John McCain Gets Iraq Facts Wrong Again

Think Progress:

Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said he was "surprised" by violent clashes between central Iraqi government and militias connected to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr last week in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. "Maliki decided to take on this operation without consulting the Americans," McCain told reporters on his campaign bus.

As MSNBC's Keith Olbermann noted last night, at the same time McCain expressed surprise about the developments in Basra, he also got basic facts wrong about the ceasefire that halted the violence on Sunday. McCain claimed that "it was Sadr who asked for the ceasefire," not Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Malki:

Read the whole story: Think Progress

Comments

[ajax2]

McCain is one step ahead of Ronald Reagan in memory loss (no memory before elected) and two paces ahead of GW Bush because he can find Iraq on a map.

[Durango]

He kind of reminds me of the last Arizona Senator who ran for President, Barry Goldwater. Goldwater had a habit of saying stupid and scary things. Which lead to the biggest Democratic landslide in history.

Lets hope history repeats itself.

P.S. Republicans responded to the media's reporting and commenting on the "gaffes" of Goldwater by claiming a "Liberal bias" from the press. Instituting a 40 year span of Republicans never accepting responsibility for their actions and blaming everything on the "Liberal media." Everything, of course. they didn't blame on Bill Clinton.

[KyleCope]

Hillary's never been funnier -- but then again it IS a spoof about her:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGMgxFE6bms

[HopeandChange]

This is illegal wire tapping democrats:

A federal judge says House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, can collect more than $1 million in his lawsuit against Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington state.

The decision was issued in a decade-long dispute over an illegally taped telephone call. In the 1996 call, Republican leaders discussed an ethics case against then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. A Florida couple recorded the cell phone call on a radio scanner and McDermott leaked the tape to two newspapers.

McDermott should resign today!

[LaurieLee]

Hey, it's mean to pick on people with early stage Alzheimer's. Leave McCain alone!

[Pepper14]

How many times can a woman lie and get away with it? I think it just goes to show how scared you dems are of McCain. You are more than willing to put Hillary in the WH when she is a pathological liar and misleads all the time so your petty stories about McCain don't impress me very much.

[ultrabop]

What does Hillary have to do with this? She's not electable and everybody knows it. McCain is unfit for office, so was Bush, but now people have their shit detectors on high alert. We don't want another dumbo in the high office. It may be okay with Republicans, but hey, you guys are on the endangered list...you­'ve plundered and raped and murdered and behaved badly. So....sit still and take your medicine. Once dose of Obama juice should straighten you up, get you off your high horse and out of our pockets.

[MikeDu]

Senator Clinton's WORST qualities are that she has slight REPUBLICAN tendencies! To vote for McCain because of your aversion to Clinton is like drinking poison because you're afraid your cold medicine might give you an upset stomach. Just imagine, what sort of fascistic monster would McCain put into the Supreme Court next to Scalia and Thomas? There's more at stake than just a beauty contest.

[jakie]

I WILL TELL YOU PEOPLE OF AMEIRCA THIIS MAN SO SENILE DO WE WANT HIM FOR A PRESIDENT

[victoriajubilee]

Senator McCAIN said on a morning show yesterday ,that one of the ways to fix the housing morgage crisis is to make the letters on the application forms larger. HA ,HA ,HA, HA,HA,HA,H­A,HA,HA,HA­,HA,HA,HA,­HA,HA,HAH,­HA,HA,HA,

[degjack]

John McCain said he was in a conference with "President Putin of Germany...­..."

Who else was there? Napoleon??

Lord help us.

(This is NO laughing matter because Americans WILL vote for this man!)

[StillAmused]

No one questions his years of mistreatme­nt... but he WAS bombing people he couldn't see from 10,000 feet, something that always upsets the locals.

Bulletin: Since then, he's gone batshit-crazy, sees 'evildoers' everywhere and will have all he can do to unwrap himself from around Junior's pantleg in time for the election.

McCain's finest hour expired the day he was released from the Hanoi Hilton. Today, he's a GOP cartoon waging an imaginary global war on "Islamo-fa­scist-extr­emist-jiha­di-evildoe­r-badperso­ns"... and he sees 'em under every rock.

[KyleCope]

Yeah, because there's no such thing as Islamic terrorism. Say... Anyone see where the World Trade Center went? I could swear it was just there.

[StillAmused]

Can you count to nineteen, Sparky?

How many conspirators do you guess were directly involved in planning and funding the 9/11 attacks? A half-dozen? Two dozen?

How many NEW anti-American extremists do you guess we've CREATED, worldwide, under the expert guidance of Commander Codpiece?

It was a CRIME, genius... a massive, unprecedented CRIME. Would it have made a difference to you if the perps were disgruntled evangelicals (read: Tim McVeigh)? Would we be "at war" with every ardent Christian? Should we be occupying all the megachurches?

Class dismissed.

[eaglecapri]

This is no longer funny!

Do we really want a 2nd Reagan term, the later years, where Joe Lieberman replaces Nancy Reagan and whispers answers in his ear? Oh wait...tha­t's already happened! Let's not take any chances. I could care less if his mother is fit and spry! He was tortured for God's sake!

[trinity29]

Please dont make me visualize Lieberman in drag.

[Witchitalineman]

71!

[eaglecapri]

LOL!

No words required!

[Gary47]

He's a republican. Gaffe's are unlimited.

[bushdoescrack]

compared to bush, mccain is a genius.

[GoCards1978]

Compared to Bush, a neanderthal is a genius but I wouldn't consider him fit for the office. John McCain stopped being a maverick the moment he decided to run (pandering to the agents of intolerance, voting for torture by the CIA, continuing the miasma in Mess-o-potamia indefinitely, etc.). The MSM is giving him a pass because they fell in love with the man in 2000. I hope the electorate will realize this in November.

[peggio]

C'mon, he's just a cute, cuddly little old man. Sure he doesn't know Al Queda from extremists or Iraq from Iran. Sure he's no expert on the economy. Sure he can't pea without Jomentum telling him where his zipper is......he was a pow.....sh­ow some damn respect! Senility is cute when it's American HeHawro John McInsane!!

[fnygy]

Are these gaffes? Or are they purposeful obfuscations? He "confuses" Al Qaida with Iranian extremists. He "misstates" the facts of the ceasefire. These "misunderstandings" help confuse the reality on the ground. Every "mistake" is one that reinforces the Bush narrative - we're fighting al qaida; al Maliki is in charge; etc. etc. I think McCain knows what he's doing.

[MikeDu]

Good point. Not stupidity but cupidity.

[gurukalehuru]

How many gaffes can he make? Just as many as the press lets him get away with.