A bad, tasteless joke. ThinkProgress has several examples today, with video. Check them out:

McCain: Contradicts himself in 47 seconds (click for video):

On ABC’s This Week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said it is unrealistic to expect the escalation strategy to change the situation in Iraq in “a few months”:

MCCAIN: Took us a long time to get in the situation we’re in, and to say that — and somehow assume that in a few months, that things are going to get all better I think is not realistic.

Just 47 seconds later, McCain said we’ll know whether the escalation strategy is working “in a few months”:

STEPHANOPOULOS: You say it’s all in. How long are you going to give it to work?

MCCAIN: I think in the case of the Iraqi government cooperating and doing what’s necessary, we can know fairly well in a few months.

McCain: Consequences of missed benchmarks are “obvious,” but then he can’t name them (click for video)

STEPHANOPOULOS: And in fact, your resolution lays out benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet. But critics of it say there are no consequences spelled out if they don’t meet these goals. There’s no teeth.

MCCAIN: Well, the consequences are obvious. I mean, if they’re not meeting those benchmarks, then obviously the new strategy isn’t succeeding. And I can’t tell you what the other options are, because there are no good options to this. If there was a good option to what we’re doing, to sending more young Americans in harm’s way, I’d tell you. They’re all bad options, in my view, if this one isn’t supported and succeeds.

McCain’s not alone in this, BTW. Most of those supporting the escalation can’t (or won’t) say what will happen if benchmarks are not met:

McCain isn’t the only one who can’t make sense of toothless benchmarks. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said last week that benchmarks were “the best way to determine if the Iraqis are holding up their end of the bargain but he stopped short of saying what the U.S. should do it the Iraqis fall short. ‘I think everyone knows what the consequences are,’ McConnell said without specifying what he thinks they are, even when pressed. ‘I’m not going to start playing out the scenarios,’ he added.”

Chuck Hagel lays it on the line (click for video): McCain Resolution Is ‘Disingenuous’ And ‘Intellectually Dishonest’

HAGEL: There’s a difference. The other position that Senator Warner — and I think there are now 12 bipartisan members of the Senate on that resolution — that resolution states very clearly we disagree with adding more troops into Iraq. Very simply put, we disagree with escalating our military involvement in Iraq.

That is totally different, George, then saying let’s get out, let’s cut the funds. This notion that somehow we’re not supporting our troops, that’s not true. In fact, I think if you want to go to a disingenuous resolution, this idea about putting benchmarks on the Iraqi government…

STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator McCain’s idea.

HAGEL: Yes, and then having no consequences, now that’s intellectually dishonest. So what are the consequences? Are we then going to pull out? If the benchmarks are not met by the Maliki government, are we then going to walk out? Are we then going to bring our troops home? Are we going to cut funding? Now, that falls more in the intellectually dishonest category.

Oh, and speaking of intellectual dishonesty, check out old Bill Kristol (click for video), dishonest from way back, arguing that war is peace, up is down, and black is white: if things get much worse in Iraq (as they are), that’s a good sign. Yeah? And if things got better, that would be a bad sign? Bill, your old shtick is wearing thin.

Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said on Fox News this morning that the recent surge in Iraqi violence is a sign that the extremists are “worried.” Kristol said, “If I were a Sunni extremist and was worried, which I would be, about a doubling of U.S. forces in Baghdad, what would I do? I would try to convey an impression of chaos.”

He added, “On the whole over the last two weeks, some of the news for Iraq is slightly optimistic.”

In fact, recent reports from Iraq note that the escalation is “failing to bring results.” Here are some of the deadly acts of violence that have taken place in the last week alone:

January 28: Mortar shells rained down on a girls’ secondary school in a mostly Sunni area of western Baghdad, killing at least five students and wounding 20.

January 29: A daylong battle with heavily armed Iraqi fighters witnessed the downing of a U.S. helicopter, killing two U.S. troops.

January 30: Bombings, mortar attacks, and shootings killed at least 36 people across Iraq.

January 31: Bombers struck Shiite worshipers during ceremonies marking Ashura, the holiest day of the Shiite calendar. At least 58 people were killed.

February 1: At least 24 Iraqis were killed and dozens injured in bomb blasts, gunfire and other violence.

February 2: A pair of suicide bombers detonated explosives among shoppers in a crowded outdoor market Thursday in a Shiite city south of Baghdad. The attack killed 45 people and wounded 150.

February 3: A suicide bomber killed 135 persons yesterday in the deadliest single explosion in Iraq since the 2003 war began.

February 4: For the first time, the U.S. command publicly acknowledges that four downed U.S. helicopters were lost due to enemy fire.

Transcript:

WALLACE: Terrible bombing. another terrible bombing. One of the worst single bombings of the war in Baghdad. More than 130 people killed. Bob Gates saying that these units, Iraqi units are arriving in Baghdad at 55% manpower. Same question I asked Senator Graham: can 17,000 U.S. soldiers make all that much of a difference in a city of 6 million?

KRISTOL: Yeah, doubling the U.S. troop presence in Baghdad can make a big difference. Look, if I were a Sunni extremist and was worried, which I would be, about a doubling of U.S. forces in Baghdad, what would I do? I would try to convey an impression of chaos. I would get the biggest truck bomb possible and drive it into a market in a Shiite area. If that’s going to drive us out of Iraq, that’s just ridiculous.

That would just send a message to any place we have interests, all the most ruthless group of terrorists has to do is kill a bunch of civilians and we’re going to leave. There’s no evidence they can stand up to U.S. troops and quite a bit of evidence that they’re worried. On the whole over the last two weeks, some of the news for Iraq is slightly optimistic. It’s going to be tough, but I see nothing that persuades me that the surge can’t work quite well.

UPDATE: This chart shows how “well” it’s going in Iraq.