John McCain, gaffe machine?
By Steve Benen Friday Jul 25, 2008 7:30am
Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei have an interesting item in the Politico the other day that generated quite a bit of attention, about John McCain’s series of verbal “gaffes.”
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said “Iraq” on Monday when he apparently meant “Afghanistan”, adding to a string of mixed-up word choices that is giving ammunition to the opposition.
Just in the past three weeks, McCain has also mistaken “Somalia” for “Sudan,” and even football’s Green Bay Packers for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Ironically, the errors have been concentrated in what should be his area of expertise: foreign affairs.
In a sense, “gaffe” is overly forgiving. It implies that McCain means to say the right thing, but tends to misspeak. I don’t see it that way at all. “Gaffe” suggests McCain knows what he’s talking about, but is burdened by the occasional embarrassing verbal faux pas.
But that’s not the real story here. The important point is that McCain, most, seems hopelessly clueless and confused. That’s far more significant than the occasional “gaffe.”
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Good Morning!
I don't know what his problem might be. I know he appears nervous and that plus his age may be the cause. Then the other problem may be as you say, he just isn't real bright.
I'm afraid a sympathy factor may be tossed in soon and any time someone criticizes him they will be accused of being mean to him and disrespectful of his age. That will probably start just before the debates so everyone will be watching and if Obama is doing well and McCain isn't, the word will be that Obama was taking advantage of McCain's age and "condition".
McStain ought to voluntarily subject himself to a battery of psychological and psycho-biological exams to PROVE he's not in pre-senescent dementia.
Obama could submit to the same battery of tests, so it wouldn't look prejudicial.
And then take himself the fuck out of the race and into a nursing home for damaged aviators...the ones who lived weren't very good pilots anyway...
In #2, reverse graf order, 2, for 3...
What's significant, is the corporate media providing cover for him.
His age isn't a problem; his dementia is.
Not to mention McCains very alarming confusion about the leadership of Iran
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/20/mccain-confronted-with-ne_n_102...
McCain is probably pre-Alzheimers. Added to this he is by his own admission not very bright, he graduated in the bottom 5 from his class at Annapolis. And like Bush, if he were not a legacy, he might have a hard time getting into junior college.
Great qualifications for another 8 years, eh?
What really makes one wonder is why the press is being so respectful of McCain. Knowing what incredible damage one "C student" has done to the country in the last 8 years, can they really hope to continue this for another 8 years? It's pure madness.
CruzBustamove @ 4:
"Significant?" What ELSE were they gonna do. Their revenues this year DEPEND on their being a "RACE FOR THE WHITEHOUSE." If one of the candidates--especially the one favored by your pay-master and board of directors-- is a spavined, sway-backed, broken-down nag, the race doesn't look all that appealing. So you feed the nag some steroids. He'll run for a while, but a breakdown is inevitable.
Probably (unfortunately), however, McStain'll be in the Oval Office when the total collapse comes...
In the case of the Steelers-Packers comment, McCain did not commit a gaffe. To be charitable, he embellished a previously told story in order to better impress a local audience in Pennsylvania. To be more blunt, he lied in an effort to pander to his listeners.
He's got a lousy memory and he's shameless. He forgot that he went campaigning in Europe around a month ago before criticizing Obama yesterday for doing the same. He forgot that he didn't visit the troops in Germany during his time in Europe, because of Pentagon regulations, before he let his surrogates attack Obama for doing the same.He forgot he was against Obama and Maliki's timetables for withdrawal from Iraq before endorsing them; and the list goes on and on.
@ 10, Eric:
I been a daily marijuana smoker for nigh onto 40 years, and my memory's not as fucked-up as Bombin Johnny's...ummmm, what was the question?
woody, tokin librul @ 11:
The question was, where did I put the lighter?
He's more of a guffaw machine.
This guy is just as intellectually incurious as Bush. That's the real problem; and it's a problem for America. You need a leader that actually takes the time to learn about other countries and current technologies like the toobz.
McCain's VCR is still blinking 12:00 and he doesn't care to learn these new fangled doodads. My dad is exactly the same; but he isn't running for President.
What is true is that, just as in the case of Bush-league, we have yet another pampered, privileged, "connected", brat who partied away his youth, failing to make the slightest use of the extremely limited "intelligence" they were born with, and later in life discovered that politics was the best way for chronic losers to get ahead... by kissing corporate ass. In McCain's case, you can add senile psychotic to the formula... Lord, what a collection of barf bags!!!
McCain has an invisible protective shield known as "POW hero". No one can penetrate that shield or else they are accused of not being respectful of his "service" to the country. I imagine that shied will be his saving grace, if he has one.
I remember seeing a Bill Maher show with Dana Priest from Washington Post. She said they really were gaffes from McCain... Public speaking nervousness or whatever. She said he was very well informed whenever he was in meetings and such. I used to want to believe that, when I thought there'd be a civil campaign and such romantic drivel...
The amount of gaffes is just increasing, and it's worrisome how his mistakes don't get any exposure. In the end, Obama will have everything to lose from a gaffe, while for McCain it'll be just another day.
Among my crowd of over-50 friends, we call these 'senior moments', and they are very much a sign of the disassociation that becomes part of an aging mind. Lots of mental exercise is a good preventive measure, and keeps the person sharp. Lots of handling by others makes the person fail more and more.
pissed off patricia @ 16:
Yep. Not invisible, though. He does everything he can to highlight it. The word's "invincible" or mebbe "impenetrable". But he's gonna ride that fucker into the Oval Office, I am gravely afeared...The media neither can (prohibitions from above) nor may (rightard antipathy) call attentio to the obvious. Obama won't, for the same reasons.
It will not matter that he's an incompetent, demented sociopath. We're used to that by now.
This is W A S F radio and WTFU Teevee, returning you to your regularly scheduled mind-numbing.
gaffe =McCain
"Sorry about the McCain I made. I should have said red instead of blue."
"Did I just say that? Sorry about the McCain."
"I would never vote for anyone who has so McCains"
It really is hard to tell if he is confused, dumb, or just a pandering liar. (I'd go for all three)
If he hadn't been such a lousy pilot we would have never heard of him.
OK, I have a rather crude suggestion. Instead of politely calling them "gaffes", let's use the term, "McCain's f*ckups".
McCain was such a f*ckup he nearly got bounced from Annapolis. McCain f*cked up and got his ass shot down. McCain f*cked up the difference between Shiites and Sunnis.
See how easy and much more relavant "f*ckup" is than "gaffe"?
A gaffe is when a politician accidentally tells the truth -- not something that can be applied to McCain during this campaign cycle.
So let's be plain. McCain is either a liar or a dope -- in his stated area of expertise: foreign policy.
McCain could be like Yeltsin in a few years:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/190000/images/_191133_yeltsin_supported_by...
Actually, I just thought of a killer campaign slogan for him.
"John McCain: blinking twelve into the twenty-first century!"
Just like with Bush (McSame) the bar is set low for him and most of his gaffs are excused. As long as
he is given a pass he will be able to lie, make errors, etc. and his keepers (surrogates) will spin their
way out of everything. Bottom line is that if you don't like Obama then McCain gets every break
possible. The bigger question is why don't people like Obama. Is it something other than his ideas,
and plans, which are a hell of a lot clearer than McSame's mumbles and bumbles?
America needs, and deserves a person who can think on his feet. The world does not need to swap from a dumb republican to a dithering old republican.
What's really alarming is the fact that Obama and McCain are neck and neck in the polls with Obama leading by a mere 6 or 8 points.
Are people in this country that dumb? How can the MSM get away with all their covering up for this idiot?
the strength of the republican campaigns is they know how to take your strong suit and make it seem like a weakness.
I'm surprised people in the Obama campaign have not taken this opportunity to attack mccain where everyone thinks he's strong. There should be ads created about how mccain is an empty suit.
We've had a president who has not been intelligent enough to understand the world, who has been too stupid to make decisions on his own, and who has been manipulated by his advisors time and time again. We can't afford another president who needs advisors to whisper into his ears, to correct his mistakes.
we need someone who is intelligent and has good judgment. So far, I've been very disappointed at the Obama campaign's ability to produce an offensive against john mccain, especially when there is so much material to work from. to me, this signals danger for november.
People who complain about Obama's inexperience should have the 2008 choice explained as such: either pick the guy with inexperience but full mental capacity vs. the guy with experience but a declining mental capacity. I'd rather have Obama in this situation...
the MSM can only cover up for mccain so much. at some point Obama needs to overhaul his entire press strategy and find someone who can work better with the press, like it or not.
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=6e9f4a42-9540-4d99-aba2-25adc2...
we cannot shut the press out and then expect good coverage. he needs a press strategist who knows that.
Don't you understand that gaffe means you got caught saying what you actually meant or that your handlers told you that you screwed up. It means verbal do-over. Got it?
McCain's early stage dementia was on full display yesterday during his interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN. One example here: http://www.tagg-lines.com/2008/07/mccain-300-barrel-oil-fine-by-me.html And another here: http://www.tagg-lines.com/2008/07/just-asking_26.html
Sorry....that was supposed to be done as a Permalink...maybe I've got early Saturday morning dementia.
"hopelessly clueless and confused"
Sounds like somebody else who's spent time in the white house recently!
My dad makes similar gaffes and I just look at him with compassion and love and say " Damn dad you f*ucked that all it, can't take you no where".
TAGG @ 32:
Wow even Bush wasnt that stupid. Move the embassy to Jerusalem and we can all kiss the peace process good bye
rce @ 28:
I absolutely agree and my one hope is that this is still early for the hard hitting stuff and MAYBE in September and October what you're looking for will come out from the soft Dems or some groups that can't/won't believe that McCain could actually become the next President. This SHOULD be an Obama cakewalk!
mcworse is only concerned with one thing: getting through whatever press function he has to perform -- which means saying whatever he thinks he needs to say to win over whomever he thinks his current audience is. pulling off this strategy of course depends on not having to revisit any of his past statements.
with that, mcworse has bought himself two problems. the first is the self-contradictory tightrope he needs to walk in order to distance himself from the chimperor while courting his kool-aid reeking minions. he's virtually required to contradict himself daily trying to sell a vision already recognized as thoroughly bankrupt. he's basically selling rides on the hindenburg.
the second is the aggressive pushback and documentation of his flip-flop-flipovers by both the obama camp and a newly organized and energized left, who are making it harder and harder for the press to intercept flak for mcworse.
and on top of all this, he's a terrible and uninspiring public speaker competing with an acknowledged master. fortunately for the left, it looks like mcworse is the very best the gop will have to offer for a few more election cycles. welcome to the permanent republican minority.
Following Barack O'Star's Berlin trip, McCain is planning to launch his Vietnam campaign tour tomorrow. He intends to emphasize the threat posed by Czechoslovakistan and its Arab neighbor Iranistan, which are both in cahoots with Shia al Qaeda in Rhodesia.
You cannot call it early senility when someone's as old as this geezer is.
I'm just as worried about the Florida/Pakistan border as anyone else.
The Coke/Pepsi TasteTest Election of 2008 doesn't seem to have fizz left....one man giving inspiring JFKesque speeches to literally thousands around the globe, and the other STILL can kick his ass or make it close enough to steal......why are the world's citizens so overwhelmingly different than US?
Lilybelle @ 31:
He called his wife a trollop, when he probably meant tulip. Then he called her a c*nt, when he really meant c*nt.
There's Iraq, the quagmire.
Then there's McCain trying to describe the chronology of events in Iraq. Another quagmire.
Parallel quagmires.
curtilingus Says
I’m just as worried about the Florida/Pakistan border as anyone else.
I'm setting up an outpost at the Florida / South Carolina border to keep Lindsey Graham out. We don't need him getting Mark Foley and Bob Allen all excited, if you know what I mean.
ConcernedCanuck @ 42:
The US voided Darwinian processes long ago, our dumb are breeding and thriving.
Also we have devolved to a point in which large portions of this country see intelligence as a handicap...
ConcernedCanuck @ 42:
Simple, the US is ill-informed with a bad education system, plus with the added "bonus" of having enough wealth, size, and power that even events north and south of the border are unknown to most Americans. I bet you most Americans couldn't name the Canadian PM (Harper) or the Mexican President (Calderon), whereas in the parts of the world Obama's visited, I bet you that the French not only know who the leaders of Germany (Merkel) or Spain (Zapatero) are, but can speak German and Spanish, as well. It all comes down to education and necessity of Joe Sixpack to know what goes on, as opposed to Hermann Sixpack, or Henri Sixpack's both needing to keep tabs on events in neighboring countries.
The Dude @ 46:
I dislike psuedoeugenics comments, whether they come from right or left. Leave the eugenics in the past, we have no need to bring that particular zombie out of the grave searching for brains.
So John McCain created the non-existent Iraq-Pakistan border.
Well, thank God we can all rest assured that a majority of US voters would NEVER vote in a presidential candidate who mirrors their own profound ignorance of basic global geography.
And a majority of US voters would NEVER vote in a presidential candidate who mirrors their own profound lack of a basic vocabulary with which to accurately describe the world around them.
I mean, THAT just wouldn't happen. It wouldn't be logical.
Once this ignorance and confusion is simply revealed and explained to "the American people" (consumerized TeeVee mass market data points) by all the smart kids in class, then OF COURSE U.S. voters will reject such a candidate as being TOO MUCH like themselves.
I'm equally certain that "the American people" would never reelect such an ignorant putz, especially if his own actions in office had already proven himself to be a corrupt and craven ignoramus (the very worst kind of ignoramus).
Just give "the American people" the unvarnished facts (frames don't matter, do they? don't listen to that George Lakoff), and they will embrace peace and justice automatically. It's happened before SO MANY times in U.S. history.
Saint Augustine @ 45:
I didn't know Bob Allen was a bone smoker.
In fact, I didn't know who Bob Allen was until today.
Keep up the vigil St Augustine!
PS Amelia Island rocks!
I worry these gaffes might be more than just gaffes. I think it has something to do with his age. We need to make sure of his health issues. Listen I am a senior citizen.
This episode shows that McCain is willing to do anything to win this election...he learned the wrong things from his own '00 experience... http://www.enewsreference.com
Someone should check and see if this unqualified old fool can fill out a simple job application by himself.
Doesn't matter. The corporate media gets McCain elected, the U.S. finally collapses and becomes a prvince of China, we revolt and start all over. Americas is D E A D.
Scy @ 54:
Huh? What? The Yellow Peril is now a zombie hungering for brains? Jesus, no wonder eugenics is a joke, it seems some commentors still believe in the 19th Century worldview, progressive-style (where it was Asia that was the bugaboo, not Africa.)
You don't have to be smart to be president of the United States. In fact the dumber you are the better. You don't need to have ideas, the big companies lobbyists will tell you what you need to say and do. The rest of the time you enjoy yourself, you spend half your time in vacations and wait for your retirement where you will get huge compensations from your corporate friends for the good job you made for them....
Benen: Get off McCain's lawn! Leave the old man alone.
You'd get confused, too, if campaigning cut into your nap times.
John "I Invented the Surge and Don't You Ever Forget It!" McGaff is easily confused. Instead of campaigning for the most powerful office on the planet he should be playing bridge with his fellow seniors at a nice, quiet nursing home.
Couric asks if the money would have been better spent on Afghanistan etc! Now how can those two journalists claim McCain said "Iraq" instead of Afghanistan? Makes no sense. We aren't that stupid! It only makes sense that he mispoke by referring to Iraq as being the first major conflict since 9/11! I'm getting sick to death of the spin on McCain's gaffes, and the bastards who are right there to help push the bullshit! Allen and Vandehei should be ashamed! That's an insult to our intelligence! Listen carefully to the exchange!
These aren't "gaffes"...the man is an IDIOT!
I don't believe there is one single reason for all these "gaffes". Part is intelligence (as in lack of), part age, part frustration at Obama's successes, part buried rage (probably due to PTSD). There's probably a lot of other stuff thrown in for good measure as well.
The telling thing is to look at the man's eyes. Every time I see the intelligence of Bush but with a huge load of anger. This may not be a scientific method but it has worked pretty well for me. I was worried about Bush from the start. All I could see was an idiot. When I look at McCain's eyes I see an angry idiot. I don't know about you, but that prospect scares the shit out of me.
The bush campaign staff has rolled over into the McCain campaign staff and has introduced McCain version 4.0. The violent subroutine has been been removed and replaced with a whining subroutine. They made this enhancement because the media has squelched his constant statement screw-ups to protect their corporate interests. Also in this version, the free trade program has
been enhanced, the link to the Phil Gramm program has been encrypted, and more links have been added to the oil companies executive shell with a background multi-threaded trojan linking directly to Steve Schmidt which in turn links to the Karl Rove virus. This version crashes just like the previous and is full of bugs like usual. No ones buying this crappy product either.
Obama is too well-informed and too well-spoken. He's just an elitist! I want to drink a beer with good old boys that don't talk so fancy...you know, like Dubya and McSame! Yeah. Right.
Even Fox News has noticed McCain's "gaffes"
Obama Looks Forward, Sees Foreign Policy Path Strewn With McCain Mistakes
http://bourbonroom.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/07/26/obama-looks-forward-sees...
curtilingus says
PS Amelia Island rocks!
Amelia Island is OK but St. Augustine is really a crazy place. It was here that Spaniard Pedro Menendez began the first fight between Europeans on American soil. We named our little river the Mantanzas, the massacre, in honor of the 200 French Protestants murdered in the name of god and king.
While there are not that many Spanish people here now, republiscums have kept up the fight against tolerence, freedom and accountability.
One thing I like here is never having to shovel snow, but with what Chimpy's administration has done to the environment I am concerned about the next hurricane to visit the area.
Left&Left @ 54:
McCain wouldn't know what a job application is. He thinks a job is something that your rich wife or your powerful daddy provides for you.
McGaff strikes again! This has got to be gaff #100 and major gaff #13.
See, if this were John Kerry, the MSM wouldn't be calling him a major candidate anymore. They'd be interviewing Nadar or someone else. But no...McCain votes for the telecoms and the media on a consistent basis on the Hill, when he shows up to vote (which apparently isn't very often). They scratch his back he scratches theirs.
Whats interesting is how the MSM was willing to overlook all of Bush's verbal gaffes yet seems to be noticing McCain's. And I think this points out a fundamental flaw in MSM thinking: They don't report what they expect. Bush was known to be an idiot so when he acted like one, no one bothered focusing on it. McCain is supposed to be the straight-talker but when he deviates from the narrative it gives the MSM to hoot about, hopping around like monkeys.
[Deleted. Blogwhoring-Sitemonitor]
Our local news in Portland reported that Obama crowd in Berlin were only estimated at 10,000 people. My room mate saw it either on CBS or NBC. I would like to see what other's have reported or seen reported on their station. if this is true we need to document it.
Getting senile while in the White House is forgivable, but electing a senile and confused person is idiotic
How about a new bumper sticker? Let's Lose This One For The Gaffer.
Not so paranoia
I have family in Berlin who went to see Obama and the crowd was larger than the reported 200,000
Carol@74: I too have a daughter residing in Berlin, and she reports that the
head-count "guesstimate/estimate" (by local's doing the counting)was somewhere
in the neighborhood of 150K to 175K.. Definitetly substantially more than the 3 to 5
in the cheese section of a grocery store where McShame gave his version of how
"his' presurge, predated the insurgency surge that came before the surge which
followed the presurge surge; resulting in his surge being successful.
I just went pee pee. Now my pants smell like pee pee.
i've said it before, and i know it sounds insensitive, but i genuinely believe the old coot was hand-picked by the g.o.p. because his experiences in 'nam prepared him for the @$$-whuppin' obama's gonna administer come fall.
and i genuinely pray maverick wheezes to the finish line maintaining some degree of dignity.
you think it's easy being the fall guy for the entire neocon racket? YOU try it sometime...
Apparently the spineless and pity-potty MSM (exception KO and Maddow)are applying a lower expectation with Grandpa than with Obama. Kind of like what you expect when you listen to an ad lib talk from Gov. bush/Curious George.
I certainly don't want a worsening whiney and cantankerous old woman-like politician, who can't remember what he said a day earlier leading the free world. So far I don't see that he can handle ANYTHING, be it criticism or a lake of attention.
We just had to know that Justin
GOD I am so SICK TO DEATH of the same old GOP LIES AND BLATHER.... same schpeal, different suit... year after every friggin YEAR!
Rene ala carte @ 21:
That's what I love (sarcasm) about the republican party. They don't just pull crap out of the bottom of the barrel, they go for the slime growing under it!
McCain barely graduated from his military academy, and he took part in propaganda films for the while imprisoned. He also lied when he was tortured (proving that torture is pretty useless, except to give sadists an erection.).
The man is useless, and a figurehead for evil, greedy, murderous, men.
pissed off patricia @ 16:
exactly.........many americans of a certain demographic
will relate to mcSurge strictly due to his past military
experience of 40 yrs. ago....the (R) have framed this nicely...let's face it's an easy frame....you ask them what they like and/or know about mcBush it will be his military service.
wesley clarke did his best to penetrate that "shield". the (R) knows they have certain amount of votes due to that service....you know this everytime mcGaffe speaks
he reminds us how proud he is of himself.this guy has been in the government his entire life he is out of touch
with the fast paced world.....so many americans are buying into the experience or the lack of experience theme...look into abraham lincoln's pre presidential experience....obama like lincoln because they are/were both intelligent will get very people around them and both good communicators....
bush did two secretive fundraisers this week...obama
isn't just campaigning against mcFlipFlop....he's running
against bush,wall street,military industrial complex and very wealthy elite.....who are concerned that middle class will get a foot hold again for the next 8-12 yrs.
Carol @ 72:
Getting senile while in the white house should be grounds for dismissal.
The presidency is not a fucking social programme for old white rich men.
"But that’s not the real story here. The important point is that McCain, most, seems hopelessly clueless and confused. That’s far more significant than the occasional “gaffe.” "
A corollary to the "important point" is that it appears that McCain doesn't have a grasp of the details, and is therefore going to rely on others to handle the details. Lieberman is gushing over McCain because McCain is going to rely on the neocons for his "rouge state rollback" nation-building initiative. All the while, McCain promises tax cuts, so it's clear that he intends to borrow more and more to pay for his nation building, hence a weaker dollar, more inflation and throw fiscal responsibility out the window. And, he promises more Bush-like judges. Bush-like judges embrace the "unitary executive" theory, which allows the "decider" to suspend the constitution in time of "war". You may recall that Bush says the "war on terror" is sufficient enough to warrent reduced constitutional protections with things like the "patriot Act" and warrentless wiretapping. Of course, all the while, the "War on terror" wasn't so important that it couldn't be put on hold while we nation-build in Iraq. Dragging out the "war on terror" gives the government the excuse for dragging out the war against the constitution. I think we're one Supreme Court justice short of a "unitary executive" majority.
All in all, McCain looks like a continuation of Bush since he hasn't a good enough grasp of the details, and is going to rely on the same people Bush did. I think he pictures himself as a grand old cheerleader.
tread softly on this one...
Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama made a gaffe on the campaign trail Friday when he suggested at a luncheon hosted by the Cuban American National Foundation that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez came to power while George W. Bush was in the White House.
Chavez was first elected president in 1998, and reelected in 2000, both occurring while Bill Clinton was serving his second term.
B.O. also said that we do not have enough interpreters in Afghanistan because they are all working in Iraq. He is obviously unaware that the Afghans do not speak Arabic.
"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today — our sense of patriotism is particularly strong." BHO
…Obama also spoke about his uncle, who was part of the American brigade that helped to liberate Auschwitz…
Auschwitz of course is in Poland. It was liberated by the Red Army on Jan 27 1945. Poland, on most maps is usually placed to the east of Germany, although we may need to investigate the geography textbooks the Messiah used as a child…
much more...
This dog won't hunt...
Hillary in '08!
scruzman:
Obama never suggested Chavez came to power while GW Bush was in the WH.
What he said was Bush had been preoccupied with Iraq while neglecting the Americas and and that "...Hugo Chavez have stepped in to this vacuum". Seconds later Obama said: "Chavez and his allies are not the only ones filling this vacuum. While the United States fails to address the changing realities in the Americas others from Europe and Asia most notably China, have stepped up their engagement. Iran has drawn closer to Venezuela.".
So you see filling/stepping in to a vacuum doesnt mean "coming to power" ;)
Btw this was more than two months ago. And please quit copypasting from newsbusters
scruzman @ 85:
McCain sucks at what he thinks he's good at. Obama doesn't suck at what he thinks he's good at.
1st Republic 14th Star @9:In the case of the Steelers-Packers comment, McCain did not commit a gaffe. To be charitable, he embellished a previously told story in order to better impress a local audience in Pennsylvania. To be more blunt, he lied in an effort to pander to his listeners.
Exactly. Otherwise, it's kind of a big coincidence that the wrong team he named in front of a PA audience just happened to be a team from their state.
We're losing in Iraq, so why won't Obama give me a cookie for the surge?
I have come to the conclusion that the Repubs do not want to win this election. They want to pile this crapfest on the democrats and will do everything and anything to obstruct any kind of progress. Along with their wholly-owned subsidiary known as the MSM, they will dig up, pick at, and inflate anything that hints at scandal. All to allow one of their dropouts to run in 2012 as the man to clean things up. You just can't convince me that McCain was the best and the brightest that they had to offer.
canary in a coal mine @ 28:
Poll results are dependent on who was asked and how the data is parsed. When you have the ability to pick and choose not only what you ask as well as whom, then you can get any result you want. I tend to ignore crap like this because there is no way to verify its accuracy.
are you sure this guy isn't a jew