Iraq withdrawal: Obama's plan leaves McCain in precarious position

Iraq withdrawal: Obama's plan leaves McCain in precarious position
Is Nouri al-Maliki taking sides in the US presidential elections?
July 21, 2008 12:24 PM
The Barack Obama camp must be delighted: a German newspaper is sticking to its story that the Iraqi prime minister is backing the Democratic presidential candidate's timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq - a stance that embarrasses the Bush administration and scuppers John McCain's line.

The row about what Nouri al-Maliki said to Der Speigel is going Obama's way and creating the perfect backdrop to a world tour designed to boost his foreign policy credentials.

The Iraqi prime minister was quoted on Saturday as saying: "Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal."

This clearly annoyed the Bush administration, which has repeatedly refused to set out a timetable for withdrawal and described such an exercise as arbitrary.

But last week, Bush moved closer to Obama's line by agreeing with Maliki to the vaguer "general time horizon" for withdrawing troops.

more:http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/2008/07/iraq_withdrawal_obamas_plan_le.html

With as bad a shape the republicans are in it makes no sense to me that they will run McCain in the general. My take is that they will let it go as far as the convention and work out a backroom deal (Or maybe just screw McCain, which I wouldn't put it past them)and we will find that Romney, or someone similar to him, is nominated. They get to distance themselves from bush, will get all the free media hoopla about the change in events, and excite the base. It will all be about marketing the young, good looking wasp to the independent voters.
At least that's what I would do. They have way too much to lose to let it ride on McCain.
It is their only shot and the public will be played for the fools they usually are with the corporate media's help.

"Yo time is up!" as Limbaugh likes to say.