ANN ALTHOUSE: Joe Klein’s scurrilous meltdown. “If Klein wants to get all outraged about something, he should get outraged retrospectively about how Obama and many Democrats were ready and even eager to embrace defeat. If Klein wants to worry about who is unsuited for the presidency, he ought to recognize that if Obama had been President two years ago, we would have suffered a humiliating defeat in Iraq that would have repercussions for decades.” Read the whole thing.

Reader C.J. Burch, who sent the link, adds: “The deal here is that the press longed for this defeat, planned on it, celebrated it and now grieve horribly that they have missed it. Anything else they say is nonsense.”

Yes. Had we followed Obama’s advice, we’d be having another Vietnam. And some people wouldn’t have minded.

UPDATE: Okay, you really do need to read the whole thing. But here’s a bit more: “The point is that Obama’s judgment would have led this country to jump headlong into defeat. We now must decide if we want this man making choices about things that will arise in the future. Why is it necessary to spell it out again and again that we need to use past judgments to predict future judgments about new matters? I feel like an annoying pedant saying this again. But the reason it’s necessary is that journalists like Klein are covering for Obama.”

Are they ever. More on Joe Klein’s meltdown at Hot Air. “If the rest of the media is chest-deep in the tank for Obama, Klein’s already fully submerged.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Much more at military blog Blackfive. “As I recall, up until about late April, ‘everyone’ believed the Surge had failed and al Sadr was going to take over the world. Greyhawk declared the war was won in the fall (and he was there — I know, because I was there with him). Michael Yon declared it was won last week, which seems to have rung the bell for the major media. Suddenly, ‘anybody knows’ the war ‘cannot be lost.’ This is an astonishing turnaround by the major media . . . What Sen. McCain is saying is that Sen. Obama is admitting that he wouldn’t have done what it took to win the war, even with the benefit of hindsight knowledge.”

MORE: Tom Maguire defends Joe Klein. Well, kinda.