Last night, we saw John McCain attempt to lecture Barack Obama on the history of Pakistan.
Among other things, he said:
MCCAIN: I -- I don't think that Senator Obama understands that there was a failed state in Pakistan when Musharraf came to power. Everybody who was around then, and had been there, and knew about it knew that it was a failed state.
Well, according to Anil Kalhan over at Dorf on Law, McCain's statement presupposes that he therefore supported Musharraf's 1999 military coup. As Kalhan says:
But what should we make of McCain's puzzling claim that Pakistan was a "failed state" before Musharraf's 1999 military coup? The assertion goes well beyond defending the Bush administration's unconditional support for Musharraf in recent years against Obama's criticism. Rather, McCain necessarily seems to be asserting that Musharraf's decision to overthrow Pakistan's democratically elected government in the first place was justified.
It turns out McCain has made this assertion before, asserting on the campaign trail in Iowa that Pakistan was a "failed state" before Musharraf came to power because it "had corrupt governments and they would rotate back and forth and there was corruption."
But look at McCain in 1999 when he was running for president the first time. Again, here's Kalhan:
Recall that McCain was running for president when Musharraf overthrew Nawaz Sharif in 1999 -- indeed, he was explicitly asked for his views about Musharraf's coup in an interview only a few weeks later:
LARRY KING: How about military takeover bringing stability in Pakistan?
MCCAIN: Well, it may have brought some semblance of stability, but we only want the institutions of democracy that -- to prevail in this and every other country in the world, and to have to resort to a military coup is not something the United States should support. The -- I think [Gov. Bush's] point was that this was a very corrupt government that was overthrown, but it's -- in my view, it's still not a reason to overthrow it. It's a reason for us to do everything we can to help clean up that corruption and have the rule of law prevail in Pakistan and every other country in the world. [Larry King Live, Nov. 15, 1999, via Nexis]
So which is it? Is McCain more in Obama's camp defending democracy, as he appeared to be in 1999? Or is the real McCain on the other side of the coin, like he was last night?