Both MSNBC and Sam Stein, of The Huffington Post report that Senator McCain slammed Obama and proposed sanctions against Iran as an example of his innovative thinking. But, it turns out that Obama proposed similar sanctions a year ago, that McCain opposed. Plus, it is now reported that Charley Black worked as a lobbyist for Iran during that period.
McCain's Top Strategist Lobbied For Iran-Linked Firm
In the summer of 2005, John McCain's chief strategist Charlie Black, working for his firm Black, Kelly, Scruggs & Healey, was paid $60,000 to lobby the U.S. government on behalf of the Chinese oil conglomerate CNOOC. At the time, CNOOC was mounting an aggressive bid to buy Unocal, a California-based oil giant, and Black was tasked with churning up congressional support. But the bid ultimately fell through, in part because of objections over the China oil industry's ties to Iran, a country in which it had already invested tens of millions of dollars.
But it gets better, or worse, depending on how you view it.
...Flash-forward nearly three years and Black's old client -- which later scored a $16 billion deal with the Iranian government -- could now create major headaches for his current boss. On Monday, McCain, in a speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, called for a broad and aggressive international campaign to divest from Iran.
As an example, of his innovative "new" thinking McCain suggests sanctions and a worldwide divestment campaign. But, Obama proposed the same sanctions and divestment in 2007 -- which McCain opposed!
"We should privatize the sanctions against Iran by launching a worldwide divestment campaign," he said. "As more people, businesses, pension funds, and financial institutions across the world divest from companies doing business with Iran, the radical elite who run that country will become even more unpopular than they are already."
But, as demonstrated by the CNOOC anecdote, if choking off Tehran's economic lifeblood is McCain's goal, he could have personally started down that road years ago -- with his own advisers.
... In 2007, moreover, Obama sponsored an Iran divestment bill that he claimed "would educate investors and pressure foreign companies to reconsider doing business with Iran by requiring the U.S. government to publish - every six months - a list of companies that invest more than $20 million in Iran's energy sector."
It was Alabama Republican Richard Shelby who held up the measure in the Senate in what was described by the Israel paper Haarezt, as "a favor" for the Bush administration. Today, it is still on hold.
What else can I say? This isn't satire folks. This is the same McCain who got the Shias and Sunnis mixed up four times in the same week.
In the comments section of the HuffPO article, robXdion offers this press release from the the NJDC:
FROM THE NATIONAL JEWISH DEMOCRATIC COUNCIL
NJDC: McCain Continues Bush/Rove Tactics of Fear and Smear in AIPAC Speech Today
WASHINGTON, DC - Ira N. Forman, Executive Director of the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC), released the following statement criticizing the Senator McCain's attacks on Senator Obama in a speech he delivered to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference today:
John McCain, who has held himself up to be a different type of politician, cannot help himself and keeps returning to the Bush/Rove tactics of fear and smear.
Today at the AIPAC Policy Conference, rather than emphasize parts of his positive record, he once again mischaracterized Senator Obama's positions on Iraq and Iran. Mr. "Bomb Iran" is a candidate who cannot publicly distinguish between Sunni and Shiite terrorist groups, cannot get the troop surge numbers right, cannot distinguish between real progress in Iraq and Potemkin marketplace tours and who wants to double down on the Bush failed policies in Iraq and Iran.
Such a so-called foreign policy expert has no business in the fear and smear game.
What are we going to do in the blogworld for a challenge, if McCain keeps campaiging against himself? If McCain keeps blundering on foreign policy to this magnitude, folks may start to question his acumen and political adroitness. MSNBC suggest that Obama should be able to score big points on these misteps at his speech at AIPAC tomorrow.
To say anything more, I'd feel like we were beating up on children, or the infirm.
But, if the GOP put McCain up for the nomination for president, we have to notice these sorts of things.
Let the general election campaign begin.