Bad Timing

Oops -- it looks like John McCain picked the wrong time to go to Baghdad (but is there ever really a good time to go?):

After a heavily guarded trip to a Baghdad market, Sen. John McCain insisted Sunday that a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown in the capital was working and said Americans lacked a “full picture” of the progress. The U.S. military later reported six soldiers were killed in roadside bombings southwest of Baghdad.

And John -- while you are working on your whole timing deal, you might want to get rid of the "Americans aren't getting the full picture" talking point. It's soooo 2005.

Here's more on McCain's excellent adventure (from Think Progress, which also has the video of the NBC report on this):

Sen. John McCain strolled briefly through an open-air market in Baghdad today in an effort to prove that Americans are “not getting the full picture” of what’s going on in Iraq.

NBC’s Nightly News provided further details about McCain’s one-hour guided tour. He was accompanied by “100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead.” Still photographs provided by the military to NBC News seemed to show McCain wearing a bulletproof vest during his visit.

The trip wasn't a complete political catastrophe, though. McCain did get to show off his great sense of humor. He had a press conference after he and all those heavily armed soldiers toured the market. When he was asked about a statement he made last week when he said there are areas in Baghdad where you could walk around freely, McCain responded, "Yeah, I just came from one."

Hilarious.