McCain owes Taranto

McCain Wednesday criticized Obama for stating that as president, after withdrawing combat troops from Iraq, he might send troops back in "if al Qaeda is forming a base" there. Seeking to portray Obama as naïve and ill-informed on national security, [Is this ABC editorializing??] McCain said, "I have some news — al Qaeda is in Iraq. It's called: 'Al Qaeda in Iraq.'" In Columbus, Ohio, that day, Obama said, "I have some news for John McCain, and that is that there was no such thing as al Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq." [ABC is silent here. Why?] "So let me get this right," McCain said. "Senator Obama wants to leave immediately from Iraq, but if al Qaeda is in Iraq then he would consider going back. Obviously that's, that's not logical. In fact, we are succeeding in Iraq something that both he and Senator Clinton refuse to acknowledge."

Taranto's version.