McGaffe! With Poll

"FIRST GAFFE OF OBAMA TRIP......GOES TO MCCAIN," was the big Monday afternoon banner headline on Huffington Post, accompanied by a photo of McCain appearing to slap his forehead.

That headline referred to an ABCNews.com posting asserting that McCain appeared to "confuse Iraq and Afghanistan, in a "Good Morning America" interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, who asked whether the "the situation in Afghanistan is precarious and urgent."

Now the newest gaffe, McCain doesn't know the timeline of the "surge"...the subject of which wound up on the cutting room floor of CBS's Katie Couric interview.

McCain will turn 72 the day after Sen. Barack Obama accepts his party’s nomination for president, calling new attention to the sensitive issue of McCain’s advanced age, three days before the start of his own convention.

Unfortunately for McCain, those two gaffe's weren’t an isolated slip. Among the other lapses:

—"Somalia" for "Sudan" — As recounted in a reporter’s pool report from McCain’s Straight Talk Express bus on June 30, the senator said while discussing Darfur, a region of Sudan: "How can we bring pressure on the government of Somalia?"

Senior adviser Mark Salter corrected him: "Sudan."

— "Germany" for "Russia" — A YouTube clip from last year memorializes McCain referring to Vladimir Putin of Russia – following a trip to Germany — as "President Putin of Germany."

—This spring, McCain said troops in Iraq were "down to pre-surge levels" when in fact there were 20,000 more troops than when the surge policy began.

—Also this spring, McCain twice appeared to mistake Sunnis and Shiites, two branches of Islam that split violently. Had to be corrected on the spot by ass kisser Joe Lieberman.

—In Phoenix earlier this month, McCain referred to "Czechoslovakia," which has been divided since Jan. 1, 1993, into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. He also referred to Czechoslovakia during a debate in November and a radio show in April.

—In perhaps the most curious incident, McCain said earlier this month that as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, he had tried to confuse his captors by giving the names of Pittsburgh Steelers starting players when asked to identify his squadron mates. McCain has told the story many times over the years – but had always referred correctly to the names he gave as members of the Green Bay Packers.

So what's going on here? Why is the press letting the McCain surrogates get away with defending the lies as negligent, not important or not newsworthy? Why is it that Obama can't get away with the same kind mistakes? Send your cards and letters of protest to all the networks.

•  Tip Jar

  Tips for running mental evaluations of McCain...

  by StuHunter on Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 12:26:34 PM PDT

  •  You forgot...All of the Above...

    But I tipped you anyway...

    by dvogel001 on Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 12:30:04 PM PDT

  •  Mad Cow

    Just like Denny Crane.

    by MikeTheLiberal on Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 12:56:46 PM PDT

•  Here's my poll:

  McCain:

  --Bad candidate, or

  --Worst candidate ever?

  by oscarsmom on Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 12:28:29 PM PDT

•  It's no longer news, it's a daily event. nt

  by arodb on Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 12:44:34 PM PDT

•  (•) Tool. nt

  by polecat on Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 12:44:36 PM PDT

•  I voted for dementia but

  all of the above works for me too.  Obama should have accepted his offer to do 10 townhalls before the conventions.  If he did, we might not even need an election.  

  by Georgia Liberal on Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 12:45:41 PM PDT

  •  I voted for stupidity but

    then I thought, dementia.  Now I think it's hoof-in-mouth.

    by catchlightning on Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 01:26:24 PM PDT

•  I voted for stupidity but

  I'm beginning to think it's dementia

  by catchlightning on Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 01:03:25 PM PDT

•  Tough Darts, John!

  I knew at the outset of his candidacy that it was a matter of when not if, John McCain would become frustrated just enough to ignite his hair.  I thought perhaps we'd have to wait for a televised debate.  Now  I don't have to wait for one mega meltdown; McCain is doing a daily incremental meltdown.

  The press (not just Perky Couric and Andrea Greenspan) has always cordially and shamelessly carried water for Mr. McCain. His misstatements, non-sequiturs, lies, sexist remarks, historical revisions, gaffes du jour, voting absences, policy reversals and re-reversals, etc, would be frequent but we can always expect they'd be overlooked.

  But John has surprised us.  He's "Gary Hart-ed" himself.  His incessant whine that his media base doesn't give him enough air time is backfiring. He's getting the airtime and the beauty of free speech is there for us to see.  Can you say "petard?"

  Jack Cafferty has some wonderful advice McCain should consider.  

     Transcript:

     Look, the surge is over.  The surge is over.

     McCain needs to stop whining about the surge.

     An interview saying if you'd known then what you know now, would have, could have, should have is totally irrelevant to what we do now with Iraq,

     And in case McCain is interested,  here's Gallup poll numbers:

        1.  79 percent, Gallup poll of Americans have a negative views of the economy,

        2.  87 percent of the Americans say the economy is getting worse,

        3.  61 percent of Americans say an economic issue is the most important thing in the next election,

        4.  18 percent say it's the war in Iraq.

     So, you know, I'm tired of listening to McCain whine about he won't "say he was wrong about the surge," [mocking tone, original].

     It just doesn't matter at this point!

  by AllanTBG on Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 01:05:25 PM PDT

•  He does not give the American people

  credit for having any brains or being able to discriminate between lies, damn lies and outrageous lies.  He's a war hero.  Therefore, he can say what he wants and no one is supposed to challenge him.

  by oibme on Wed Jul 23, 2008 at 01:29:29 PM PDT