Keith Olbermann’s special comment last night echoed everything I’ve been saying whenever I hear John McCain pronounce that a) He knows how to win wars; and b) he will bring our troops home from Iraq after we ‘win’ and with honor.

Let me just say this here and now: I believe that our troops have honor just by virtue of the fact that they are serving, have served, have placed their lives at risk and have obeyed orders that they perhaps didn’t even agree with. Every day that they get up and put their boots on and go back out there, they serve with honor. There is absolutely nothing in the outcome to Iraq that will change the fact that these are honorable men and women serving their country with, yes, honor.

Olbermann’s special comment re: trademarking 9/11

With that said, every single time McCain makes the broad claims about victory and honor, I find myself screaming the words “Define victory!” at my television set. Or my car radio. Or even my iPod, on occasion.

The fact is, victory in Iraq is undefined now, and will forever be undefined. This is largely because there was no clearly-stated objective beyond getting rid of Saddam Hussein, and that objective was completed 5 or so years ago.

Even General Petraeus agrees. From an interview with the BBC:

Q: Do you think you will ever use the word “victory”?

Petraeus: I don’t know that I will. I think that all of us at different times have recognized the need for real restraint in our assessments, in our pronouncements, if you will. And we have tried to be very brutally honest and forthright in what we have provided to Congress, to the press, and to ourselves.

and

“This is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade…it’s not war with a simple slogan.

Once again, McCain lies and distorts for political gain. Oh, don’t we all want to puff out our chests and proclaim ‘victory’. And of course, McCain has to take that tack in order to lie about Barack Obama as being a ‘quitter’ who wants to ‘give up’ in Iraq, with quips and sound bites like this one:

“This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word `victory’ except when he’s talking about his own campaign.”

Now you hear Petraeus echoing more or less what Barack Obama has said throughout the campaign — that withdrawal from Iraq must be done with caution, but that it must be done, particularly with Afghanistan at grave risk.

Make no mistake about this: John McCain’s idea of honor IS victory — HIS. And he will lie and sell out to the highest bidder to be victorious.

California leads the way at the State Convention:

For those on the far right hoping for blood in the streets of Denver, Sunday’s meeting of the California delegation to the Democratic National Convention was very bad news. Because of its size, California is sending even more Hillary Clinton delegates to Denver than her latest putative home state of New York. But Sunday’s meeting made it clear that both the Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns are ready to turn their swords into plowshares behind the impending nomination of Obama for the greater cause of defeating John McCain.

At the Nevada state convention Saturday, Twitter user ursulas reported that even Bill Clinton was singing the party unity song.

However, on NewsGang Live, we’re still divided…over the VP nomination and whether it will go to Hillary Clinton. I argue that it cannot, will not be Hillary Clinton, for two reasons. First, because she represents the politics he is turning away from; and second, because she (and her most ardent supporters) would not want to settle for second seat.

Unity is the most important goal. While NewsGang unity may depend upon what happens at the Democratic convention, let’s hope the candidates can pull their supporters in and begin to mend fences. It seems that it may be beginning.

This election is bigger than race and gender. Seriously. Race and gender feel big because they’re so personal. But what will really feel personal is a Supreme Court that bans abortion, sets back women’s rights 50 years, while President McCain leads us into privatized Social Security and another 100 years in Iraq.

Tuesday will end it. Let’s start figuring out how to begin the pathway to a Democratic landslide in the administrative AND legislative branches in November. There will be much for all of us to do. Hillary Clinton will remain a force to contend with and a voice for women across the country.

Best of all, George Bush will be dispatched to Texas with his tail between his legs, and at long last, we will not be subject any longer to the secret authoritarian regime known as the Bush Administration.