Joel Award Winner - John McCain

It is time to bestow our Joel Award. The award is given to someone who is a flip-flopping bullshitter. The award goes to John McCain this week.

McCain said on the Bill Bennett Show, "There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today."


Contrast that statement with the Maverick's recent visit to Baghdad.

Yes, the media again. In the interest of presenting the full picture then, I think it should be pointed out that McCain and his fellow senators were accompanied to the market by a small army, upwards of 50 soldiers according to a source who accompanied the group on the stroll. Just another day at the market. And even though McCain cited a drop in violence, Agence France Presse on Sunday quoted an Iraqi official who reported a 15 percent increase in violence across Iraq in March. According to their tally, 2,078 civilians, cops and soldiers were killed last month, 272 more fatalities than in February.

Apparently, John McCain didn't hear John McCain on CNN talk about how safe it is to travel in Baghdad.

General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed Humvee. You want to -- I think you ought to catch up. You see, you are giving the old line of three months ago. I understand it. We certainly don't get it through the filter of some of the media.

But I know for a fact of much of the success we're experiencing, including the ability of Americans in many parts -- not all. We've got a long, long way to go. We've only got two of the five brigades there -- to go into some neighborhoods in Baghdad in a secure fashion.

John McCain is the Joel Award Winner