http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/03/27/michael-ware-i-dont-know-what-part-of-neverland-senator-mccain-is-talking-about/

"According to McCain, the surge is working! and the streets of Baghdad are safe for Americans to go strolling down. "


http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/01/mccain-iraq-stroll/
He was accompanied by “100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead.” Still photographs provided by the military to NBC News seemed to show McCain wearing a bulletproof vest during his visit.

If this is going to be the republican candidate litmus test -- pro-war regardless of actual outcomes -- then bring on the election!

Apparently, in 2001, he entered in negotiations with the Democratic party for several months about switching party affiliation to D.

Ah, the neo-con spin machine is in high gear.

Which you can tell, by the number of words they leave off of their implication sentences.

For instance "The streets of Bagdad are safe to walk down!" (implied, but left off -- IF you have 100 marines around you, are wearing a flak jacket, and have a couple of helo's over head).

So this is some neo-con redefintion of the word "safe", isn't it?

On the other hand, apparently they didn't really NEED all those extra resources, because nothing happened.  Yay.  Except now we have to explain yet again the function of "Deterrence".

>Representative Mike Pence, an Indiana Republican, said the Shorja market was “like a normal outdoor market in Indiana.”

>“What are they talking about?” Ali Jassim Faiyad, the owner of an electrical appliances shop in the market, said Monday. “The security procedures were abnormal!”

>The delegation arrived at the market, which is called Shorja, on Sunday with more than 100 soldiers in armored Humvees — the equivalent of an entire company — and attack helicopters circled overhead, a senior American military official in Baghdad said. The soldiers redirected traffic from the area and restricted access to the Americans, witnesses said, and sharpshooters were posted on the roofs. The congressmen wore bulletproof vests throughout their hourlong visit.

>“They paralyzed the market when they came,” Mr. Faiyad said during an interview in his shop on Monday. “This was only for the media.”

>Mr. McCain was asked about a comment he made on a radio program in which he said that he could walk freely through certain areas of Baghdad.

>“I just came from one,” he replied sharply. “Things are better and there are encouraging signs.”

>He added, “Never have I been able to go out into the city as I was today.”

The people that live there don't get 100 troops to guard them, nor several helicopters to provide air cover.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/world/middleeast/03mccain.html?ex=1333252800&en=6d4cc90785eb9d17&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss