By all rights this should be the endgame.

But it won't be. Because people are stupid.

Remember how the Iraqi Prime Minister endorsed Obama's Iraq plan? And remember how this Carpetbagger Report article snidely commented, "I can’t wait for a) McCain to explain why Maliki’s opinion about events in his own country don’t matter; and b) the media to explain to me why this is good news for McCain."

Well! McCain explained why Maliki's opinion doesn't matter. An insightful and entertaining account is here, and they include his Today Show appearance.

McCain answered, “I have been there too many times. I’ve met too many times with him, and I know what they want.”

Y'know. More than Maliki. Who is an Iraqi. And their democratically-elected Prime Minister, to hear talk of him. And more than Iraq's government spokesman, who also endorsed Obama's timeline. Mind you, this is the same guy who--after pressure from the US--claimed that the remarks were misinterpreted and inaccurate. Seems he subsequently grew a pair and is hopping on with the PM. Damn uppity towelheads, demanding the national sovereignty we promised them. What'll they think of next? *eyeroll*

Contrast this with the statement he made in 2004 that if the Iraqis really wanted us out, we'd have to go.

"I think it's obvious that we would have to leave because -- if it was an elected government of Iraq, and we've been asked to leave other places in the world. If it were an extremist government then I think we would have other challenges, but I don't see how we could stay when our whole emphasis and policy has been based on turning the Iraqi government over to the Iraqi people."

Enough, Senator McCain. Just cut it the fuck out. Admit you've lost the foreign policy battle, and that it's the only one you were fighting in the first place. It's done.

As Spencer Ackerman commented, "There's nowhere left for McCain to go here. Either he endorses a timetable for withdrawal, which he has consistently said would be a disaster, and cedes his only big issue to Obama -- and more importantly, concedes that Obama's judgment is sound -- or he deliberately ignores the concerted, expressed wishes of the Iraqi government in order to prolong an unpopular war."