I know the two Democratic presidential candidates seem inclined to go after one another right now, but the more they criticize John McCain, the better it is for the party and our chances of winning in November.
At a news conference in Amman, McCain said Iran supported the Sunni group al Qaeda in Iraq, until he was corrected by a colleague. U.S. officials believe predominantly Shi’ite Iran has been backing Shi’ite extremists in Iraq, not al Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni group.
It was the first stumble of note that McCain has made since clinching the Republican presidential nomination early this month, and Obama quickly pounced on it.
“Just yesterday, we heard Senator McCain confuse Sunni and Shi’ite, Iran and al Qaeda,” Obama said.
“Maybe that is why he voted to go to war with a country that had no al Qaeda ties. Maybe that is why he completely fails to understand that the war in Iraq has done more to embolden America’s enemies than any strategic choice that we have made in decades,” the Illinois senator said.
When McCain gives them a golden opportunity — such as repeatedly screwing up the basics of Iraq, Iran, and al Qaeda — it’s important to take advantage.
Mark Kleiman added, “Given McCain’s buffoonish performance in Jordan, wouldn’t this be a good time for Hillary Clinton to say, ‘Gee, I thought he was ready to be Commander-in-Chief, but it sure doesn’t sound like it. The least we should expect from the President is some basic knowledge about who our enemies are.’”
No Trackbacks To “Obama hits McCain on al Qaeda gaffe“
McCain hits back, “me and Al go way back”
This is a job well-done by Obama. Hammer McCain every time he makes stupid mistakes like this. If Obama made the same mistakes the headlines would all be questioning his “inexperience” instead of his senility or outright ignorance.
RHM
Feet to the fire!
Joe Lieberman’s public correction of McIDontGiveaShiite may be the only positive thing he has ever done for the Democratic Party–and that was only inadvertantly
AP - 7 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has told Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton that her passport file was breached in 2007.
L.A. Confidential @ 5:
????????????????
What the F is going on here people?
L.A. Confidential @ 5:
just saw that. fucking ridiculous. i wonder how many millions of others’ passports have been ‘breached’.
“I know the two Democratic presidential candidates seem inclined to go after one another right now, but the more they criticize John McCain, the better it is for the party and our chances of winning in November.”
Shouldn’t that read, “The better it is for the country…”?
I think that it would be wonderful for Clinton to admit the mistake and now say that McCain isn’t fit to be Commander-in-Chief. And do you know how I would celebrate such an admission by her? I’d get a ladder and climb up on the roof of my house and clean off the pig sh*t, because you know that there’d be some up there on that day.
Speaking of “basic knowledge of who are enemies are”, why won’t either of the Democratic candidates point a finger at any of this:
www.asecondlookatthesaudis.com
And then maybe at this, to drive the point home:
abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=4228113&page=3
killthepoor @ 7:
in other news, i can’t leave my house until at least sunday because i’m flooded in on all four sides. and with our dsl box entirely under water, i have no idea how my internet is still working.
killthepoor @ 7:
Don’t worry, it was done by 3 low level contractors. Does anyone have a problem with that analogy now?
killthepoor @ 7:
Actually now I’m waiting for the McMSM to put out “Clinton passport files breached by former Obama staffers”
killthepoor @ 11:
Oh shit! That sucks!!! Your house ain’t floodin is it?
And this passport thing…mayhap another nail in the GOP coffin?
Yes, Hillary, please give me at one scrap of evidence that I didn’t waste my vote last month. Throw this back in McLame’s face right now.
[grimly wishing I had either voted for Kucinich to make a point or just for Obama outright]
Not only do Obama and Hillary need to attack, but Howard Dean needs to unleash some Democratic attack dogs. What ever happened to Paul Hackett? It seems like any time the party gets somebody working for them with any rea balls, they just shut them up.
I like Obama’s approach on this one and he needs to keep hitting him on it as this is McCain’s apparent strong point. McCain is trying to make himself out to be some hardcore military genius which clearly he is not. Obama needs to link all of McCain’s past screw ups regarding Iraq to show that McCain is in fact incompetent and a novice. With this screw up, McCain has proven that he doesn’t even know the basics about who is associated to whom in Iraq. Without that knowledge, you will certainly lose.
Next, Obama would be wise to hammer McCain on the economy. McCain has no experience in this area and if Obama can, he can wipe the floor with McCain. There is after all, more to being a President than just talking tough.
If the contest for the White House followed the rules of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” John McCain would be going home empty-handed. At last four times in the past month, George W. Bush’s would-be Republican successor sounded the alarm over a non-existent Al Qaeda-Iran alliance in Iraq. But for a lifeline from Joe Lieberman, McCain would have been booted off the stage by now.
For the details, see:
“Four Strikes and You’re Out: McCain on Al Qaeda and Iran.”
L.A. Confidential @ 6:
What exactly are the full ramifications of this sort of breach? What kind of info can be obtained? What kind of mischief can be created with the information?
Does Barak even know what an AK-47 is or looks like?
Coming from a Muslim with the middle name Hussein, it’s hard to argue with his expertise.
wink
chris @ 20:
And this is relevant how, exactly?
killthepoor @ 7:
my knowledge of internal state dept rules and regs is not that extensive… but i seem to recall that a ’security alert’ will only be issued if the passport data of people of certain standing (see rich, powerful) is breached. in other words, the little people (you, me, etc.) would never know, and there isn’t a system in place to see if contractors or SD employees are checking out our data. so, to answer your question, i don’t think your question is answerable, if that makes sense.
Obama should ignore Billary and keep hammering Mc-Inane.
If Clinton did that, she’d have to admit that her endorsement of McCain was wrong, and so was her Iraq vote. But, as we all know, she’s too serious and experienced to admit that.
Hillary can’t say that, or it would undermine her atrocious argument that Obama is the least qualified of the three candidates to be president. Let’s not let what might be good for the country get in the way of a “scorched Earth” policy.
liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 14:
my house will be fine. i’m on a hill. roads are blocked though. i live in eureka, mo by the way.
chris @ 20:
Do you even know who he is? Seeing that you can’t spell his name, I’ll bet there’s a lot you don’t know (about him).
chris @ 20:
OB’s credibility is shot on this one: He called the “Prime Minister of Canada” the “President” of Canada”. Duhh
Bonkers Hussein @ 19:
What I see is brazen right in peoples faces media and political manipulation and brainwashing. Notice how this is all targeted at the Dem race?
Divide and Conquer elevated to a High Art Form and people don’t even see it.
Dark Dark Times we live in.
liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 22:
This is what the enemy uses.. Barak is not in a position to speak on national security, he needs to stick to the social programs.
Yep Obama should take every oppurtunity every McCain fcuk up and use it against him. Especially to question McCains alledged foreign policy expertise.
McCain has made this repeatedly. Either it’s intentional or its’ not.
If it’s intentional, it’s downright Cheneyesque deceit and manipulation.
If it’s not intentional, then you have to wonder — three times! — whether McCain is mentally competent to be taking any of those 3 a.m. calls.
Either of these disqualifies McCain for the job.
They also cast serious doubt on Hillary Clinton’s judgment, once more, for suggesting that McCain has passed the Commander-in-Chief threshold.
liberalHUSSEINmoderation @ 22:
It doesn’t have to be relevant for chris. He suffers from Tourettes Commenting Syndrome.
Too late, I’m afraid. Hillary’s previous statement that only MCain and her can be a good CiC will be staring in future GOP 30 sec. ads attacking Obama.
RancidVenison @ 28:
Chris is a troll, who’s unemployed, living at home and loves being abused by us.
Samson- @ 23:
They can read our emails, listen to our phone calls, access our bank and credit records without a warrant. They can invade our homes without informing us. They can detain us indefinitely without charge, render us to another country and torture us….
now… with this “gaffe” (and i am still in the camp that does NOT believe this was a gaffe)
this is a HUGE issue, imho.
i have seen the likes of joe ‘the squint’ scarborough and tucker ‘where has my show gone’ carlson poo-poo this supposed “gaffe.” as if questioning mccain’s claimed-expertise on foreign affairs is, somehow, beyond the pale. it is laughable to them that someone would call into question the amount of mccain’s knowledge on international issues. and, to me, this is further indication that he is weak, and his journalistic allies are trying to shield him.
again, don’t take the excuse that this was a “gaffe” seriously. it happened too many times, and it helps further one of his main policy goals: attacking iran.
of course, though, the media continues to rail about obama and pastor wright. my response to that is ‘hagee-parsley-robertson’….
scruzman @ 29:
Getting the title of another leader wrong is one thing and is easily corrected. Not knowing who is backing who in a conflict area is dangerous especially if you are the that will be giving those same troops in that conflict area their orders.
The bar for “least we should expect” from a president has been lowered by a not insubstantial margin in the last eight years.
Arizona @ 33:
“…the more they criticize John McCain, the better it is for the party and our chances of winning in November.”
No, If HRC doesn’t go after Obama, then there is no November for her. Obama should stick to McCain.
chris @ 20:
Of course, everyone with Hussein for a middle, first or last name knows. Arabs are born with AK-47s in their hands ready for Jihad at a moment’s notice. [/snark]
Here’s Israel’s version of The Onion trying to combat racial profiling among police in Israel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYuL6S4e64g
If I were running against McCain for Prez, I could run with an ad campaign of nothing but McCain clips and statements.
chris @ 20:
Given that Barak was a military commander, I’d say the odds are high. But given that Barak is a biblical figure, I’d say the odds are low. I guess I don’t really know, but my post is still more useful than yours.
linky
Leslie @ 37:
I thought passport info was largely innocuous. What is it that they’re looking for in there?
From a cnn email
“The State Department confirms John McCain’s passport file was breached as well as Obama and Clinton’s files.”