It’s no doubt difficult for the Sunday shows’ bookers and producers to find high-profile guests on a holiday weekend, but I’m not sure who benefits from the same old trio repeating the same old lines.
Three American senators visiting Kabul said Sunday they were worried that President Obama’s planned withdrawal of 33,000 American troops by September 2012 could undermine Afghan morale, embolden the insurgency and hamper efforts to defeat the Taliban.
The senators — John McCain, Joseph I. Lieberman and Lindsey Graham — said that they were heartened by the progress of Afghan security forces, but concerned that Mr. Obama’s withdrawal plan could deplete American military strength before dealing a decisive blow to the Taliban, especially in the east. That part of the country is a haven for the Afghan and Pakistani wings of the Taliban and affiliates of Al Qaeda.
“I believe that the planned drawdown is an unnecessary risk,” said Mr. McCain, Republican of Arizona, adding that no military leader had spoken in favor of the timetable.
Of course he does.
McCain, Lieberman, and Graham want U.S. forces to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely, want the Obama administration to be more confrontational towards Iran, and want President Obama to pursue “regime change” in Libya.
In other words, McCain, Lieberman, and Graham said all of the things they were expected to say, and which we’ve heard them say many, many times.
The question for me, then, is why the Three Amigos had to dominate the Sunday shows on yet another weekend. Indeed, it was another shutout for Democratic members of Congress on the Sunday shows — Graham and Lieberman were on “Fox News Sunday,” McCain was on “State of the Union,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) was also on “Fox News Sunday,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers,” and while there was one Democratic governor (Massachusetts’ Deval Patrick) and a Democratic big-city mayor (Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles) on “Face the Nation,” congressional Dems were left out again.
