McCain's Day Marked By False Statements And Gaffes

A series of misstatements and verbal gaffes hampered Sen. John McCain on the day that unofficially marked the beginning of his general election campaign against Barack Obama.

Appearing at a press conference in Louisiana on Wednesday, McCain claimed that he had supported "every investigation" into the flawed response to Hurricane Katrina, when, in fact, he had twice voted against creating a commission to inspect the tragedy.

The remark immediately bounced around political circles and websites. After all it was just a few months ago when McCain defended those very votes on the back of his campaign bus, casting them as part of a broader campaign against wasteful spending.

"I'm proud of my support of American citizens regarding the taxpayers," the Senator said in April. "I will not vote for projects and programs and bills that are laden with pork-barrel projects that waste taxpayers' dollars."

The entire episode elicited a scathing rebuttal from the Obama camp.

"Whether he simply wasn't aware of his voting record again or he was intentionally misleading the people of Louisiana, John McCain certainly isn't offering us 'leadership you can believe in,'" wrote aide Hari Sevugan. To which, McCain's aides accused Obama of negative campaigning, saying the Senator wasn't familiar with the specific votes and had always supported Senate investigations, just not commissions.

That trip-up, however, was mild in compared to the gaffe that happened earlier in the day, when McCain acknowledged he was not aware that Obama had introduced a bill that called for international divestment from Iran.

Reporter: Are you familiar with his disinvestment bill?

McCain: No, I am not familiar with it at all. I do not know if it passed the senate or had any hearing or anything else. I had, so, literally thousands and thousands pieces of legislation are proposed every year. I know what he did. He voted against the Iranian revolutionary guard being declared a terrorist organization.

The admission could prove damaging for a variety of reasons. For starters, Obama's bill, which passed overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives, is currently being held up in the Senate by Republican Sen. Richard Shelby. More significantly, two McCain surrogates, Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Rep. Eric Cantor, are co-sponsors of Obama's measure despite, on Wednesday, ripping the Illinois Democrat for not having the experience to deal with Iran.

But a more worrisome issue for the McCain campaign may just be that a theme is emerging, both within the media and political circles, that the Arizona Republican has a penchant for playing loose with the facts. Indeed, last week, McCain lost crucial news cycles after he falsely claimed that force levels in Iraq had been drawn down to pre-surge levels and then, instead of admitting he misspoke, said the whole thing was a debate over verb tense. This, in turn, came after the Senator claimed, again falsely, that Iran was training al-Qaeda in Iraq, when in fact the two groups are religious and political adversaries.

All told, the gaffes have provided Obama an opportunity to re-frame a man who is best known as a "straight talker," a image battle McCain can ill afford to lose.

Comments

[OregonCoaster]

McCain touted divestiture as a tool to use against Iran--citing divestiture against apartheid South Africa as a fine example.

McCain voted against Obama's divestiture bill with respect to Iran. It turns out that he also voted against the far earlier divestiture bill for South Africa. What is this a sign of? Maybe it is not a sign of McCain in his dotage, but at the very least it suggests that he has not appointed people to fact check his pronouncements. That is irresponsible and demonstrates a lack of management skills and a failure to understand the importance of being RIGHT when one scolds. He may not be too old, but he is too inept to be President.

[condew]

"not appointed people to fact check" hints at McCains other major failing. He is a horrible judge of character. It seems lobbiests are forced to leave his campaign every few days. Blow up in Myramar, turns out he has lobiests fresh from representing Myramar helping to run his campaign. Mortgage crisis, turns out he had a banking lobiest write his policy on the subprime mess. McCain doesn't take money from lobiests, he takes their contribution in labor instead, and gives them what they most want, the ability to write legislation.

[Archie1955]

You know, I find it incredibly funny to hear GOP senators arguing that Senator Obama doesn't have the experience to deal with Iraq. Have they looked at the so called experience of their own lGOP president? Have they gauged how well he has dealt with Iraq? Talk about chutzpah!

[jayburd]

McCain is starting to look dumber than Bush.

That's really fucking scary.

[sparkey]

Even a man? as stupid as George Bush knows the answer to this question. I suspect it's the only answer he knows to be the truth.

[4wehttam]

Seriously, when he and Obama do the town hall meetings, they need to attach a lie detector on McBush so we know when he's telling the TRUTH for a change.

[evahartselftlanguages]

TO: Senator John McCain June 5, 2008

A mistake you are making is that I would have liked to see you speak out against homosexuality if you are a true Christian. In Matthew 10 Jesus states that Sodom and Gomorrah will not be severedly judged as other towns who ignored Jesus' mesasge of repentance and obeying God. We must not judge though. I say this to SAVE souls. Also we must communicate with the enemy to learn of their pains and grievances too then we can heal them. Miracles do happen. Remember Jesus's Miracles! Victims' hope will shine on.

The mistakes I see you making are that Christian witnessing has been forgotten yet the Lord wants Christians to witness to SAVE souls not kill them. We can secure our prisons better by hiring more Security guards and other ideas for the dangerous so they don't escape prisons.

Eva Hart A Christian In Army from 62-70 670 Eddy St. Sfc 94109

[Fentwin]

Name one contemporary miracle that doesn't involve baked goods.

[Shozen]

Keep it up Eva! Remind the public what Republicans are about!

The more male Republicans speak out against Homosexuality the more they hang around men's bathroom stalls!

The more "pro family" Christians they proclaim themselves to be, the more they hang with hookers!

Just remember, the more "values" Christians votes for the Republicans get the more valueless they become!

HA HA!

[souris]

......in a word, NO!

[wotcanisay]

For the last 7 (soon to be 8) Desk Calendar publishers had a field day publishing "A Bushism a Day" calendars.

Looks like they will not go out of business if McCain gets elected.

[jewels44]

And so it begins . . .

The not-so-quiet unraveling of the cloak that has surrounded John McCain for many years, exposing a clear lack of knowlege about subject matter that he should know like the back of his hand.

With the political team assembled by Barack Obama, everyone in America, including Republicans, will see McCain as the senile old man that he is.

I heard a news commentary recently that said Hispanic voters tend to vote for the person, not the party. If nothing else, John McCain should send every Hispanic vote Barack Obama's way.

Obama/Richardson 2008!

[mitch4822]

McCain thinks that because he was a war hero, he is entitled to become President. A lot of folks are believing this. He always intentionally lies, and comes across as sincere, just watch when he speaks.... And when he lies, everybody cheers because his followers are unable to distinguish fact from fiction.
He is dumb and dumber. Do we need this guy Mr. Arrogant nasty to be near the bomb at 3:am.? Democrats, and Republicans, do you see what we are dealing with, its time we overwhelmingly vote for the Democratic ticket.
God bless you all to consider giving the Dems a chance to sweep the country in the General elections..

[serena1313]

McCain has made so many mistakes, but worse he repeats them. So what does that mean: a) he is intentionally misleading the public b) he doesn't realize what he is saying or c) he has dementia? For a candidate running to be the next president this is obviously worrisome, but more so for the country.

Another item important to note is McCain released a statement yesterday saying he reserves the right to 'run his own warrantless program against Americans based on the theory the president has war-time powers and that trumps criminal statutes and court oversight.' As I understand it McCain does not agree with net neutrality and advocates giving telecoms immunity.

McCain is as dangerous, if not more so, as Bush and Cheney.

Considering 81% of Americans say they do not approve of the direction this country is headed and Bush's approval ratings at 25% -- with 67% disapproving -- McCain will not win ... that is ... unless he can convince the electorate he is not like Bush. I think most voters will see through his charade, but a lot depends on the media, too. The country cannot afford nor will it survive under a third term Bush. The America we cherish will disappear.

[nikto]

Here's a little sports history-analogy for you:

McSame=George Chuvalo

OBAMA=Muhammed Ali

Remember what happened?

[bentenrai]

McCain's a hero turning himself into a sad joke.

[Crassmonkey2k5]

Is it just me, or does McCain really creep everybody out with his weird laughing to himself and contemptive sarcasm. He's really weirding me out. Already knew he lied, but the bazaar behavior is just scary. Seems like he is getting some kind of jollies and he doesn't sound genuine at all.

[KoreanVet]

Crassmonkey2k5,

You are not along, I have the same feeling.

[Terriac]

If I didn't know better, I would think McCain was the comic relief of the campaign circuit. Sometimes I can't tell whether he's a serious politician or a bad stand-up comic. Never a good image for a presidential candidate, I wouldn't think.

[oregonrain]

Mccain has the appeal of a piece of celery .