Steve Benen does the world a service by compiling McCain's ever shifting approach to Iraq:
* In 2005, McCain decided Iraqis resent our military presence, so we should reject a Korea-like model for long-term troop deployment. He insisted that "U.S. 'visibility' was detrimental to the Iraq mission and that Iraqis were responding negatively to America's presence -- positions held by both Obama and Clinton."
* In 2006, McCain reversed course, and embraced the Korea model for a long-term military presence.* In 2007, McCain reversed course again, saying the Korean analogy doesn't work and shouldn't be followed. "[E]ventually I think because of the nature of the society in Iraq and the religious aspects of it that America eventually withdraws," McCain told Charlie Rose last fall.
* And in 2008, McCain reversed course yet again, deciding that we should be prepared to leave troops in Iraq, even if it means 100 years or more.
At each step, McCain was not only convinced that he was absolutely right, but dismissed anyone who dared to disagree with him as uninformed and unreliable.
Now, I should clarify that the point here is not just to embarrass McCain by exposing a spectacular series of flip-flops. Rather, the point is to highlight the fact that McCain apparently doesn't have any idea what he's talking about. He does 180-degree turns without explanation, and then insists that he's been consistent the entire time.
This is why it continues to amaze me that he is considered by anyone to be an expert on foreign policy and war. It would be one thing if he and I simply had a dispute about strategy and tactics. The problem, of course, is that judged over time, McCain doesn't even agree with himself. And worse, no one seems to notice!
UPDATE: And then, of course, there is this:
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