Matt Yglesias

Oct 8th, 2008 at 10:12 am

The Shadow Knows

Last night at the debate, John McCain kept insisting that he’ll get Osama bin Laden and he knows how to do it:

If McCain knows how to get Osama, I can understand his reluctance to describe the details of the plan to a globally televised audience. But couldn’t he have taken the opportunity sometime over the past seven years to tell George W. Bush?

Filed under: al-Qaeda, mccain,





56 Responses to “The Shadow Knows”

  1. DTM Says:

    Maybe his super-secret plan is too frickin crazy even for the Bush Administration.

  2. Stefan Says:

    Why when I think of the super-secret McCain plan to catch bin Laden do images of Elmer Fudd, Sylvester the Cat and Wile E. Coyote swim through my head…..?

  3. cleek Says:

    McCain also says he knows how to win wars. and he says he knows how to fix Social Security.

    he never actually tells anyone how he’ll do this, nor does he have any history of winning, solving or fixing anything.

    he’s just a big bag of lie.

  4. Catpain Haddock Says:

    I know how to post a brilliant and witty comment, my friends. And I will…

  5. j swift Says:

    Sheesh people he is a Republican, guid pro quo, you don’t get the plan till he gets elected.

  6. CParis Says:

    McCain has probably been hiding Osama bin Laden is one of his 7 houses, he just can’t remember which one. Cindy!

  7. Rachel Says:

    I believe Olbermann has already had a “Special Comment” where he hammered McCain into the ground on this exact point.

  8. reboot Says:

    Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt as an honorably served Military commander. The question now becomes:

    If Obama is elected, as seems to be the trend, will McCain share this information with the Obama administration or will he pout at ‘that one’, take his ball and go home to one of his 11 mansions?

  9. Jeffrey Davis Says:

    He’s using Nixon’s secret plan to end the war in Vietnam. (Nixon’s plan turned out to be let the war run on for 5 more years, leave kicking and screaming, and to blame liberals for the next 35 years.)

  10. El Cid Says:

    THAT ONE!

  11. spike Says:

    I think the plan is in the same folder as McCarthy’s list of Communists.

  12. aleks Says:

    Because Bush is a dumbass. McCain knows it, and I thought Matt did too.

  13. David W. Says:

    Because Bush is a dumbass. McCain knows it, and I thought Matt did too.

    I knew it! John McCain. Is. IRON MAN!

    Dahhh, da, dahh, da, da…

  14. CybScryb Says:

    I picked “My Friends” as my drinking words last night and was face down long before he started in on the secret plan to get OBL. I’m guessing McCain thinks he’ll fly the F-18 with the “secret weapon” himself.

    Maybe McCain will concede the election if Obama will just put John in charge of the OBL “gettin’”.

  15. That One Says:

    He’s using Nixon’s secret plan to end the war

    He’s starting to remind me more and more of Nixon, only McCain is skipping right to the final days of insane rantings and paranoid fantasy. I’m sure after he’s gone, however, the McCain hagiography will be likewise written with his misdeeds consigned to the memory hole.

  16. cha cha cha Says:

    1. Invite OBL to go hunting with Cheney
    2. ???
    3. Capture OBL!!!

  17. rmwarnick Says:

    McCain’s plan involves military operations on the Iraq-Pakistan border, and only McCain knows where that is.

  18. aleks Says:

    # rmwarnick Says:
    October 8th, 2008 at 11:35 am
    McCain’s plan involves military operations on the Iraq-Pakistan border, and only McCain knows where that is.

    I assumed it was Neocon code for Iran.

  19. seonachan Says:

    What makes you think W doesn’t already have a plan? I think he has a plan. But he’s not going to tell YOU about it!

  20. seonachan Says:

    previous comment brought to you courtesy of Conrad Burns.

  21. Jared Says:

    I think the plan is to be a maverick. Neither Barack Obama nor George W. Bush is enough of a maverick to put this maverick plan into action. But John McCain and his maverick running mate Sarah Palin are both mavericks, so their maverick ideas will definitely work. Maverick.

  22. Tony Says:

    He’s gonna have Sarah Palin shot him from a helicopter.

  23. Tony Says:

    He’s gonna have Sarah Palin shoot him from a helicopter.

  24. ManOnBlog Says:

    We know where he is. He’s in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.

  25. Grumpy Says:

    The plan involves using George W. Bush’s corpse as a decoy. Would you want to be the one to tell the President??

    Picture McCain and Bush in “Old Yeller.”

  26. Mr Blifil Says:

    He also told David Letterman in 2002 that the anthrax “may have come” from Iraq. So when John McCain tells you something about middle east policy or military policy, you can pretty much take it to the bank. Provided you’re cool with watching that bank fail spectacularly.

  27. Jayhawk Max Says:

    I believe the plan is:

    Phase 1: Steal underpants
    Phase 2: ?????
    Phase 3: Capture Osama Bin Ladin/Make Profits!

  28. tom Says:

    I’m surprised this isn’t being given more exposure.

    Every day people are dying because of the ongoing presence of these groups in the border territories. How many have died since McCain first said he knows how to solve this? How many people is he willing to have killed before he unveils his plan?

  29. Big Sneezy Says:

    He’s bluffing. That’s his whole campaign. A bluff.

  30. forked tongue Says:

    I do wish McCain would get more widely mocked for his “I know how” mantra. Someone counted up seven uses of it last night. It annoys me more than “my friends,” probably because it reminds me of one of Bush’s favorite locutions, “the ______ people have got to understand,” which always made me want to hurl.

  31. Whoa Now Says:

    The whole argument about not telegraphing your plan about how to get Osama is very…um stupid. Osama Bin Laden knows, the whole world knows that the US is after him…you can’t telegraph that…it’s already known…the only thing it would do is perhaps make Bin Laden move..which puts him out in the open and easier to find. If anything its the smart move to tell the world you will be going in to Pakistan and after OBL.

  32. Michael Bérubé Says:

    Osama Bin Laden knows, the whole world knows that the US is after him

    Oh, great. Now you’ve spoiled the whole plan. Because if OBL didn’t know before, he definitely knows now.

    Matt! Delete that comment — before bin Laden hits “refresh.” Country first, Matt!

  33. Marshall Says:

    I think that his secret plan is to … bomb Iran. If OBL isn’t there, he should be.

    By the way, it still astounds me that a US Presidential candidate could run on a “secret plan” to win the war, and simply not have one. So many people were sure in 1968 that he really did have some secret plan, possibly involving the Russians or nuclear weapons or something, and it was literally just a scam. He should have been impeached just for that.

  34. Matthew Says:

    McCain will chase that rascal bin Laden dickety six miles to the gates of hell if he has to. But only if you elect him. Otherwise he burns the secret plan in one of his many marble fireplaces. The choice is yours.

    http://thesebastards.blogspot.com/

  35. shoeshineboy Says:

    I believe he hasn’t let Bush in on the details because it involves using W. as an unknowing decoy to lure Bin Laden into a trap. It’s just crazy enough to work!!

  36. Molly, NYC Says:

    He’s not bluffing. He probably has some plan that that involves the sort of violence that has “war criminal” written all over it, entails mass-grave-level collateral damage, and is about as well thought-out, and as likely to succeed, as everything else he’s done during his campaign.

  37. Trevor Says:

    Dog the Bounty Hunter devised Magoo’s master plan to get OBL. An enticing bag of sweet dates will be left at a mountain overpass near Ghost. Mrs. Dog will be disguised as an abandoned Yugo. This wil lure “The Evil One” to desert his wild sanctuary and then Dog and the gang will swoop in.

  38. MELLIFLUOUS Says:

    Me! Me! Me!

    I choose the fireplace shown in Architectural Digest.

  39. The Navigator Says:

    Man on blog wins the thread, for his encyclopedic memory of Rumsfeldian prevarications.

    Way to sort of, you know, catapult the propaganda, dude.

  40. Gene Says:

    McInsane’s super-secret double probation plan is probably something like Richard Nixon’s double-dyed plan to end the Viet Nam War. IF we have to elect the SOB to find it out, I say the price is too high.

  41. Richard Steven Hack Says:

    Two responses:

    1) This is exactly what Obama is saying when he says he’ll “finish the job in Afghanistan” (he can’t) and “take the fight to Al Qaeda in Pakistan” (he can’t do that either). Neither of these morons have a clue would that would entail.

    2) My billion dollar offer is still open, John! You want bin Laden in ninety days? One billion - in advance (I have to fund the operation myself out of this - I should make about a nine hundred million dollar profit - chump change given everybody’s “bailout” plans!)

    Yes, it is doable - assuming bin Laden is still alive (Benazir Bhutto said she believed Mullah Omar killed bin Laden in 2003).

  42. msbklyn Says:

    He’s gonna have Sarah Palin shoot him from a helicopter.

    I can’t imagine a slower, juicier target than John McCain running through the snow.

  43. Philbert Says:

    John McCain is one scary mother trucker. Wait until he loses the election, and he will lose it, and you are gonna see his rage up close and personal.. This is aman who called his wife a cunt in front of three reporters because she said his hair was getting a little thin. One crazy bastard, that’s what he is.

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