Quotes of the Morning: Getting Better All the Time

“There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today."
-Senator John McCain, March 26, 2007

“I admit it… I thought that John ‘Straight-Shooter’ McCain was making this up. I didn’t really believe how much better Iraq has become in the last few months. Luckily John McCain not only talks the talk, he also walks the walk. If he says that there are places in Baghdad where you can walk safely you know damn sure that he means it.”
-Skippy

“It wasn't your typical Sunday stroll. A Republican congressional delegation led by Sen. John McCain popped by the Shorja market in Baghdad this afternoon, a stop on an unannounced Iraq trip. They spent over an hour browsing market stalls, chatting with locals and drinking chai. ‘I bought five carpets for five bucks,’ Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina gushed at a presser shortly after the visit.
[…]
At the presser, McCain, who was testy throughout, pointed out that the delegation had driven into town from the airport, rather than fly in Blackhawk helicopters like most VIPs. He also cited a drop in the murder rate as a sign of progress and got in one final dig: ‘American people are not getting the full picture of what's happening here.’ No guesses who McCain blames for that. ‘The media has a responsibility to report all aspects of what's taking place,’ he said.”
-Newsweek, April 1, 2007

“See? See all you doubters? Safe! There is no way that the U.S. military would have let Senator McCain travel to that Baghdad market if it wasn’t perfectly safe. Iraq is doing great. It is just that the liberal media refuses to report all the good news.”
-Skippy

“In any case, it didn't take the insurgents long to send their reply. Less then 30 minutes after McCain wrapped up, a barrage of half a dozen mortars peppered the boundaries of the Green Zone, where the senators held their press conference.”
-Newsweek, April 1, 2007

“That was just the insurgents’ way of trying to capture some headlines. Obviously McCain was in no danger just walking around the market.”
-Skippy

“McCain’s delegations was guarded by more than 100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead.”
-NBC Nightly News, April 1, 2007

“Well sure… and yes, he was wearing a bullet-proof vest, and sure the market he went to was just across the street from the green zone, but hey, this is still a good sign. After all, this was the situation a mere few months ago at the same market.”
-Skippy.

“Three bombs claimed the lives of as many as 100 Iraqis Monday and left almost 200 injured.
Two nearly simultaneous bombs struck a predominantly Shiite commercial area in central Baghdad, killing at least 100 people and wounding at least 200, said Iraqi officials.”
-CBS/AP January 22, 2007

“And that market hasn’t been the site of a suicide bombing attack in months! Much, much safer. You people just refuse to acknowledge how much better Iraq is getting.”
-Skippy

“After a violent week that claimed the lives of some 500 Iraqis, and the weekend combat deaths of six U.S. soldiers, U.S. and Iraqi military officials acknowledged Sunday that it will take time for the effects of a much-vaunted security crackdown in Iraq to be felt.
The U.S. military disclosed late in the day that two Americans were killed Saturday night in a roadside bomb southwest of Baghdad, and four others were slain in the same area a short time later in what was apparently an insurgent ambush laid for would-be rescuers.
A seventh soldier died Sunday in Al Anbar province from noncombat causes, the military said without disclosing details.
A new Iraqi government tally indicated that violent deaths of Iraqi civilians nationwide had climbed to 1,861 in March, up from 1,645 in February. U.S. and Iraqi troops launched a wide-ranging security sweep in the capital Feb. 13. “
-LA Times, April 2, 2007