McCain Gets Facts Wrong In Response To Hamdan Verdict

Think Progress:

On Wednesday, a military jury at Guantanamo Bay found Osama bin Laden's former driver, Salim Hamdan, guilty of material support for terrorism in the first "contested" U.S. military war crimes trial since World War II. Hamdan was acquitted of other charges against him, including conspiracy to commit terrorist attacks.

Responding to the decision, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) released a statement welcoming the guilty verdict:

The jury found that the prosecution lawyers had proven, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Hamdan had aided terrorists by supplying weapons to Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in Afghanistan. This process demonstrated that military commissions can effectively bring very dangerous terrorists to justice. The fact that the jury did not find Hamdan guilty of all of the charges brought against him demonstrates that the jury weighed the evidence carefully.

But McCain has his facts wrong when he claims Hamdan was found guilty of "supplying weapons to al Qaeda and Taliban forces in Afghanistan." Though Hamdan was in possession of two shoulder-launched missiles when he was captured in Afghanistan, "the jury found him innocent of carrying the missiles as part of a conspiracy to kill U.S. soldiers."

Read the whole story: Think Progress

Comments

[MsLiz]

Note that this was a *written* mis-statement. That means his staff wrote it for him. This was not an off the cuff blooper. Someone gave this some thought.

I suspect that the author did not realize that, in legal parlance, "material" means relevant and significant.

Not good enough to be president.

[luvangelHussein330]

Bussiness as usual in camp McAmmatureHour

[zippywpinhead]

I'll lend a hand to the headline writers

Mc.Cain gets facts wrong about __________ (fill in the blank)

There, just cut and paste every day instead of having to retype the whole thing...

[VOTER]

McDementia is the Republican Candidate.

VOTE OBAMA!

[Scottiedog]

Sounds like grandpa is losing his faculties. He also reminds me of the old guy in the neighborhood who yells at us to stay off his lawn.

Hey McBush, you promised us a respectful campaign based on facts. What happened?

[JTyroler]

I'm sure I'm not the only person who has noticed this, but why do the Republican Presidential candidates have such a problem with facts. Reagan couldn't keep facts straight, but people claimed that wasn't important because ideology was a bigger issue.

To be quite honest, I don't remember much of Bush I's administration - he puked on the Japanese Prime Minister, managed to get several countries to get Iraq out of Kuwait (based on a fairly recent episode of Globe Trekker, there's still a lot of clean up that hasn't happened), and got burned imitating Clint Eastwood with that "Read my lips" thing.

Bush II, really, what can be said of his grasp of factual data or a little concept most of us refer to as "reality". In some ways, the last 7 1/2 years has been life in Bizarro World. As one example, the Iraqi government asked us to have troops there - Saddam really asked the US to send troops to Iraq? Or do they mean the current Iraq government that didn't exist when we sent troops there?

And now, we have McCain, the "wrinkly white-haired guy". He's almost the political world's version of Norm Crosby, who made a career on usually saying the wrong thing. Norm Crosby was good for the 2-drink minimum at the Sands or the Dunes, but, really, would we want him for President?

[riverhouse]

I think it's because the Republican candidates are chosen simply as tools for an entrenched operating power base that has taken over their party.

[Gary47]

"But why do the Republican Presidential candidates have such a problem with facts?"

Because republican voters don't care about facts. They care about ideology, period. That's the underlying reason bush has been president the last eight years.

[Gary47]

Who cares, most folks likely to vote for McCain don't know who Hamdan is and are totally cool that McCain got the facts wrong. It means they're better able to relate to him.

[dagnew]

Oh my goodness gracious, what's new?

[chs1965]

Facts? What facts? I am the Maverick, remember.

[Rog49Thomas]

Facts, logic, reality - these are all the tools of liberals.

Real men get by with delusions.

Some who are more advanced with simple dementia.

[nirak]

What else is new. I am surprised he remembers his name

[debrouillard]

I think people should stop making excuses for this guy.Age has very little or nothing to do with it.
Was he old when he finishes in the bottom of a class of over 800 students? The guy is just dull and perhaps stupid. Age has very little or nothing to do with it. My grand dad is a solicitor and still practising at 72. He must be getting his facts and remembering every detail of the law to still be getting clients.

All those University professors at 80 or older,do they get the facts or analysis wrong?

Mc C ain is simply stupid and by the lloks of things lazy as he doesnt seem to be making any effort to improve.

[JoeBlough]

A good Republican doesn't need brains. Just a desire for profits.

[patriotic008]

here we go again...

this guy is a joke

[jsinclair]

If we can't trust his ability to understand even very simple things, how can we trust his judgment?

[nobillary1]

Let's put another block in Bob Cesca's "Great Wall of Duh" for John McCain!
Making so many blunders so frequently while he's running for POTUS, makes me shudder to think what he'll be like if he actually gets to the Oval Office!

[takeamericanback08]

Having a front row seat watching McCain exhibiting a loss of cognitive abilities associated with old age and watching his three ring circus of a campaign with their revengeful, childish and inept ads is priceless.