I’m sorry, but McCain is simply losing it here.

Republican John McCain is pushing back against Democratic criticism that he misstated the timing of the buildup of troops ordered by President Bush in early 2007. He says parts of the new strategy began months earlier.

The Arizona senator has told reporters during a stop at a super market in Bethlehem, Pa., that what the Bush administration calls “the surge” was actually “made up of a number of components.” McCain says some components of the surge began before Bush ordered more U.S. troops into Iraq.

See? The surge before the surge. Notes Ilan Goldenberg:

One problem.  The surge wasn’t even announced until a few months after the Anbar Awakening.  Via Spencer Ackerman, here is Colonel MacFarland explaining the Anbar Awakening to Pam Hess of UPI, on September 29 2006.  That would be almost four months before the President even announced the surge.  Petraeus wasn’t even in Iraq yet…

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This is not controversial history.  It is history that anyone trying out for Commander in Chief must understand when there are 150,000 American troops stationed in Iraq.  It is an absolutely essential element to the story of the past two years. YOU CANNOT GET THIS WRONG.  Moreover, what is most disturbing is that according to McCain’s inaccurate version of history, military force came first and solved all of our problems.  If that is the lesson he takes from the Anbar Awakening, I am afraid it is the lesson he will apply to every other crisis he faces including, for example, Iran.

Of course that’s the lesson he’ll apply. Force alone was always going to solve all our problems, according to a certain narrative. And that narrative does not require the “facts” to add up; it’s the narrative itself which is important, and must be preserved.