Media ignore McCain's inconsistency on Iraq troop increase

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http://mediamatters.org/items/200701080008

Likely 2008 presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has offered several widely varying and often vague estimates of how many additional troops are needed in Iraq, ranging from four to 10 brigades, and from fewer than 21,000 troops up to 35,000. The media, however, have failed to point out these discrepancies while distinguishing McCain's Iraq proposals from President Bush's reported intention of sending 20,000 additional troops to the region, and reporting that McCain views Bush's reported proposal as insufficient.

Many media figures and outlets have simply ignored McCain's shift in numbers without questioning why he has changed his estimates, or even recognizing that McCain's suggested number has shifted repeatedly. On the January 5 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, CNN congressional correspondent Dana Bash reported that McCain "warned reported plans of a temporary surge of about 20,000 troops won't work because it's not enough," adding: "McCain favors committing 35,000 additional troops." Bash made no mention of the fact that McCain had recently recommended 20,000 troops be sent.

On October 26, 2006, during a speech in New Hampshire, McCain called for the United States to send "another 20,000 troops" into Iraq, acknowledging that his plan would require "expanding the Army and Marine Corps by as much as 100,000 people." One month earlier, however, on the September 24, 2006, broadcast of CBS' Face the Nation, when asked how many troops the United States should send, McCain answered: "I would say 20 or 30,000."

As Media Matters for America noted following McCain's October 26 proposal, several media figures ignored the possible political motives behind McCain's position, which National Public Radio senior news analyst Cokie Roberts described as "a somewhat convenient position, because he can always say, 'No one tried to win the war the way that I suggested to win it.' " The New York Times reported on December 29 that the White House is considering "an increase in troop levels in Iraq of 17,000 to 20,000," and that "it has emerged as a likely course as he considers a strategy shift in Iraq."

The weblog Think Progress documented several of McCain's "muddled" positions on troop increases, including his January 5 claim that he is "not specific on numbers." McCain has offered other estimates for troop levels, recommending either a number of brigades to be sent, a specific number of troops, or both: