McCain goes all squishy on Press the Meat

McCain has been very busy over the last few weeks trying to show the Bush Republicans that he's willing to play ball with them, seeing as how he wants the presidential nomination so bad. That means completely backing off his reputation as "Mr. Integrity."

I think this bit of pussyfooting is enough to earn him something I just made up-- a coveted Chicken 'n Waffle Award! Mmmm.... a Harlem classic.

Here he is with Russert yesterday saying that it's "inappropriate" to voice his views on the administration's policies.

SEN. McCAIN: I--look, progress has been made in many parts of the country. In the north, it's relatively peaceful. Most of the areas in the south, there's significant progress. The Sunni triangle continues to be a problem. I hate to look at casualties and attacks and those kinds of numbers because then you get into the numbers game which isn't always accurate. I believe that this election on December 15 will be important. Iraqi people have a government that they elected. And I believe that you can see continued progress. Look, I'm very nervous about the future. I do believe we've made progress. I think it was a terrible mistake when we didn't have enough troops there and we paid a very heavy price in American blood and treasure because of the secretary of defense's failure to recognize the obvious and that was...

MR. RUSSERT: Isn't that the president's failure? He's the commander in chief.

SEN. McCAIN: Well, I--all of the responsibility lies in everybody in positions of responsibility. Serious mistakes are made in every war. Serious mistakes were made in this one, but I really believe that there is progress being made, that we can be guardedly optimistic but I think we have to understand that it's very, very tough and hard. (. . .)

MR. RUSSERT: Do we need fresh look [sic], fresh eyes? Do we need a new defense secretary, in your mind?

SEN. McCAIN: I don't know. That's up to the president. The president is the one who decides who he wants to be established...

MR. RUSSERT: Would you recommend it?

SEN. McCAIN: No. Because--I can't recommend it because it's up to the president. I've had strong disagreements with the defense secretar--secretary of defense, but it's not good for anybody for me to get in open confrontation with the secretary of defense. I've had disagreements, but I don't think it's appropriate for--it's the president who decides who serves him.