Admit It, Mac, You Misspoke

Hopeful flubbed on troop math and 'quiet' Mosul—but keeps pleading his case
By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted May 30, 2008 7:49 PM CDT

John McCain has been dabbling in truthiness this week, Michael Dobbs blogs in the Washington Post. McCain said US troops were “drawn down to pre-surge levels" in Iraq, and cities like Mosul were "quiet"—but in fact, troop levels remain higher than before the surge, and Mosul's quiet is often broken by car bombs and other fatal strikes.

McCain refused to admit his error today. "I said we had drawn down," he said. "We have drawn down three of the five brigades. We have drawn down the Marines. The rest will be home the end of July. That's just facts, the facts as I stated them." No, Dobbs writes, it's not what he stated. "When politicians make an error, why can't they just admit it?" (More John McCain stories.)

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