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Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: Republican John McCain pushed back on Wednesday against Democratic criticism that he misstated when the troop buildup ordered by President Bush began, saying elements were put in place before Bush announced the strategy in early 2007.
McCain told reporters during an unscheduled stop in a supermarket that what the Bush administration calls "the surge" was actually "made up of a number of components", some of which began before the president's order for more troops.
It's all a matter of semantics, he suggested.
McCain said Army Colonel Sean MacFarland started carrying out elements of a new counterinsurgency strategy as early as December 2006.
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