Sen. John McCain recently criticized National Security Adviser James Jones, suggesting Jones, a former Marine General, is worried about not offending the left wing of the Democratic party as the White House considers sending more troops to Afghanistan.  Jones, who is hardly a liberal himself, "t[ook] exception" to McCain’s suggestion that politics influences his assessment of national security.  Steve Benen, Eric Kleefeld and others took note of Jones’s rebuke to his long-time friend, McCain.  Benen noted that McCain’s "cheap and petty partisanship probably deserved an even sharper rebuke."

I agree.  Unless McCain has evidence that Jones, or anyone in the Obama administration, is making national security decisions based on politics, he ought to avoid baseless accusations.  Also, it’s disingenuous for McCain to suggest that anyone who opposes troop escalation in Afghanistan must automatically be a tool of the left.  Opposing increased troop levels in Afghanistan doesn’t make you a dirty liberal hippy.  Many Americans oppose escalation.  A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll last month found that 51% of Americans oppose sending more troops to Afghanistan.  Does McCain thinks left wing Democrats make up a majority of the population?  A recent USA Today/Gallup poll similarly found that 50% of Americans oppose escalation in Afghanistan.  Independents oppose sending more troops by a 54-38% margin. 

It’s an old trick to argue that anyone opposed to troop escalation–whether it’s in Iraq, Afghanistan, or somewhere else–is a left-wing fringe type. Polling shows this is simply not the case.  McCain was wrong to question Jones’s integrity, and he was also wrong to suggest that the left wing has a monopoly on opposition to sending more troops to Afghanistan.