.