Fred Kaplan on that endlessly cheesy press release Sens. McCain and Graham sent out after news of the fall of Tripoli went out last night.
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., issued a truly obnoxious statement today, congratulating “our British, French, and other allies, as well as our Arab partners, especially Qatar and the UAE, for their leadership in this conflict,” adding, almost as an afterthought, “Americans can be proud of the role our country has played in helping to defeat Qaddafi, but we regret that this success was so long in coming due to the failure of the United States to employ the full weight of our airpower.”
First, six months, while longer than most people anticipated (and an eternity in the world of 24-hour cable news), is not a terribly long time for an operation to depose a dictator who’s managed to stay in power for close to 42 years.
Second, if a pair of prominent Democrats had issued such a statement after, say, President George W. Bush helped to oust the Taliban from Afghanistan, they would have been condemned as bitter partisans or worse.
Full article here.
