likearock 2 #1 March 19, 2008 What a joke. Seems that the candidate who bills himself as best equipped for commander in chief doesn't understand that Al Qaeda and Iran are fighting on different sides. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/mccain-misspeaks-on-iran-al-qaeda/ McCain Misspeaks on Iran, Al Qaeda By Michael Cooper JERUSALEM — Senator John McCain’s trip overseas was supposed to highlight his foreign policy acumen, and his supporters hoped that it would showcase him as a statesman, allowing him to meet with world leaders as the Democrats squabble. But all did not go according to plan on Tuesday in Amman, Jordan, when Mr. McCain, fresh from a visit to Iraq, misidentified some of the key players in the Iraq war. Mr. McCain said several times during his visit to Jordan – during a news conference and a radio interview — that he was concerned that Iran was training members of Al Qaeda in Iraq. The United States believes that Iran, a Shiite country, has been training and financing Shiite extremists in Iraq, but not Al Qaeda, which is a Sunni insurgent group. “We continue to be concerned about Iranian taking Al Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back,’’ Mr. McCain said at the news conference. Asked about that statement, Mr. McCain said: “Well, it’s common knowledge and has been reported in the media that Al Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran. That’s well known. And it’s unfortunate.” It was not until he got a whispered correction from Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, who was traveling with Mr. McCain on the trip, which is a Congressional delegation, that Mr. McCain corrected himself. “I’m sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not Al Qaeda,” he said. Mr. McCain has based his campaign in large part on his assertion that he is the best prepared candidate to deal with Iraq, and the Democrats wasted little time in jumping on his misstatement to question his knowledge and judgment. “After eight years of the Bush Administration’s incompetence in Iraq, McCain’s comments don’t give the American people a reason to believe that he can be trusted to offer a clear way forward,” Karen Finney, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement. “Not only is Senator McCain wrong on Iraq once again, but he showed he either doesn’t understand the challenges facing Iraq and the region or is willing to ignore the facts on the ground.” Mr. McCain made similar comments about Iran training Al Qaeda on Monday in an interview with the Hugh Hewitt Show, a radio program he called into from Amman. “As you know, there are Al Qaeda operatives that are taken back into Iran, given training as leaders, and they’re moving back into Iraq,’’ he said, according to a transcript posted on the show’s Web site. Mr. McCain traveled to Iraq as part of a fact-finding mission with a Congressional delegation, went from there to Jordan, and then here to Israel, where Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum, and met with President Shimon Peres of Israel. Noting that Mr. McCain, and Arizona Republican, had been hopping all over the Middle East, Mr. Peres told him: “I really admire your courage and stamina.’’ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedRacer 1 #2 March 19, 2008 looks like we'll be getting a continuation of the last administration if he gets elected. Speed Racer -------------------------------------------------- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Butters 0 #3 March 19, 2008 Shiites, Sunnis, etc... they're all the same to Neo-Conservatives."That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
idrankwhat 0 #4 March 19, 2008 It was nice of the distinguished senator from Israel to correct him. What do you think? Is Lieberman going to get a State Dept. or Defense Dept. appointment? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jakee 1,500 #5 March 19, 2008 Easily done. I once mixed up the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople with the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople. Boy, was my face red.Do you want to have an ideagasm? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
idrankwhat 0 #6 March 19, 2008 Quote http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/mccain-misspeaks-on-iran-al-qaeda/ McCain Misspeaks on Iran, Al Qaeda Update: Apparently he's specifically "misspoken" three times on the issue. Let's just hope that if he's our next President that he doesn't get confused between IRA(N) and IRA(Q). Or worse yet.....IRA Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,008 #7 March 19, 2008 >I once mixed up the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople with the >Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople. Just don't mix up the People's Front of Judaea with the Judaean People's Front. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
idrankwhat 0 #8 March 19, 2008 Quote Just don't mix up the People's Front of Judaea with the Judaean People's Front. Splitters! People called Romans they go the house! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tkhayes 348 #9 March 19, 2008 half the Americans I know can't tell the difference between a Muslim or a Hindu - is it any wonder that our President does not understand the world? After all, we elected him..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jakee 1,500 #10 March 19, 2008 Quotehalf the Americans I know can't tell the difference between a Muslim or a Hindu - is it any wonder that our President does not understand the world? After all, we elected him..... Wait, McCain got elected already? How'd I miss that!Do you want to have an ideagasm? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,008 #11 March 19, 2008 >Apparently he's specifically "misspoken" three times on the issue. At some point you have to conclude that the guy really thinks that, and it's not just an error. Oh well. Not really an issue; the president doesn't need to know such things. It's not like a priest at his church said something discriminatory. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #12 March 19, 2008 Headline shock.. "Politician gets stuff wrong" (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkyDekker 1,465 #13 March 20, 2008 To me it is completely incomprehensable that the Presidential Candidate for the Republican party has such a profound lack of understanding of what is going on in Iraq. This is not somebody misspeaking, this is a statement that shows he doesn't have a clue about what is going on. What I understand even less, is that most people who will vote for him could care less. How can you keep voting for people who are obviously oblivious and stupid? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
idrankwhat 0 #14 March 20, 2008 Quote How can you keep voting for people who are obviously oblivious and stupid? Habit? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pirana 0 #15 March 20, 2008 I say tomato, You say tomato." . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skydyvr 0 #16 March 20, 2008 QuoteHow can you keep voting for people who are obviously oblivious and stupid? 'cause that's all that seems to get to the finals. Broken system. . . =(_8^(1) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
