Coming Soon: John McCain's Georgia Miracle
The announcement this morning that Russia will halt its military operations in Georgia will almost certainly be followed by another. No doubt, the McCain campaign and its conservative amen corner will claim that John McCain's tough talk is responsible for it. As with the July release of Colombian hostages and the recent dip in oil prices, Team McCain will claim the credit.
While it remains far from clear whether President Medvedev's declaration about stopping the Russia offensive in Georgia will lead to a status quo ante, there's no question the Republican echo chamber will insist McCain's words made all the difference in giving Moscow pause.
To be sure, the media began priming the pump days ago. On Saturday, the Politico announced the 'invasion of Georgia "a 3 A.M. moment." This morning, ABC News picked up the line, asking and answering, "Russia-Georgia: McCain's 3 A.M. moment?" ABC parroted the Wall Street Journal's claim that the crisis offered "John McCain standing to benefit and Barack Obama facing a more perilous situation" and concluded:
For McCain, R-Ariz., it's a double whammy: He gets to highlight his experience, plus put some space between himself and President Bush. (Remember those letters McCain saw when he looked into Putin's eyes? McCain wants you to.)
Over at the Washington Post, George Will reminded voters that, unlike President Bush, McCain said "he has looked into Putin's eyes and seen 'a K, a G and a B.'"
Of course, John McCain and his campaign have said a lot of things about Russia, many of them confused, contradictory and some downright dangerous. (Some of them may have even been plagiarized.) Going back to last fall, for example, McCain insisted he would expel Russia from the G8. But by May, the Arizona Senator announced Russia would be a key partner in nuclear non-proliferation efforts, especially when it came to Iran. And in June, when the consensus of foreign policy analysts was that McCain's plan to boot Moscow from the G8 was not merely practically impossible, it was just plain "dumb," the McCain campaign backtracked. As Reuters reported, an anonymous McCain aide insisted:
He also dismissed McCain's comment last October on Russia and the G-8 as "a holdover from an earlier period," adding: "It doesn't reflect where he is right now."
But by late July, McCain told ABC's George Stephanapolous that his on-again/off-again pledge to eject Russia from the G8 was back on.
Still, the McCain camp's coming declaration that the seeming salvation of Georgia was solely due to the warnings by Mr. Straight Talk won't be its first proclamation of a McCain-induced miracle.
When the Colombian government in early July staged a daring rescue of hostages held by FARC rebels, Team McCain and its allies were quick to conclude that McCain's coincidental visit had something to do with it. As Fox News' Steve Harrigan put it, "So there really might be a connection between the high-level visit of the former prisoner of war, John McCain himself, and the release now of three American prisoners here in southern Colombia." On July 9, the McCain campaign's official blogger Michael Goldfarb made the case as well:
"Meanwhile, McCain goes to Colombia and a bunch of hostages are freed from a terrorist group in a daring raid. Read into that what you will."
Then there's the recent retreat of oil prices from their record highs. Despite the acknowledgements in June from both McCain himself and chief economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin that the near-term benefits from offshore drilling would only be "psychological," Team McCain now claims his words worked their magic on the market. Having given their past rigid belief in supply and demand, conservatives like Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) pointed to the voodoo-like power of words alone. "Gas prices have gone down," he said, "and they've gone down in part because the market is realizing that this kind of pressure from the Congress may actually cause a change in American policy." And according to John McCain, the immaculate reduction in oil prices is due to mere words alone:
"My friends, all Americans, most Americans want us to drill. And by the way when the President announced he was lifting the federal moratorium the price of a barrel of oil went down."
And so it goes. The McCain campaign will insist that developments in Georgia were shaped by the keen judgment and steely determination of the man from Arizona. No doubt, McCain's wonder-working words will be the subject of an E.F. Hutton-style campaign ad coming soon to a screen near you: When John McCain speaks, people listen.
UPDATE: In York, Pennsylvania today, McCain declared, "We are all Georgians."
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that the near-term benefits from offshore drilling would only be "psychological,"
And he was correct, there has been no new drilling, no new supply, just the fact that the signal has been sent to the market that we are willing to drill has affected prices.
Posted by dualdiagnosis on August 12, 2008 7:57 PM