Joe Klein jumps on John McCain's comment that if we left Iraq al-Qaeda might possibly end up "taking a country:"

The sadness here is that McCain knows better. He knows the complexities of the world, and the region. But I suspect he's overplaying his Iraq hand in order to win favor with the wingnuts in his party. That is extremely unfortunate: As McCain should know better than anyone, it is extremely dishonorable for politicians to play bloody-shirt games when the nation is at war.

Don't all of Klein's gripes apply equally to Barack Obama and his promise for immediate phased withdrawal from Iraq, irrespective of the circumstances on the ground in January 2009? Presumably, Obama knows the "complexities" of the region; Obama's plan is clearly an attempt to win favor with the "wingnuts in his party"; and Obama is arguably playing more "bloody-shirt games" with the issue than McCain - especially when you consider his vote to cut off funding for the war last year.

Yet Joe's "sadness" is reserved only for John McCain. Go figure.

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