Taxpayer's Funded McCain's Campaign Trip to Iraq

But maybe McCain should have toured Wall Street?


Senator John McCain landed in Iraq this morning on a official congressional visit taxpayer funded campaign stop with two members of his campaign, Senators Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman, and this morning on Late Edition Wolf Blitzer spoke with Senators Patrick Leahy and Diane Feinstein about the trip and whether it's appropriate. The clip begins with CNN's John King reporting from Iraq and he was more than willing to spew McCain's talking points on the surge and how Senators Obama and Clinton want to wave the white flag of surrender.


King:"…John McCain says he's here as a member of the Senate, but it is a defining issue in the campaign. It is John McCain who says either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama would wave what he calls the "white flag of surrender" by rushing to get troops out of Iraq at a time when John McCain, and he will make the case here, says the surge policy is working and that while he would like to get the troops home, if they need to stay, Senator McCain says as a Senator or as the next president he would make the tough decision to keep them here."

Both Leahy and Feinstein point out that McCain has a right to visit Iraq as a member of Congress, but agree he shouldn't have taken two members of his campaign with him, even though they are also members of Congress. Leahy gets it right, this is nothing more than a photo op for McCain, who admits that he will be moving on to Great Britain for a fund raiser after his visit to Iraq. Maybe the McSurge Triplets will get to go on another shopping spree and find more great bargains while they're in Baghdad? Oh wait ?- they can't go back to the same market they visited last year because that area of the city is now too dangerous.

Will McSame exploit this trip to raise campaign cash? You bet he will…