Martial Chutzpah

In another week with an ample supply of chutzpah, I find that my strongest memory is of some words I heard delivered by John McCain as part of the BBC coverage of his campaign:

I know how to win wars. And if I'm elected president, I will turn around the war in Afghanistan, just as we have turned around the war in Iraq, with a comprehensive strategy for victory.

Unless I am mistaken, he reinforced this point by telling his audience that he was a "war-winner." I should put out that the above quote was cut and pasted from the Prime Buzz site managed by the Kansas City Star, which, in turn, attributes the Associated Press as its source. The Chutzpah of the Week award goes to John McCain on the basis of how much evidence there is to support his claim, but I find it interesting that this little episode in Albuquerque on Tuesday received so little attention from the media.

I suppose all this came to pass because the general question of winning wars, whether in Iraq or Afghanistan, was part of this week's prevailing discourse. This leads me to wonder whether the media would ever let that discourse shift its focus from war to peace. What would be McCain's reaction in that unlikely event? Would he then tell us that he knows how to make peace? Might he play his "age card" to advantage and claim that he was there at the signing of the Treaty of Paris?