House Homeland Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) said Thursday he would have responded differently than former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) to a question about authorizing an invasion of Iraq given the information available today.
“You think he would be prepared for that question,” McCaul said at a Christian Science Monitor Breakfast. “But I would have answered it differently.”
McCaul went on to argue that the real question is not really about invading Iraq today given the information available.
“I think the question is: you can’t change the past. You can try to learn from the past but you can’t changed what happened. The question is how you deal with Iraq in the present?” McCaul said. “I would have had a Status of Forces agreement. That was a mistake too. We had bad intelligence, that was a mistake as well. But dealing with it today, how are you going to stabilize that region? Can we afford to leave it destabilized?”
The Homeland Security Committee chairman did not, however, give a straight answer on whether he would authorize an invasion given the information available now.
McCaul’s comments come after a week where Bush was in the national spotlight for his comments on Iraq; first saying that he would have authorized an invasion given the information available today, then that he misheard the question, and finally that he would not have authorized an invasion.
Other declared and likely 2016 presidential candidates pounced on Bush. Most of the field said they would not have authorized an invasion, contrary to Bush’s initial comment. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) jabbed Bush for not answering the question “simply and directly.”
Photo credit: Michael Bonfigli/The Christian Science Monitor
Another guy not busy sucking up to Jeb Bush for a job post-2016. He is toast.
We did have a Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq. GWB signed off on it. It stated we would be out by 2011. Blaming Obama for that one is a mistake, Michael. But it’s one you won’t ever admit to.
And more importantly, JEB continues to be bringing up the rear in polling. PPP’s recent polling in Washington has him only above Christie, with Walker once again holding pretty steady as the leader. Every state poll I am seeing keeps saying this same story, and it gets markedly worse once you dive into the cross tabs. Walker not only always has the lead, he has a bigger lead with voters that identify as “more conservative”, i.e. the ones most likely to vote in primaries. And JEB continually has horrible favorable numbers, being upside down in every poll I have seen so far.
I think the biggest problem for him in his handling of the Iraq question with multiple answers, is it raises concerns that many have that are on the fence about him being a squish. The base is deeply suspicious of him concerning Common Core and Immigration, and if they see him changing his answers daily on what everyone considers such an easy question, then it only reinforces the notion that they can’t trust him on those positions, either.
Please elaborate with some details, Mr. Chairman.
“The base is deeply suspicious of him concerning
Common Core and Immigration, and if they see him changing his answers
daily on what everyone considers such an easy question, then it only
reinforces the notion that they can’t trust him on those positions,
either.”
True. Jebya is never going to convince the GOP base that he is one of them. With his Iraq non-answer he has doomed any prospects he might have had. Now both the base and the establishment wings (can’t even answer a question he should have seen coming for 12 years) have reason to distrust him.