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Another McCain Gaffe? Calling Gen. Petraeus the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?
I'm actually not very high on judging candidates by their gaffes. I don't think it makes one scintilla of a difference whether John Kerry thinks the Packers play on Lambeau Field or Lambert Field. How would that have affected the way he governed as president? Not at all.
I think journalists over-emphasize gaffes because they think it is a point of fact they can point to without being criticized by either side for being biased. They feel they're not allowed to say that someone's tax cut plan is terrible and will put a huge hole in the national budget. That might be true, but conventional wisdom says an objective reporter is not allowed to say that. Gaffes, on the other hand, are clear and can be pounced on.
So, with all of that being said, I am ironically going to point out a second possible gaffe for John McCain in a row. Why? Because John McCain has had so many gaffes in the last couple of weeks, let alone the whole campaign, that it has gotten to the point where you have to question if there is something wrong with him.
One or two gaffes in the course of a campaign are perfectly normal. Half a dozen in a week is crazy. That's outside of the normal range of mistakes. Does he remember things clearly? Does he not know the material in the first place?
So, here is his latest possible gaffe, brought to our attention by a Young Turks listener, Rich Kelly. Senator McCain said this to George Stephanopoulos in his interview on Sunday:
MCCAIN: I believe that, when he said that we had to leave Iraq, and we had to be out by last March, and we had to have a date certain, that was in contravention to -- and still is -- the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General David Petraeus.
Of course, Gen. Petraeus is not the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Admiral Mike Mullen is. That is a terrible mistake, if he really meant that. This is supposed to be his field of expertise and he has talked about Gen. Petraeus approximately one billion times.
I went back and watched the video of the interview about four times. It is possible to argue that he meant Gen. Petraeus and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But that is not what he said.
You could give him the benefit of doubt and I don't think he actually thinks Petraeus is the chairman of JCS. But within the context of all of his other gaffes, one has to wonder. Is he slipping and making simple mistakes on a regular basis?
Again, if this was an isolated incident by itself, I'm not sure I would even bring it up. What is much more relevant is the claim Senator McCain made in the interview that if we had listened to Sen. Obama and started making preparations to leave Iraq last year, there would have been chaos and genocide. At the same time, he believes it was the right decision to invade Iraq in the first place. We invaded Iraq and caused the country to teeter on the edge of chaos and genocide but it was still a good idea to go in? That seems to be an unbelievable comment to make.
But within the context of all of McCain's other gaffes, his Gen. Petraeus comment has to be questioned as well. I'm not sure we can trust him to be on top of his game on even the simplest things at this point.
Follow Cenk Uygur on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TheYoungTurks
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Well,as far as this gaffe goes,I listened to the interview Sunday & I really think he meant Gen Petraeus *and* the JCS.He was just stammering around,tripping over his own words and barely making sense the whole time.
BUT....
Right now McCain is exactly the same age as my mother was when she first started showing the signs of Alzheimers.And it started off exactly like this,she would make little factual mistakes and forget things.It got worse and worse and when I took her in to the doctor I found out there is no test for Alzheimers,you have to eliminate the physical possibilities and if you don't find anything what you are left with is Alzheimers.It progresses slowly but surely.For my mother it was about 4 years from the first signs until the point where she had to be admitted to a secure nursing home.That's what bugs me most about this idea that McCains age is not something to bring up as far as competency.That clean bill of physical health doesn't mean anything,what I am seeing is the same as early Alzheimers,and if we don't even get to discuss it we may well end up with a president who is mentally unstable by the time he takes the oath ! This many mental lapses by a person his age is most definitely fair game, and a lot of serious scrutiny is called for
Off thread and redundant but
O's birthday is Aug 4th
Let's give him the biggest $$ day in history
I'm doubling my contribution
Please pass this on
He also called the guy in the mirror loopy but he was right on that one.
We ignore McCain's gaffes at our own - and the rest of the world's - peril. McCain has a well-known history of head trauma received during his imprisonment and torture in Vietnam. Brain injury is a medically accepted high risk factor for both Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. John's age is also against him as a risk factor.
Perhaps McCain's behavioral patterns of volatility and anger outbursts are related to his head trauma. Whatever the cause, they do not bode well for our need for a cool-headed leader under the pressure of the job he seeks.
Here's what one military leader had to say about McCain's fitness for the presidency: "One of the things the senior military would like to see when they go visit the president is a kind of consistency, a kind of reliability," explained retired Gen. Merrill McPeak, a former Republican, former chief of staff of the Air Force and former fighter pilot who flew 285 combat missions. McPeak said his perception is that Obama is "not that up when he is up and not that down when he is down. He is kind of a steady Eddie. This is a very important feature," McPeak said. On the other hand, he said, "McCain has got a reputation for being a little volatile." McPeak is campaigning for Obama.
You can read more on this topic at: http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/25/mccains-brain-unfit-for-command-or-merely-incontinent/
WHEN YOU GET OLD YOU HAVE LITTLE STROKES- THEY ARE NOT EVEN OBVIOUS- EXCEPT YOU FORGET STUFF AND YOUR PERSONALITY CHANGES SLIGHTLY
PLEASE MR WIZARD CAN WE HAVE SOMEONE WITH: A BRAIN, A HEART, AND COURAGE?
We (American People) should be concern about McCain's gaffes. POTUS ages a person and McCain does not have any wiggle room to age! In addition, he recently had another mole remove from his face??!
I am a Obama supporter and I cannot tolerate another Bush term!!! We need other countries and the UN involve in the middle east - it will not happen under McCain's watch. If he dissed a reporter for writing a unfavorable article; what will he do to foreign head of states if they do not go with his program!!
I think your absolutely right Cenk. We really need to be concerned about his mental stability, too many gaffes in too short a time span. Individually some (and I emphasize some) of these gaffes may not require a high degree of concern, but as a whole I'm really worried that if he somehow becomes potus, he will not able stable enough to do so.
Please, some one consult a doctor. If this was my father, husband or grandfather I would be finding out what was happening to the old man! This is really a seriouse situation. You reporters do realize this is going to be your leader to don't You? Surely you really don't want someone who can't keep straight what he is talking about, especially considering we have a war going on, we need to end! A nation with nuclear missles we need to find a way to talk down and a deficit above 400 billions dollars that his good buddy Bush is leaveing us to get rid of!
We actually have TWO wars going on, and probably a third if Mc C has his way.
Media outlets like CNN can cover all they want for McGaffes but thank God for the internet and political blogs...
McGaffes will be his own undoing as in the upcoming debates with Obama... well I simply cringe to think how baffled and confused he will sound and look.
Time has passed McCain by and if he really loved his country he wouldn't be willing to go in there and mess things up even more.
He's a "maverick" though. Maverick's make mistakes and don't even have to correct or acknowledge them. Not only is he a "maverick" but he is an official American hero, and heros can do what ever they want, including being involved in the bilking of american taxpayers out of their life savings and defrauding the the American goverment of taxes owed. His family is a legacy military family, and his wife is worth billions. Besides all of these other wonderful things about this "maverick", more importantly, he's an old white man who looks just like what America wants America to look like.
Write On!
Shoot, I forgot about that, he IS a maverick.
;)
Given the last five days of Suicide Bombings...I'm wondering what he thinks of the whole troop surge thing? So again Obama was right. i just wonder how this is going to make it to the Media...i won't hold my breath for that oneo.
These are no longer slips of the tongue, nor are they simply gaffes. There have been too many of them, and they've become more noticeable and frequent during the last two or three months.
It's scary to imagine entrusting our country to someone who is not 100%, someone whose cognitive abilities may be in question. The stakes are too high.
The real question is what does the fact that a third of the country will still vote for him say about the fitness of the American mind?
"/John McCain has had so many gaffes in the last couple of weeks, let alone the whole campaign, that it has gotten to the point where you have to question if there is something wrong with him. "
I do. His many "senior moments" would bring on the doctors for any family I know. His latest factual slip up is underlining that the man seems to be losing it. Why are reporters not checking records of his cognitive health? This is the man who is claiming to be the best leader for our country. Frankly, that idea gets scarier by the day.
It is hoped that Obama at some point will call McCain on some of his egregious slanders and obvious incompetence.
Apparently, the MSM isn't going to make anything of the serious gaffes that point out McCain's inability to keep facts in line, so we can't count on them to be of any help. Certainly their propaganda contracts prohibit calling attention to the truths.
Even McCain's implosions don't get their attention, but in spite of that, he will be completely out of it by the election of his own accord.
He is a disaster, the best example of the disastrous Republican Party. Do you hear that giant flushing sound as the Republicans go down the toilet? Roto rooter got here just in time.
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