[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Senator Art Torres (Ret.), Chairman of the California Democratic Party, issued the following statement on the five-year anniversary of President Bush’s declaration of "Mission Accomplished." Just days after Bush’s speech on the U.S.S. Lincoln, John McCain said "it’s clear that the end is very much in sight." Now -- five years, more than 4,000 lost lives, and at least $500 billion later -- John McCain says keeping our troops in Iraq for 100 years would be fine with him.  "John McCain is wrong on Iraq, and the wrong choice for California," said Torres. "After standing side-by-side with President Bush as he misled us into war and declared ‘mission accomplished’ before it was over, John McCain has been the President’s most loyal supporter every step of the way. John McCain doesn’t understand that Californians are not ‘fine’ with our troops staying in Iraq for 100 years under any circumstances. It is time to start using some of the $435 million a day, $3 billion per week, $12 billion a month we spend in Iraq to address the real threats to America's security, take care of our injured veterans and invest in confronting the challenges we face right here at home. Clearly, the only way to do that is to put a Democrat in the White House. Californians will vote to do just that come November."