(via HuffPo)
Joe Klein confronts Senator McCain on his Obama-Ahmadinejad smear and, while trying to justify it, gets a basic fact about Iranian leadership wrong.
Being that Ahmadinejad is such a villainous figure, John McCain has a vested interest in tying everything having to do with Iran back to him. But the fact is that Ahmadinejad wields much less political power than McCain and other neocons would have you believe. In reality, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is in charge of foreign affairs as well as the controversial nuclear program. But it’s much more effective to link everything back to the Ahmadinejad boogeyman and his anti-Semitic rhetoric. It’s the cheap way out and, therefore, you can expect more of it from the right.
Ilan Goldenberg of the National security Network gets it exactly right:
On top of that as Klein points out, the President’s job is to educate the public on questions of policy. So if the “average American” thinks that Ahmadinejad is the ultimate leader of Iran, it’s up to the President to dissuade them of this notion - not reinforce it. Back in 2002 more then half of Americans thought Saddam was responsible for 9/11 and President Bush did nothing to disprove this assumption (In fact, while never directly claiming that Saddam was responsible for 9/11 the Administration did everything it could to reinforce the notion). That doesn’t mean our policy should be based on those false assumptions.
(Update: Larry Kissell is doing a Blue America live chat on FDL right now.)
No Trackbacks To “McCain Gaffe Watch: Gets another basic Iran fact wrong“
Cons don’t need facts.
Gramps wrote the correct answer on his Depends by mistake, he meant to write it on his wrist.
Poor McSenile.
I would be cautious about talking about “anti-semitic rhetoric”.
We are dependent on translations provided by people with agendas.
No more of the Bush agenda!
And those so-called “average Amerikans” would be wrong.
Since when where facts or truth a deterent to BushCo agitprop?
This has been well known by anyone with an ounce of knowledge of the area.
Even Ahmadinejad isn’t the “boogyman” they want you believe he is.
Toastal @ 3:
Interestingly, I commented before seeing this post!
Sure John, just make the shit up as you go. That is so bushie.
And he (McCain) also repeated that proven lie that Ahmandinejad said “wipe them off of the map(Israel)”
This is a lie - that translation was created by MEMRI (organisation of former Israeli inteligence officers).
What Ahmadinejad really said is the following - “the regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time”
Isn’t is scary how McCain is now transforming himself into a smug, self satisfied, “you can’t tell me anything” asshole just like Bush. I swear this guy used to have a shred of humility when he used to speak.
“Klein points out, the President’s job is to educate the public on questions of policy”
Really? I thought it was his job to lie to us and maximize the personal earnings of the republican base.
I bet Karl Rove disagrees as well.
I don’t think he cares … I think he knows the fix is in and he’ll be “elected”
I’m scared for Obama
And so angry at Hillary who is now saying she’ll take this all the way to the convention …
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....02934.html
http://www.americablog.com/200.....ntion.html
She’s Lucy with a the football and everybody (even the Obama campaign who was giving her space to end gracefully) has been Charlie Brown
We have NEVER won an election when there’s been a floor fight!
Anti-semitic rhetoric?
When?
Get it right, anti-Zionist rhetoric.
The politics of the Islamic Republic are convoluted to Byzantine extremes. In the gallery of Middle Eastern regimes, Iran is the most democratic. Much more so than our puppet Iraqi government and our ally Saudi Arabia. And even Khomeini of Iran was an order of magnitude better than the Shah.
Notice how much is trying to control his temper with the constant blinking and “goofy” (my value judgement) smile.
That was painful to watch for several reasons. First he tries to act like bush by interrupting the question to say he had done some research too. Second when he was found go be dead wrong he tried to justify his mistake by saying that most Americans were just as wrong as he is. He has that same, you can’t tell me anything, attitude just like bush has. He appears to be in constant defensive mode and that’s the last thing we need.
Bombing Iran can’t be laughed off as the mistake of an elderly guy. If McCain thinks he can just ha-ha off every mistake he makes and that we’ll all laugh with him, he’s in for a rude awakening.
I wonder if he has visited all 57 states.
what a retard. A true Bush moment.
Take a Bush,
add 25+ yrs,
through in some balls (the guy did serve),
mix it up - and voila!!!!
Senator McCain!
pissed off patricia @ 16:
True, Patricia. Enough is enough!
Yadda, yadda, yadda…shut up John and just go
suck off your rich wife’s teat, fly around in her
jet and play golf at her country club and leave
us alone you senile old welfare case!
Can we start the debates yet, Dad? Huh, huh, can we??
The “average American” also believes that Obama is a Muslim, that Saddam was responsible for 9/11, that Al Gore thinks he invented the internet, and countless other lies that A-holes like McSame shove down their throats. What exactly is his alternative, BTW? And why isn’t he calling on Bush to fire Rice and Gates for sharing the same view as Obama??
My god, he smirks and laughs just like the Chimp! He’s actually morphing into him.
The GOP would never let silly little facts get in the way of their march to war. They all appear to have some sort of hard-on for nailing Iran….and they’ll do whatever it takes to make that a reality.
The question is, will the American people fall for that bullshit a second time????
#24 The Truth Hurts Says: “The GOP would never let silly little facts get in the way of their march to war. They all appear to have some sort of hard-on for nailing Iran….and they’ll do whatever it takes to make that a reality.
The question is, will the American people fall for that bullshit a second time????
And what makes you think the American will have a choice in the matter at all? From everything I’ve been reading, war with Iran before November is more likely than not. The American people don’t get to vote on it. FWIW…doesn’t even seem that elected members of Congress will have any way to stop it either. That’s how low we have sunk.
gawd @ 23:
He even laughs, tries to belittle the questioner and looks around the room for someone to laugh and agree with him. You are so right we are seeing a morph in motion.
gawd Says: My god, he smirks and laughs just like the Chimp! He’s actually morphing into him.
Republicans got a good thing going with George W. Bush. They morph him as the excellent model of a Republican and keep it going for generations. In the same vein as a popular sitcom, each network keeps copying and morphing their version of the show until all channels have the same show.
“I’m just a patsy” ~ Lee Harvey Oswald
clytemnestra @ 12:
Don’t succumb to fear. Focus on the positive.
Good call Marc. We will win out yet. The good part about this type of stuff is that Obama will save a TON of money putting together commercials. All we have to do is to play back McSame’s words. The stuff writes itself, as Jon Stewart has said.
McBeadyEyes wants to lead us into a war with a country without even knowing who its leaders are. This is easily the most discrediting remark Ive heard from McCain yet. We should keep pressing this issue hard because it will embarrass him, deservingly.
Its as if his entire Iran position depends on sustaining the belief that Khamenei ISNT the leader of the country.
He will take the money and run.Lobbyist money that is!
Anti-Zionism is not Anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is a despicable form of racism. Anti-Zionism is a political position that should be held by anyone who believes in democracy for all people, not just those of a particular religion or ethnic group.
McCain is a fool and blusters like a fool. Funny how all would-be tyrants bluster like buffoons.
MikeF @ 30:
So true, Mike, and we desparately need to keep laughing! It really helps in staying well these days…
If reporters continue to call him out on his mistakes, count on McCain having a melt down and blowing his top at some reporter. Just hope it’s caught on film.
McInsane can’t even get the zionist neocon script right, what a joke!
” But the fact is that Ahmadinejad wields much less political power than McCain and other neocons would have you believe. In reality, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is in charge of foreign affairs as well as the controversial nuclear program”
um…in fact and reality this isn’t true either. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei very often finds his edicts watered down, delayed, or downght ignored. since the revolution, the “supreme leaders” powers have been usurped by power blocks such as bureaucrats, merchants, military, secular politicians , clerics, revolutionary guards, and a few others all vying for their own interests and requiring bakseesh.
iran is actually not the monolithic dictatorship it seems to be.
False assumptions? Isn’t that the Repubilican platform?
from the blog entry-
What’s “controversial” about it ? , we know they halted there weapons program in 2003, and they’re allowed nuclear power due to them being signatories to the NPT. The Iranians have done nothing wrong.
Barack Obama’s gaffes
http://article.nationalreview......dkMDEzMGQ0
dem primary isn’t even over, and mccain’s ship has practically sunk already….
the guy is about as dumb as bush, and as corrupt as murtha and delay,
the only fools voting for mccain are racists and/or bush’s 29 percenters
from here on out, mccains only position will be ‘i was tortured’….as he can appeal to nothing but voter’s sense of pity….
I GUESS IF MOST AMERICANS THINK THERE ARE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION IN IRAQ…..
………………………………..NAH…. THAT COULD NEVER HAPPEN
Yeah, McCain says “if you ask any average American who the leader of Iran is they know it is Ahmadinejad”.
Yes, he is correct. And if you ask these same dim witted religious freaks who perpetrated 9-11 they will tell you it was Iraq and Sadam Hussain.
Everybody get ready for president McCain. He can’t loose in this country.
I don’t think John McCain is the Repub nominee by accident.
Just sayin….
McCain’s logic that “the average American knows….” is a moot point…. I mean, you could say this as well, “the average american knows that Saddam orchestrated 9/11″, OR “the average American knows that there are still WMDS in Iraq”, OR that “the average american knows that we were greeted as Liberators in IRaq”….so if you catch my drift, you can not base your policies on what the so-called “average american” knows. Cause, to be true, “the average american” does NOT do their homework when it comes to history, policy, and the world. The “average american” is caught up between Seasons of Laguna Beach, the Hills, Real WOrld, and American Idol.
So, Please Mc’Cane’, if anything, your policy is faulted and demented as it is by your upper Neo-Con pimps, please dont perverse it even more with listening to the “average america”, wanna know why? Because the “average american” elected Bush two times in a row, regardless of his shortcomings, his war crimes, and his contempt for the “average american”
thanks
Ciao
John McCain is just like Jesus except different, in the way he is determined to start a huge war for no obvious reason. I’m not comparing him to Jesus, I’m just saying there was Jesus, and then there is John McCain.
McCain acknowldged that Iran is a democracy whose president is elected by the people of Iran.
Here’s why neither McCain nor anyone else (including Obama and Clinton and Bush) can or will do that…because if they say that Ayatollah Khamenei is the supreme power in Iran, than they would also have to take note of the fact that that same Ayatollah Khamenei has issued a fatwa against the possession of nuclear weapons. And there would go the principal rationale for making Iran the bogeyman du jour. So you will most definitely not hear them mentioning his name.
It’s similar to our regime. GWB is not the real leader. Just follow those marionette strings. They lead right to Cheneys office.
Ronald McDonald has no real power. The President has become merely a spokesman.
If elected President, I promise to be just as misinformed as the average US citizen.
Holy fuck this guy is ignorant.
I mean if you were a lobbyist and you had a choice who would you rather have face time with, the prez or Dick Cheney?