Democrats attacked John McCain this morning after remarks he made about troop levels in Iraq on NBC's "Today Show."

As Mike Allen reports:

Democrats are barraging Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) with attacks for his statement on NBC's "Today" show Wednesday that it's "not too important" when U.S. troops return from Iraq.
The Obama campaign immediately scheduled a conference call with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) to try to draw maximum attention to the comment. Also on the call will be Obama foreign policy advisers Susan Rice and Richard Danzig.

McCain explained his remark, but it could be very damaging when taken out of context.

The statement is sensitive because Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has pledged to, in the words of his website, "immediately begin withdrawing our troops engaged in combat operations at a pace of one or two brigades every month, to be completed by the end of next year."

McCain, trying to mitigate the fallout from an offhanded remark in January that U.S. troops might be in Iraq for 100 years in non-combat roles, predicted last month that "most" troops would be home by the end of his first term.

The exchange that has Democrats licking their chops began when co-host Matt Lauer asked about the surge strategy in Iraq: "If it's now working, do you now have a better estimate of when American forces can come home from Iraq?

McCain replied: "No, but that's not too important. What's important is the casualties in Iraq. Americans are in South Korea, Japan. American troops are in Germany. That's all fine. ... We will be able to withdraw. ... The key to it is that we don't want any more Americans in harm's way."

Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was early out of the gate with a statement, calling McCain's comment "a crystal clear indicator that he just doesn't get the grave national-security consequences of staying the course -- Osama bin Laden is freely plotting attacks, our efforts in Afghanistan are undermanned, and our military readiness has been dangerously diminished."

"We need a smart change in strategy to make America more secure, not a commitment to indefinitely keep our troops in an intractable civil war," Reid added.

The McCain campaign has since released a response statement calling out the Obama campaign's "willingness to seize a false preference in order to launch a baseless political attack."

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds:

"The Obama campaign is embarking on a false attack on John McCain to hide their own candidate's willingness to disregard facts on the ground in pursuit of withdrawal no matter what the costs. John McCain was asked if he had a 'better estimate' for a timeline for withdrawal. As John McCain has always said, that is not as important as conditions on the ground and the recommendations of commanders in the field. Any reasonable person who reads the full transcript would see this and reject the Obama campaign's attempt to manipulate, twist and distort the truth."