Cafferty on McCain

Jack Cafferty is one of the dimmer political commentators on cable. His daily 'Cafferty File' segments are selective not only in the topics they cover, but also in the perspective that's used to frame those topics. That he's on the air at the same time the latest CNN self-delusional moniker 'No Bias, No Bull' is at the bottom of the screen to describe the network's political coverage is especially rich, since Cafferty personifies the opposite of both.

Yesterday, Cafferty went Terrible-2s even for him. In a speech yesterday, John McCain suggested that Barack Obama's Iraq strategy was premature because Obama hasn't yet had substantive talks with military commanders and diplomats in the field. McCain argued that developing a sound strategy requires engagement with those who will in a hands-on way carry out the strategy. He said that talking with the implementers of strategy needs to come before developing a hardened strategy in order for that strategy to be informed by the facts and realities on the ground.

This segment of McCain's speech was played by CNN, and then Wolf Blitzer cut to Cafferty. Cafferty then proceeded to go on a diatribe, proclaiming that McCain's position was absurd. Cafferty said that it is silly for McCain to suggest that nobody is allowed to have any opinions about Iraq unless they've first talked to Petraeus and Crocker. Sounds great right? Wrong.

First, it is hardly surprising that Cafferty said what he said. Cafferty himself has never visited Iraq or talked with anyone on the ground about what's really going on. Yet, he has plenty of opinions about the war. Of course he thinks it's ridiculous that nobody is allowed any opinions about Iraq unless they've talked to the folks on the ground, because he is one of those people (and it shows). Cafferty's diatribe was more about self-justification than anything else.

Second, Cafferty completely distorted what McCain said. McCain did not say people weren't entitled to opinions or ideas about Iraq if they've never set foot in Iraq. That's a blowhard distortion by Cafferty. What McCain did say is that someone who plans to be commander-in-chief might want to talk to those he is commanding before strongly committing to a strategy that may or may not reflect realities on the ground. This isn't about having or not having opinions about Iraq. It's about properly exercising one's duties as commander-in-chief - duties which are extremely weighty and consequential.

For either Cafferty or Obama to suggest that a president with a non-military background should unilaterally impose a military strategy without first consulting his military commanders is the exact kind of authoritarian top-down gung-ho policy that both of them never cease accusing the current president of employing to the detriment of the country. The irony is delicious; the wisdom is sorely lacking.