John McCain Interview Starts Yet Another Internet Battle: 'Important-Gate'

The video above is from the interview with Matt Lauer where Lauer asks McCain, "If it’s working, senator, do you now have a better estimate of when American forces can come home from Iraq? McCain's answer:

“No, but that's not too important. What’s important is the casualties in Iraq, Americans are in South Korea, Americans are in Japan, American troops are in Germany. That’s all fine. American casualties and the ability to withdraw; we will be able to withdraw. General [David] Petraeus is going to tell us in July when he thinks we are.

“But the key to it is that we don't want any more Americans in harm's way. That way, they will be safe, and serve our country and come home with honor and victory, not in defeat, which is what Senator Obama's proposal would have done. I’m proud of them. And they're doing a great job. And we are succeeding and it's fascinating that Senator Obama still doesn't realize that.”

That started a volley back and forth between Democratic supporters on the web and Republican supporters as well as politicians from both sides of the political aisle. Starting with the blog buzz, Talking Points Memo shows the video, but above it simply says, "McCain: Bringing Troops Home from Iraq "Not Too Important" ..." So, in response, Marc Ambinder, from The Atlantic, says "Context is always important" while maintaining, "Democrats and allies are jumping on John McCain for telling NBC's Matt Lauer that "it's not important" when troops return from Iraq. Period. There's no because. There's almost never a because when one side seizes on the comments of another. The context makes it clear that McCain is reiterating his position that the presence of troops isn't the issue; instead, it's the casualties they receive." Back and forth the bloggers go and then we have the Democratic politicians jumping in to the fray, with a quickly organized Obama conference call where John Kerry asserts that McCain’s comment was “unbelievably out of touch with the needs and concerns of most Americans,” saying that to families of troops in harm’s way, “To them, it's the most important thing in the world.” The Mccain campaign responds, via spokesperson Tucker Bounds, who says, “The Obama campaign is embarking on a false attack on John McCain to hide their own candidate’s willingness to disregard facts on the ground in pursuit of withdrawal no matter what the costs. John McCain was asked if he had a ‘better estimate’ for a timeline for withdrawal.

As John McCain has always said, that is not as important as conditions on the ground and the recommendations of commanders in the field. Any reasonable person who reads the full transcript would see this and reject the Obama campaign’s attempt to manipulate, twist and distort the truth.” There are now official statements on the video which is rapidly becoming viral around the web. Official statements have been issued, including one from The John McCain Campaign, also Democratic politician Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi statement, Where the politicians and bloggers go, the media is never far behind, so almost instantly, story after story started in different media outlets. ABC's political blog, Political Punch:

Poll after poll shows that more voters trust Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on matters of national security than they do Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois. Hoping to bridge that chasm, the Obama campaign and Democrats harped on comments McCain made on the Today show this morning, repeatedly calling the 71-year-old presumptive GOP presidential nominee "confused," seeming to feed into concerns voters might have about the Arizonan's age.

The Boston Globe discusses it, then adds an update:

The Democratic National Committee also jumped on McCain's remark, quickly launching a web video this afternoon reminding of the Arizona senator's original remarks, at a New Hampshire town hall meeting in January, about US troops staying in Iraq for 50 or 100 years in a peacekeeping role.

Time's, The Page follows along with the story with "McCain Team Pushes Back Over “Today” Comment": They show quotes from Republican politicians and Joseph Lieberman, formerly a Democrats and presently an Independent as well as Democratic politicians.

Sen. Thune: “This clearly is a deliberate distortion that is trying to change the subject. The Democrats are trying to blow this up as an issue because they don’t want to talk about the success of the surge.”

Sen. Lieberman: “This is exactly the kind of partisan political game the American people are sick and tired of.”

Spokesman Rogers: “Any reasonable person who reads the full transcript would… reject the Obama campaign’s attempt to manipulate, twist and distort the truth.”

All this since this morning when the McCain interview aired. I will leave end it with Commentary Magazine's Contentions, simply because the headline mimics what many political junkies are beginning to feel, which is, "This Is Getting Old." Maybe we should name this "Important-Gate", since every other story that makes massive headlines in a matter of hours seems to have the word "Gate" in the catchy headlines.