More Misleading Statements from the Straight Talk Express

So has someone in his campaign told John McCain that claiming he doesn't care that American troops are in Iraq for a 100 years, or even a 1,000 years, is not the way to win the presidency. He is now trying to back off the statment, telling a crowd in Ohio yesterday that he meant that troops would be stationed in Iraq, but they wouldn't be combat troops.

In fact, this is what he is now telling voters:

"By the way that reminds me of this 100 year thing," McCain told the 800-plus crowd. He went on to characterize the conversation he had in Salem as a "back and forth" over the war and how long American troops would be there.

Then McCain took a step he hasn't before.

"My friends, the war will be over soon..." McCain told the crowd. "The insurgency will go on for years and years and years. But it will be handled by the Iraqis, not by us."

"And then we decide what kind of security arrangement we want to have with the Iraqis."

We wonder what prompted McCain to try and change his tune on Iraq. Was it the fact that organizations like VoteVets.org has a new video ad up which has a woman who is a Iraq War Vet asking McCain why he is so willing to spend billions of dollars on Iraqis?

Is it the fact that Gallup polls show that he is losing to Obama, but beating Clinton, and the most significant difference between the two is the Iraq War resolution?

Or is it just his overwhelming desire to be President, which in the past has led him to renounce his own immigration bill, change his position on Bush's tax cuts, and embrace people like Jerry Falwell, who he previously denounced?

Of course, in the past this wouldn't have mattered because there wouldn't have been video clips all over the Internet of what he actually said. In the past his friends in the national media, like Chris Matthews, would have pontificated in his favor and covered up his actual words. Well, thank God those days are drawing to a close. Now we can all see just what a staight talker John McCain is and what he actually says.