“Republican John McCain, in a speech forecasting what the country would look like after his first term in office, said today that he expects the war in Iraq to be won and most troops to be home by January 2013. The prediction marks a major departure for McCain, who railed against rival Mitt Romney shortly before the Florida primary for his remark in April 2007 that he thought President Bush and Iraqi leaders should privately discuss a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq. At the time, McCain suggested that the comment would embolden America’s foes in Iraq. The Arizona senator leveled the same criticism at Democratic Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, stating that their advocacy for withdrawing troops from Iraq amounted to setting a date for ’surrender.’” [editor’s note: Keep rattlin’ them sabers, Old John; time for housecleaning, anyway - SAT] (05/15/08)