Barbara Boxer Remembers McCain’s Dreadful Iraq Prediction

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., questions General Motors CEO Mary Barra, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 2, 2014, before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee. The committee is lo... Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., questions General Motors CEO Mary Barra, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 2, 2014, before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee. The committee is looking for answers from Barra about safety defects and mishandled recall of 2.6 million small cars with a faulty ignition switch that's been linked to 13 deaths and dozen of crashes. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) MORE LESS
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Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) said Thursday that she doesn’t put much stock in Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) perspective on the unraveling situation in Iraq.

She learned plenty about the Arizona senator’s expertise on the subject after Congress voted to give George W. Bush authorization to use military force against Saddam Hussein’s regime.

During an interview Thursday with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, Boxer, who voted against the Iraq War resolution in 2002, recalled a conversation she had with McCain around that time.

“Listen, I’m happy to listen to John McCain because I like him as a person. But if anyone — anyone — is to tell us what to do, it’s not him,” Boxer said. “He told me when I was very worried, after I had voted no on the Iraq War, and it was going on and on. He said to me, he was so sweet about it, he said, ‘This thing’s going to be over in three to six months.’ And that’s what Rumsfeld said. That’s what they all said. They were wrong.”

“Andrea, if you took your car into a mechanic and he destroyed the whole car and you couldn’t even turn it on, you wouldn’t go back to the same mechanic when there’s a problem,” she added.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) likewise dismissed McCain’s credibility on Iraq earlier this month and questioned why the 2008 GOP presidential nominee continues to get so much airtime.

“Why does the news media go to John McCain to ask him any time there’s anything happening because you know he’s going to be, ‘go to war, send troops,'” Meeks said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

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Notable Replies

  1. BURN.

    (I’m being more descriptive)

  2. Avatar for jsfox jsfox says:

    When asked if Iraqis were going to greet us as liberators, he answered, “Absolutely.” He said, “Post-Saddam Hussein Iraq is going to be paid for by the Iraqis” with their oil wealth (the war ended up costing the American taxpayer upwards of $2 trillion). And my favorite: “There is not a history of clashes that are violent between Sunnis and Shias, so I think they can probably get along.”

    The conflict between Sunnis and Shiites is the central dynamic of the Iraq conflict, of course. Yet today, the media once again seek out John McCain’s wisdom and insight on Iraq, which is kind of like saying, “Jeez, it looks like we might be lost — we really need to ask Mr. Magoo for directions.”

    PlumLine

  3. Poor Johnney…only Butters is still his friend. But they can still dress up in their army clothes together and wear their viet-nam era flack jackets in Johnney’s back yard and reminisce about the days when people were willing to go to war on his lies.

  4. “Why does the news media go to John McCain to ask him any time there’s anything happening because you know he’s going to be, ‘go to war, send troops,’” Meeks said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

    Yes it does! Nobody’s crashed more jets—I mean, knows more about war, than Biggles McCain. Nobody!!

  5. questions to JM should be limited to the following:

    1. Have you eaten today?

    2. Have you had a BM today?

    3. Have you taken your medicine?

    4. Is the TV loud enough?

    5. Is it warm enough for you?

    anything else is a waste.

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