Who Blinked in the Battle of Basra – According to Tony Snow and John McCain

ThinkProgress listened the appearance of Tony Snow on Bill O’Reilly’s Radio Factor so we didn’t have to. Snow decided to attack the patriotism of the Speaker of the House by making the following false claim:

What happened was the bad guys backed down because they were getting crushed! … Moqtada al-Sadr is in hiding in Iran. That’s how tough it is.

OK – we know Tony Snow lied a lot on Faux News before he joined the White House to tell more lies. While Snow claimed Maliki crushed Sadr in SIX DAYS but ThinkProgress does a nice job of demonstrating how incredibly stupid the spin from Snow really was.

Well – it seems ThinkProgress John McCain on Faux News this morning so we didn’t have to endure this either:

It was al-Sadr that declared the ceasefire, not Maliki … With respect, I don’t think Sadr would have declared the ceasefire if he thought he was winning. Most times in history, military engagements, the winning side doesn’t declare the ceasefire. The second point is, overall, the Iraqi military performed pretty well. … The military is functioning very effectively.

This was truly unbelievable! Do we suggest that Senator McCain would be in the same class of liars as Tony Snow? Maybe this was not mendacity – maybe McCain believes what he said. But if he does, he truly is an idiot. Is the type of candidate that the Republican Party wishes to nominate to be the next Commander-in-Chief?

Update: Juan Cole endorses a discussion Iraq by Frank Rich. Rich details the incredible dishonesty from John McCain. You should read it in full but Cole does provide this short review:

Rich demolishes so many of the myths put out by McCain and the American Right generally. The Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq and the Da’wa Party, which back Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, are closer to Iran than the Sadr Movement. It was al-Maliki’s parliamentary coalition that sought the cease fire by asking their Iranian patrons to broker a ceasefire. The main motivation for the attack on Sadrist neighborhoods in Basra was to ensure that ISCI wins the elections in that key oil province in October. It is so refreshing to see an American commentator who clearly has the facts at hand and a sense of proportion in interpreting them.

I guess Tony Snow will have to question the patriotism of Frank Rich.