McCain Owns First Foreign Policy Gaffe During Obama's Iraq Trip (VIDEO)

As Barack Obama began his trip to the Middle East and Europe, the media was already speculating about the possibility of a gaffe. Obama's travel "carries political risk," the New York Times reported, "particularly if Mr. Obama makes a mistake."

But the only foreign policy error made in the last few days came this morning on ABC's Good Morning America, when John McCain made ANOTHER geography gaffe while trying to criticize Obama's visit to Iraq. (Just last week, McCain repeatedly referred to Czechoslovakia, a country that hasn't existed since 1993.)

Asked by Diane Sawyer whether the "the situation in Afghanistan in precarious and urgent," McCain responded: "I think it's serious. . . . It's a serious situation, but there's a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border."

But as ABC's Rick Klein noted: "Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border. Afghanistan and Pakistan do."

Watch it here:

Comments

[MarieFara]

Obama's been getting a lot of flack about the surge, and . I'm confused....follow me for a minute.

Obama stated that the additional troops on the ground, the awakening, and political factors reduced violence.

McCain said Obama REFUSES to say the surge worked. Then he made a gaffe about the awakening happening AFTER the "surge". In trying to explain himself he said "the surge before the surge". After perfecting his answer McCain said the surge is a "strategy" which included the awakening, additional boots on the ground, and other facts.

Now, does that not mean that McCain just agreed with Obama about the factors that worked in Iraq? Aren't those Obama's exact words?

Today Brian Williams asked Obama to remove the other factors and just take the surge alone. Well, heck, extra boots on the ground is no longer McCain's definition of "the surge". He said it's a "strategy" which involves different things, and Obama's already said the "strategy" has worked.

So what exactly is McCain saying Obama is disagreeing on if they're saying the same thing??? Someone please clarify.
Why doesn't the media EVER press McCain like they press Obama?

McCain complains about Obama getting more coverage, but more coverage doesn't equal quality. McCain gets away with a LOT compared to Obama. Why isn't someone pointing out that McCain's changed his definition of the surge from boots on the ground to a whole strategy in which case Obama already agrees that the entire strategy worked?

[ummando]

Not an issue.

There are more pressing issues such as the economy and long-term strategy on Iraq and Afghanistan.
Also, what is with all the disrespecting comments about McCain's age? I hope people don't talk that way about their grandparents. Yes, McCain is a senior citizen who has years of experience working across party lines: McCain-Feingold, etc. I haven't seen many Obama hyphened bills.

Another thing, how is his gaffe any different than the media confusing Obama's name with Osama? The media is constantly interchanging the two names, inadvertently I hope.

Also, I noticed a few geographical mistakes in the comments posted here. Iran DOES border Pakistan on Iran's eastern border. I'm sure McCain knows Iraq doesn't share a border with Pakistan and we all know what he meant.

[JiminNC]

We all know what he meant? Maybe everyone but him. He is lost. You know it.

[Heff1111]

It really is a sad commentary... but the question comes to my mind, "Is it possible that John McCain is suffering from Alz'heimer's disease? All of the memory lapses seem to overlap... it also would explain the anger issue which is a common attribute to that disease. It would explain a number of issues. I hope to God it is not the case.
Reagan was bad enough... but he was leaving office. What could we expect if McCain were elected if he had a condition like that. How many wars could we look forward to?
I wonder how many would move to Canada?

[robjh1]

While McCain will loose this race if he doesn't become competitive, why is it he is always attacked for every little thing he does? Obama seems to do and say anything without it being dissected. This is strange.

[mari2JJ]

No it is not strange. McCain keeps on and on making these mistakes. Strange indeed taht he is either ill prepared or that he is incapable of remembering these details. I am sure you are correct though, it is painful to watch. I wrote in John McCain's name last two elections but he is just not up to being President any more. Very sad for me.

[raw915]

When every little thing you does is bizarre, you become a spectacle... :o)

[ffny]

The lsip of the tongue from McCain that worries me could come in the middle of the night with a phone call to ATTACK. Who Mr. President reply i don't know anyone, just do it before the country wakes up.

[BlahBlahBlog]

I think it's funny that he made this mistake. Although it's not really significant. I think there are more pressing issues to talk about.

[whatsthatsound]

or better yet, change my comparison to the Arizona/Oregon border, since they don't even HAVE one, exactly like McCain's gaffe.

[whatsthatsound]

Well, yeah, in that he obviously doesn't think Iraq and Pakistan share a border, he just confused/substituted Iraq for Afghanistan. Fair enough. But if he had been talking about California wildfires, and then talked about the precarious situation on the border area between Nevada and Oregon, you'd kinda start to wonder if the guy is up to the job, wouldn't you?

[noirengineer]

Ha ha! I particularly love the fact that towards the bottom of this thread,
there is an appropriately placed advertisement reading:

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[RTIII]

We don't all get the same ad.
.

[noirengineer]

Ha ha! I particularly love the fact that towards the bottom of this thread,
there is an appropriately placed advertisement reading:

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Absolutely brilliant if you ask me!

[syrupcore]

meh, this is sorta nonsense. It seems pretty clear to me that he said "Iraq" and then corrected himself and said "pakistan". Plenty of things to get upset about with McCain but 2000+ comments for this seems like a fox news thread.

[LAB10]

Just a little dimentia. That's all. Senior moments and dimentia. It is what it is.

[crooked]

I don't understand how this election is even close to being a contest. On one hand, we have Obama, someone who has opposed this unjust war from the start and who seeks to get us out of Iraq as carefully as Bush was careless getting in. On the other hand, we have McCain, who doesn't even know the geography of the region in which we're fighting well enough to correctly name the borders. How could the rest of the world respect a nation that elected a leader who can't remember that Czechoslovakia hasn't been a country for 15 years?

If Obama had made this kind of slip, the media and American public would be all over it: "This man clearly doesn't have the experience or knowledge to lead our country." Since it was McCain, it has been almost entirely ignored by the mass media. I look forward to having an intelligent, informed leader with the country's best interests in mind back in the White House and representing America to the world.

[Raymondf]

Non-Issue.

[Wingit]

Imagine what would have happened if Obama had said the same thing. Would that be a non-issue?

[NicoloM]

Right. The real issue is that ABC thinks this is a "first"

[TooDarkMark]

McCain can say we are at war with Iran, can talk about troubles with the USSR and talk about how Babylon is growing issues. AND MANY REPUBLICANS AND PUMAS WILL STILL SUPPORT HIM and talk about Obama's "inexperience". And how awful Jeremiah Wright is.

Many Republicans and Pumas dont care about the issues or America. Just themselves. Sad.

Plain and simple McCain is unfit to serve as President of the United States.

[Iam4thiscountry]

If McCain was right about the surge working(he was wrong about getting into the war) would not the violence go up when we started pulling back? But it didn't. I am not putting down the surge but there was alot more happening than the surge. And since the surge worked so well why can't we bring more troops home? McCain's Idea of winning a war is putting in more troops.(after all putting in more troops ((the Surge)) worked. that means you only have to have more troops than your opponant) What happens if we need more troops than we have? Then what? We are streached way to thin as it is. Our troops need a break!!!!! Oh!! I know!!! McCain will need so many troops that he will try and Reinstate the Draft!!! I am sure that everyone will just love that Idea!!!

[Iam4thiscountry]

besides his slip on borders,( that is memory issue and does not have to always correspond to age, we don't have to say old when we say his memory is slipping) Did you notice that his answers are also vague. "it is a serious sitiuation", " We have alot of work to do" Yes we all know it is a serious situation but he never tells us what he would do. Except sending in more troops he has never given any of us any idea how he would actually handle the situation. he keeps saying he "knows how to win wars" what war has he won? How would he win it? I really want to know "HOW"

[Wingit]

That is the main reason the NY Times refused his op-ed piece. He would not define his often used term "victory"

[genseric13]

If Obama is right on Iraq, why has he been changing (there's that word again) his website on Iraq. I thought he had all the answers last year. Oh I forgot, those positions were for the primary.