The Republican National Committee and the McCain campaign are going after Obama for characterizing McCain’s desire for an American “presence” in Iraq as advocating 100 more years of war.

In the infamous town hall in New Hampshire, McCain responded to a question about Bush’s comments that it might take 50 years in Iraq with “Maybe 100.” Then he went on to say, “As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed, it’s fine with me and I hope it would be fine with you if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where al Qaeda is training, recruiting, equipping and motivating people every single day.”

He’s gone on to elaborate his ideas for maintaining a seemingly permanent presence in Iraq since then, but it’s all based on this assumption that the War part of the War will be over “soon” and that we’ll just be “supporting” Iraqis doing the fighting and dying.

That’s a big assumption. With the new increases in violence just this week, with two American soldiers being killed and 17 others wounded in the so-called “Green Zone,” does anyone really see an end to this anytime soon? The Iraqi government hasn’t made any kind of progress to being able to hold the country together without more than significant “support” from foreign military forces. Petraeus’s testimony today, while whitewashing some of the violence, can be distilled into this one statement:

“Iraqi Security Forces are not yet ready to defend Iraq or maintain security throughout the country on their own.”

So, what is McCain actually proposing when he says he’s willing to keep American soldiers in Iraq “as long as it takes?” In reality, he’s proposing to keep our military fighting in the same quagmire that Bush sent them into for no good reason. He still sees the possibility for “victory,” by continuing the same failed policies of the Bush administration.

In short, he is advocating an endless war, not just 100 years. In short, Obama is telling it like it is.

For McCain’s full argument, and the original comments, see this video on YouTube from his appearance on Meet the Press. (Try to ignore Pumpkin-Head if you can.)