Sen. John McCain is desperately trying to remove the "100 Years" albatross he put around his neck, trying to encourage the media to treat Dem attacks as distortions.

The reservoir of support McCain has in the media certainly helps. For example, on MSNBC today, anchors regularly suggested that "McCain Wants To Stay In Iraq For 100 Years" was akin to "Al Gore Claimed to Have Invented The Internet" ... as if the media ever bothered to correct the Gore smear at the time.

McCain should be forced to own his words. Not only because it is politically damaging to be seen supporting the current Iraq policy. But because they offer a opportunity to undermine his overall claim of superiority on national security.

Here's how.

It is too sloppy to simply say McCain wants 100 years of war, as McCain did say he wants to stay in Iraq "as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed." A deeper argument must be made.

1. McCain wants 100 years or more of military occupation. In his own words, he wants to "maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world."

2. A policy goal of permanent occupation is a colossal strategic blunder, ensuring more instability and violence. There is a direct link between Iraqi opposition to permanent bases and support for attacks on US troops.

3. Claiming a 100-year occupation in Iraq would be like Germany or Korea reveals an immense lack of foreign policy knowledge, judgment and vision. The situations and political dynamics have absolutely no similarity.

4. Furthermore, McCain's position makes no sense. He claims he would stay in Iraq that long only if Americans aren't being harmed and killed. But they have been getting harmed and killed for five years. To McCain, it never matters if violence is ebbing or flowing, he always argues for staying.

5. Voters have a choice in 2008 between continuing to be bogged down in a destabilizing and distracting occupation, or a new strategy that allows for Iraqi reconciliation, regional cooperation and a focus on actual threat to national security.