John McCain's reign of error
It's lucky for John McCain that most politically-aware Americans remain riveted by the Hillary Clinton sideshow (more on that later), because he continues to make inexplicable factual errors without any willingness to acknowledge them
John McCain's reign of error
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
It's lucky for John McCain that most politically-aware Americans remain riveted by the Hillary Clinton sideshow (more on that later), because he continues to make inexplicable factual errors without any willingness to acknowledge them. If more people were paying attention, they might well wonder whether this guy is as sharp about foreign policy as he purports to be.
The latest incident occurred last Wednesday, when he told a public gathering that things were going swimmingly in Iraq: "I can tell you that it (the Surge) is succeeding. I can look you in the eye and tell you it's succeeding. We have drawn down to pre-Surge levels. Basra, Mosul and now Sadr City are quiet."
Well, we can look McCain right in the eye and remind him that, as a matter of fact, we have not drawn down to pre-Surge levels. It's just a matter of comparing the actual numbers. Before President Bush ordered his troop escalation in January 2007, we had 128,569 soldiers in Iraq; today, we have 155,000 soldiers in Iraq. In accordance with how math generally works, the latter number is larger than the former.
Putting aside MCain's claim that Mosul is "quiet," on the same day that Mosul reportedly suffered three suicide bombings, it's fascinating to hear how his spinners have sought to defend his tallying of the troops. They insisted that this is merely "a question of semantics," a silly quibble over "verb tense," because, after all, the Bush administration has begun the process of drawing down to pre-Surge levels, with the intention of fully achieving it.
The problem, of course, is that McCain was declaring the draw-down to pre-Surge levels as Mission Accomplished, whereas, in factual reality, it is no such thing. It may be the intention of the Bush regime to reduce those troop levels, but - given the ongoing fragility of the situation in Iraq - there is no way to know whether the goal of a full military drawdown can be achieved. So either McCain truly doesn't know how many troops are stationed in Iraq, or he is willfully twisting the actual troop numbers in order to cheerlead (again) for the Bush war team.
Some media commentators (notably David Brooks yesterday, on Meet the Press) are giving McCain a pass on what he said (as Washington journalists often do). But it's important to remember that this is only the latest in a string of questionable recent remarks:
McCain has twice confused the Sunnis and the Shiites. (He has insisted that Iran was training al Qaeda operatives, whereas, in reality al Qaeda is a Sunni organization and Iran is run by Shiites. He has insisted that Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the most powerful figure in that country, whereas, in reality, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iran's national security council are the powers that run the show. (McCain is fine with the idea of repeating the error about Ahmadinejad: "I think of you asked any average American who the leader of Iran is, I think they'd know.") And after a recent clash between Iraqi government troops and Shiite insurgents pledged to Moqtada al-Sadr, McCain erroneously stated that a chastened Sadr had sought a ceasefire, whereas, in reality, the ceasefire was kick-started when the Iraqi government asked its allies in Iran to broke the process; in the end, Sadr's forces were left virtually intact.
Just imagine if Barack Obama had been talking this way, repeatedly. The inevitable TV ad, from the Republican National Committee or some surrogate group, would probably go something like this:
(Slasher-movie music, grainy black and white footage of Obama in slow motion.) "Barack Obama wants to be your president. And yet, in this moment of national crisis, he does not know the difference between the key Iraqi constituencies. He does not know who really holds the power in Iran. He does not even know how many of our brave troops are currently stationed in Iraq, protecting our way of life here at home. In this dangerous world, who would best protect us - an untested politician who can't get his facts straight, or John McCain, the kind of American president that America has been waiting for?"
Foreign policy is supposed to be McCain's strongest turf, but, fortunately for him, he continues to run below the radar, thanks to the national attention being paid to Hillary Clinton's ongoing delusional crusade.
It may have crested over the weekend in Washington. I have deliberately given short shrift to the decision-making of the Democratic National Committee's ruling on the Florida and Michigan delegations, for this simple reason:
She was beaten in this race before the Saturday meeting began, and she remains beaten this morning. (At this point, it's barely worth mentioning the Clintonian hypocrisy on full display; Harold Ickes, who pushed the case for full seating of the two outlaw delegations, voted as a DNC member last August to strip both delegations.) The only real news, out of Saturday's meeting, is that, within the Democratic party, the power torch has been passed from the Clintons to Obama.
After South Dakota and Montana vote tomorrow, Obama will only need roughly 30 superdelegates (out of roughly 150 supers still available) to reach the total delegate number required for nomination. It's even conceivable that he could pick up 30 during the next 24 hours, in advance of those final primary tallies.
All told, "as history shows, the Democratic nomination goes to the candidate who wins the most delegates." That's what Clinton's chief strategist, Mark Penn, wrote back on Feb. 13.
Of course, Clinton can still elect to appeal the DNC ruling and fight on into the summer - if she truly desires to wreck her political future and the '08 prospects of her own party. The choice is hers.
HRC had since 2004 to plan her run. She could've been the hope and change candidate - that alone says a quite a bit on how badly she flubbed this. At some point, she needs to start caring about her constituency and her future Senate career, if she still has any interest in it. As for McCain, I will have to wonder when SNL will do a skit on him?— psv- It shouldn't be surprising that the token conservative on the NYT gave McCain a pass. He gave W passes all the time and he's no different than the cheerleaders for Obama who claim his errors are inconsequential, as you pointed out Dick. The MSM was complicit in the Iraq fiasco and if they don't start real reporting on the McCain campaign we run the risk of having a doddering old man elected president with the real power being behind the throne in the Veep. Oh wait, we already have that. Hmmm. On the HRC situation, I once thought I could vote for any democrat against McCain but her performance over the last few weeks, particularly her claiming that it's sexism if Obama gets the nomination but then claiming that all the racist whites will vote for her is just disgraceful. Someone should ask her "at long last, have you no decency?"
- After listening to Scott McClellan describe the Bush Administrations method of talking up the war, I realized that it essentially the same way the Clintons run their campaigns. If during the campaign they can incite racial divisions, suck up to Republicans in Indiana/West Virginia/Pennsylvania on gun ownership, distort the actual popular vote by counting only her votes in Michigan/being the only one who campaigned in Florida/lowballing the votes in the caucus states she lost/counting th P.R. votes that don't count in November/including all the Republican chaos votes she got in Indiana and Kentucky, blatantly say it was okay for her to keep her name on the Michigan ballot because it won't count, then turn around and try to make them count, to compare a primary system where everyone else followed the rules to the travesties in Africa, etc., etc., imagine what she would be like as president when she wanted to demolish Iran, force mandatory health care, and stifle dissent. McCain may be Bush Redux when it comes to policy, she would be Bush Redux when it came to style. P.S. McCain has been making these mistakes all last year when he was campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire but nobody was watching C-Span to notice except the national press which treat him in the same suck up way they did to Chaney-Rumsfeld prior to the war.— atp2007
- I'm a Democrat. I think we Democrats ought to be focusing more on what our own candidate will do about Iraq. We've watched our party coast to the majority thanks to Bush and the former Republican-controlled congress. Since then, the Democratic Senate (led by wimp Harry Reid) cave in to the GOP on wiretapping, the confirmation of AG Mukasey (torture), war funding, the designation of the Iranian Republican Guard as a "terrorist organization" and unabated pork spending. I'm really sick of complaining about Republicans. Yeah yeah, we know the GOP screwed up. But let's get our own house in order. I'm sick of these wet noodle Democrats. Grow some spines already!!!— p-diddy
- The Patriot Act ought to be burned.— p-diddy
- What are the odds HRC drops out by D-Day? Having heard her claiming the popular vote after PR, I really think she's going to the mattresses for the nomination. I give it 30% odds she drops out by the weekend, and then only after Dean and enough heavy hitters tell her enough is enough.— JeffA
- JeffA --- Apparently, HRC has told most of her staff to go home.— yobill626
- Every time she does something to indicate she's backing off, she comews right back a couple of days later flailing. I haven't heard much lately about her fund raising or the amount of debt, but I can only see them her extorting the Obama campaign to bail her out. As far as McCain, I wonder if he's going to need Joe Lieberman to follow him around, constantly whispering in his ear to correct him. I could understand slips of the tongue, like mixing up Sunni and Shiite. It happens often enough when speakers start mixing up Iran and Iraq, but you still know what they're talking about. Some of McCains mistakes, though, make you wonder if he really knows what's going on around him. It's almost as if he's going to need somebody birddogging him to tell him what's going on and what to do and say. Sound familiar?— SteveMG
- My father had Alzheimer's. We kids didn't know about it for years because my mother helped him hide it. After she died of a stroke, then we realized how badly my father was doing. I wonder if the same is happening to McCain. He always has advisors there to help him -- he doesn't have to remember where he put the keys or how to get to a venue. I would feel much better about McCain as the Republican nominee if I could see an MRI scan of his brain that showed he was free of Alzheimer's. It's to his benefit because if he is in the early states of Alzheimer's, there is medicine that can help him to fight the disease. I think he should submit to an MRI before a group of non-partisan journalists (to prove that they aren't substituting one brain scan for another). Does anyone else agree?— Sally in Dallas
- YoBill - really? I haven't seen that come across yet. Thanks. Sally - You work for the DNC? We have enough to hit McCain on without screaming about his health. None of the candidates take care of anything like keys or tips. They're too busy staying on point (or trying to) with all of their appearances to worry about where they are or how they got there. Go troll somewhere else.— JeffA
- MCCAIN DIDN'T READ THE INTELLIGENCE REPORT BEFORE THE INVASION (NOR DID CLINTON); A TINY MINORITY OF PEOPLE WHO TOOK TIME TO READ IT. REMEMBER 4100 AMERICAN TROOPS DIED FOR NOTHING! BECUASE OF MCCAIN AND BUSH’s WAR! Bush, McCain, GOP and CLINTON voted to send 4100 troops to there death and for what? That is the real story here! 1. Is Iran stronger or weaker since Bush/McCain’s invasions of Iraq? 2. Has Osama bin Laden been killed or captured since Bush/McCain’s invasion of Iraq? 3. Are we paying more for gas now or before Bush/McCain’s invasion of Iraq? 4. Is our economy better of now or before Bush/McCain’s invasion of Iraq? 5. Is the White Houses creditability better now or before Bush/McCain’s invasion of Iraq? 6. Is the budget deficit higher now or before Bush/McCain’s invasion of Iraq? 7. Is the Middle East more peaceful now or before Bush/McCain’s invasion of Iraq? 8. Do we have more American Solders dead or before Bush/McCain’s invasion of IRAQ? THE CASE FOR TREASON UNDER THE RULE OF LAW! Commiting fraud in order to go to war. Treason by revealing Valerie Plame's identity in order to throw people off their trail. Obstruction of justice. Torture. Manslaughter. Propagandizing. Election fraud. Profiteering.— Capt. Smash
- McCain voted to send 4000 Americans to there death! A little-unnoticed civil lawsuit in Florida is shining a light on an unusual but hugely profitable Pentagon contract to ship millions of gallons of aviation fuel to U.S. bases in Iraq through the kingdom of Jordan. The deal involves a cast of influential characters, including the king of Jordan’s brother-in-law, who is suing Harry Sargeant III, a top Florida-based fundraiser for Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid. Al-Saleh alleges in the lawsuit that after he arranged the deal, he was cut out in a scheme meant to defraud him. He claims that he and Sargeant and the third partner, Mustafa Abu-Naba’a, a Jordanian businessman, had invested in IOTC Jordan in 2004. But, he says, Sargeant and Abu-Naba’a committed fraud by forming another company called IOTC USA in Florida without informing him and by channeling the Pentagon contracts through that firm. Al-Saleh is suing Sargeant, Abu Naba’a and the company for $13 million as his share of the profit from the 2005 contract, plus an unspecified amount of profit from the 2007 contract.— Capt. Smash
Comment removed.- YoBill Here's what I found on staffers being let go ---- UPDATE: Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee says the advance staffers haven't been let go or told to find other jobs, just sent home. They aren't typically paid for off days. "We just haven't figured out our schedule past Tuesday," he said.— JeffA
- Dick Just saw a video of Obama's lapses (57 states, Japanese cars get 45 miles to the gallon, 10,000 in Kansas killed by tornado, people crossed a bridge in Selma, Alabama "so my folks got together and Barack Obmama Jr. was born" - - four years later, and quite a number more). All of our candidates go 16 hours a day for many months. Most of what they say is taped. These are capable people who are bound to make an occasional mistake. I'm sure you have made a gaff now and again. I know I have. Cheers! Mark— MBK
Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.
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