Dukakis in Baghdad

Image Sgt. Matthew Roe/10th Public Affairs Operations Center, via Reuters and The New York Times

The New York Times adds a little pebble to the mountain of John McCain's woes this morning with an article about that walkabout the good Senator did in Baghdad the other day. After this excursion, McCain famously declared that parts of Baghdad were perfectly safe to stroll around in.

A day after members of an American Congressional delegation led by Senator John McCain pointed to their brief visit to Baghdad’s central market as evidence that the new security plan for the city was working, the merchants there were incredulous about the Americans’ conclusions.

“What are they talking about?” Ali Jassim Faiyad, the owner of an electrical appliances shop in the market, said Monday.

Pictured above is the Senator in his bullet-proof vest. What you can't see are the three helicopters circling overhead, or the full infantry company deployed to shield him, or the traffic barriers that kept ordinary Iraqis away from him.

Every campaign has moments that crystallize them. For Michael Dukakis, it was trying to look tough by being photographed riding a tank. For George Bush senior, it was not having an answer to how much a quart of milk costs.

For John McCain, it may very well be prancing around a Baghdad market in a bulletproof vest crowing about the security. On the day of his disappointing third-place finish in the Q1 money primary, behind Romney and Giuliani, this kind of stuff kills campaigns. Kills them dead, in fact.

Have a fork. He's done.

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