Good news: Another Al Qaeda-related McCain gaffe
posted at 2:42 pm on April 8, 2008 by Allahpundit
And the DNC pounces. The clip is ambiguous: You can read it either as him quickly correcting himself or just sort of “covering his bases” by naming both major sects in Iraq, secure in the knowledge that AQ must belong to one of them. Goldfarb gives him the benefit of the doubt and points to a (common semantic) flub this morning by Ted Kennedy as tit for tat. That’s fine — I’ve played that game myself — but these repeated stumbles on a subject that goes to the core of his foreign policy credibility are becoming, shall we say, problematic. Memo to Team McCain: Someone had better pull him aside and run through the nuts and bolts of Sunnis, Shia, Wahhabism, and Al Qaeda just to make sure he’s up to speed, because with every new correction Obama’s inexperience looks less troublesome.
Blowback
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thuja:
Who made this decision?
dave742 on April 8, 2008 at 4:31 PM
reminds me of our two party system here in America.
crr6 on April 8, 2008 at 4:36 PM
Conservatives in general believe in the intelligence of the people and their abilities to make good decisions. Liberals in general think the average person is stupid and needs the government to take care of them and make decisions for them.
TheBigOldDog on April 8, 2008 at 4:36 PM
I’m still trying to get over our current leader’s inability to speak clearly and intelligently. I shudder every time these guys mess up. McCain made an innocent enough slip and this wasn’t nearly as bad as the earlier series of cock-ups.
lexhamfox on April 8, 2008 at 4:37 PM
I believe in the intelligence of conservative voters, yes. Liberals, no.
jewells45 on April 8, 2008 at 4:46 PM
McCain does exhibit signs of dementia. He better have a good veep because we’re sure to see the 25th Amendment invoked.
Valiant on April 8, 2008 at 4:56 PM
Mohammed did in the Koran with his frequent calls to kill the Infidels. You may want to read the Ninth Chapter of the Koran before replying. I’m sure it’s easy to find on the web.
thuja on April 8, 2008 at 5:05 PM
You guys keep thinking the average voter is just like you. They’re not
I should say not! We are super special!
Allah,
Do you live in Washington D.C or New York?
Rightwingsparkle on April 8, 2008 at 5:11 PM
Much ado about zilch.
Mike Honcho on April 8, 2008 at 5:22 PM
Great, the Dems are running a pair of dopes and the best we could throw against them is Abe Simpson.
SuperCool on April 8, 2008 at 5:30 PM
thuja:
Who has used this statement in the Koran in relation to the US and how does this justify wiping out all Muslims?
dave742 on April 8, 2008 at 5:33 PM
Virtually all muslim religous leaders argue for Islamic dominance. Do you know one who doesn’t? Virtually all muslim leaders argue for sharia law in every nation.
Let me just say here that I’m gay. The muslims want to stone me to death. I’m more than willing to kill the muslims before they stone me to death. I would urge any 20 year old gay boy in Europe to bomb a mosque today, before the muslims stone them to death when they are fifty. These are the choice gay people face when confronted with Islam.
As a gay man, obviously I understand fashion. People who stone others are just tacky. Isn’t muslim tackiness alone a good reason to kill them?
thuja on April 8, 2008 at 5:59 PM
I have a GOOD question AP. Why the heck do you have this story written as GOOD news????
Whose side are you on anyway? I don’t get it.
Conservatives R Us on April 8, 2008 at 6:00 PM
It’s listed as “TOP PICS” not “good news.”
wise_man on April 8, 2008 at 6:03 PM
AP’s “Good News” headlines are always, always, an indicator of bad news. The irony is one of his hallmarks.
RushBaby on April 8, 2008 at 6:05 PM
So this is news, but Obama following his sperm donor’s beliefs isn’t? To me a muslim is a muslim is a muslim.
SouthernGent on April 8, 2008 at 6:12 PM
To quote the great H.P. Lovecraft:
Many names, one nightmare.
I hope McCain gets that briefing Allahpundit recommended, but speaking for myself, I’d rather have McCain sitting in the White House getting the Islamofascists’ names wrong, than Obama inviting them into the White House and getting their names right.
Doctor Zero on April 8, 2008 at 6:38 PM
“Repeated stumbles”? This makes what….one stumble….and one non-starter? The man was obviously running through a list of potential bad guys. Look at his expression. No consternation on his face. If he was correcting himself, he’s awfully good at it.
I think some of you people are looking for a problem that doesn’t exist.
tgharris on April 8, 2008 at 6:41 PM
Allah,
What a hypocrite you’ve become! You all but openly shilled for McCain during the primaries. You’ve repeatedly made it clear that those of us who expressed these reservations from LONG BEFORE the primary need to shut the f**k up and support McCain in the name of party unity! Now you are beginning to attack McCain for not living up to the facade your leftist wing of the GOP created?
Payback is Hell and it is clear you McCain apologists really screwed up the party and any hope of victory in November without enlisting all the social conservatives and evangelicals you’ve slandered, smeared, and otherwise dismissed as irrelevant because of all those “moderate” Democrats. Got news for you idiots. Moderate Democrats are going to vote for the candidate that seems lucid at 9AM in the morning. Lord only knows what gaffes Triceratops would make if he were tired.
highhopes on April 8, 2008 at 6:50 PM
You got that RIGHT!
J_Gocht on April 8, 2008 at 6:54 PM
highhopes, dump on me… my satellite’s back up after a bit of heavy snow here.
Say again!
J_Gocht on April 8, 2008 at 6:59 PM
So have you chosen. You voting for Hillary or Obama?
terryannonline on April 8, 2008 at 7:02 PM
By my count this is St. Mc’s fifth [5th]time he’s made this same blooper?
Is “Mc” going to be “Reageanesque”?
You say!
J_Gocht on April 8, 2008 at 7:04 PM
Yes I have!
J_Gocht on April 8, 2008 at 7:06 PM
After what Obama and Clinton said during the hearings — as reported via Drudge — you really give a happy damn about McCain’s “slip?”
Where’s the “good news” as hyped in the headline? Or are the prospects of surrender to the Islamic terrorist horde and kowtowing to a nuclear Iran “good?”
MrScribbler on April 8, 2008 at 7:07 PM
Does that mean you are voting for Obama?
terryannonline on April 8, 2008 at 7:07 PM
Does anyone read “Drudge” or listen to the “rotund one, from west Palm Beach” anymore?
Actually I do!
Gotta keep up to speed!
Olde soldier sends…!
J_Gocht on April 8, 2008 at 7:15 PM
Just you or me and the woman or man behind the palm tree in Iraq!
I’m votin’ for the Troopers, Terry!
I’ve been there in body and soul…
Not today…but yesterday…!
My best hope and prayer is that they’ll come back!
Whole in both body and soul.
Whole in body doesn’t necessarily mean whole in soul!
Olde soldier sends…
HoooAaah!
J_Gocht on April 8, 2008 at 7:27 PM
Just something to consider:
Some of us who have been in THIS conflict have issues with McCain because of his positions on every issue other than Iraq.
I’m really getting pissed off that people like you would question my motives when I don’t become a McCain apologist because he is the least objectionable of the three candidates! Instead of attacking the social conservatives and Evangelicals, perhaps you would consider assisting the RINO junta to stop with the revenge and start steering McCain- toward a real Republican to be his running mate. After all, today’s performance was pathetic. Triceratops is on track to be the new Strom Thurmond not the new Ronald Reagan.
highhopes on April 8, 2008 at 7:42 PM
Thuja:
Can you show me one?
Christians want to kill you as well.
Spoken like a true terrorist. Better get those churches as well.
dave742 on April 8, 2008 at 7:47 PM
LOL
On the bright side, it’s important for Allah to also learn how it feels to be randomly accused of stupid crap. OTOH, seeing as how a significant percentage of HotAir readers think their candidate is the traitor (not to mention the opposing party), he probably long has.
freevillage on April 8, 2008 at 7:49 PM
Sorry but the story line when there was a primary was all about McCain is the only legitimate candidate. Romney and Huckabee were slandered. Rudy was given a pass which, of course, was appropriate since the public also gave him a pass.
At no time did HA do a legitimate job of vetting McCain’s left-of-the-constiuency views on social issues.
highhopes on April 8, 2008 at 7:59 PM
highhopes, I don’t know what to say. I don’t have even the finest clue.
Is that what you said…?
Confidence… confidence in your troopers your leader and your mission is the key!
Sir!
Yes Sir!
J_Gocht on April 8, 2008 at 8:00 PM
Precisely, in fact — in just less than one year of campaigning — McCain has more clearly elucidated (oh, and NAMED!) the very real threat of Islamic extremism better and more often than our sitting President (who was in office on 9/11/2001) has been able to manage.
sanantonian on April 8, 2008 at 8:02 PM
thuja-
I understand your concern; Fitna even showed those two young men being hung in Iran for being gay. That, the woman kneeling and being shot and the beheading clip – which I gasped at loudly enough for my husband to look up – are three chilling scenes. The Madrid bomb blast clip was another bad one, but I digress.
I’m a woman and every time I see a woman in a hijab I shudder because I think ‘there but for the grace of God go I’. It’s terrifying to think that me, an independent woman who prides herself on being up on politics and current events, could eventually be condemned to be covered from head to foot. That I would be forbidden to go outside except with my husband is mortifying; that I could be beaten or killed for acting inappropriately, showing too much skin or being opinionated is terrifying, and it fills me with anger.
Kill all the Muslims though? No. But we definitely need to stop pussyfooting around how radical many of their orgs like CAIR are. President Bush sends mixed signals and shows some dhimmitude when he invites Muslim activists to the White House or for invocations, and you can find on the web radical things these very same people have said.
linlithgow on April 8, 2008 at 8:05 PM
Dave, your questions are not of high quality. I dedicded to reply with short questions.
1) Have you heard of the Supreme Leader of Iran, the Grand Âyatollâh Seyyed ‘Alî Hosaynî Khâmene’î?
2) The Christians want to kill me? Can you name a Christian nation with the death penalty for homosexuals?
3) Would a Jewish fighter against the Nazi regime have been a true terrorists in your book? What about the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto?
thuja on April 8, 2008 at 8:10 PM
highhopes on April 8, 2008 at 7:42 PM
J_Gocht on April 8, 2008 at 8:15 PM
Actually I believe Barr is considering a run for President in 2008!
Check “google”…!
J_Gocht on April 8, 2008 at 8:19 PM
Shakey historical analysis…
J_Gocht on April 8, 2008 at 8:35 PM
Shakey Jake…!
J_Gocht on April 8, 2008 at 8:36 PM
linlithgow on April 8, 2008 at 8:05 PM
send mail!
J_Gocht on April 8, 2008 at 8:47 PM
Same here. I would also say that his opponents have my ire and loathing. I’ll be a pretty ardent negative campaigner for McCain by September, I should think. Obama was innocuous enough in the beginning for me to think that he could be worked with (or at the very worst out-maneuvered or stymied). Now he’s rapidly becoming more poisonous a candidate than Hillary in my mind, which is to say a threat to the body politic somewhere between Carteresque blunderer and Chavez/Mugabe/cult-of-personality fascist.
I’ll be knives-out by the general, ready to take after McCain’s opponent with as much ferocity as I can muster for such a milquetoast candidate. Great American, good Senator, poor presidential candidate.
spmat on April 8, 2008 at 8:50 PM
I say that Barr is an idiot. I didn’t respect him when he was relevant, I think he is a joke now.
highhopes on April 8, 2008 at 8:53 PM
dave will soon be replying that the Grand Ayatollah is a fictional entity created by you to justify your own paranoia.
dave logic, Iran is hanging gay men therefore Iran is a Christian nation.
In daves world yes, the joooooos are responsible for all that is evil in the world.
This is the kind of response that you get from a useful tool for left-wing propoganda. This is the same idiot who will claim that a food shortage caused by marxist economic policies is a sign of success.
He/She/It is best dealt with by unleashing Thor’s goats.
jdkchem on April 8, 2008 at 8:59 PM
Gosh…I luv this complex scenario!
…!
J_Gocht on April 8, 2008 at 9:18 PM
McCain can’t keep making fu** ups like this. He needs to sit his ass down and learn the facts so he doesn’t look stoopid so often.
Dave Rywall on April 8, 2008 at 9:46 PM
Remember, there is enough shame in just being muslim, being a tacky fashionless muslim is intolerable.
Sigy on April 8, 2008 at 9:49 PM
thuja:
Yes. Can you show me where he said he want s to dominate the world?
Right wing extremists continually quote and misquote the Koran. Why can’t I quote the bible? I think my translation is accurate.
Nope. As far as I know, the only Muslim nation that has the death penalty for homosexuality is Saudi Arabia, the US ally. I know Iranians, and they do not. Homosexuals often lose their job in Iran if for being homosexual, but I think that happens here as well.
If you are comparing the situation of a gay boy in Europe to that of a Jew in Nazi Germany, you are insane. As for your question, I think Jews would have been justified in using terrorism against the Nazis. I think that if you do not have weapons to fight an oppressor directly and have tried every other route imaginable to stop the oppression, then terrorism can be justified. I guess I am a typical American, because polls show that Americans support the use of terrorism more than Muslims do.
dave742 on April 8, 2008 at 10:05 PM
dave742, you missed the relatively recent hanging of the young homosexuals in Iran, then. It was featured on this thread, with pictures.
Entelechy on April 8, 2008 at 10:11 PM
Correction, this blog, not this “thread” :(
Entelechy on April 8, 2008 at 10:15 PM
There are no Gays in Iran!!!
Aleph on April 8, 2008 at 10:19 PM
Sure Aleph – if only dave742 would internalize why…
Entelechy on April 8, 2008 at 10:29 PM
dave742
Every one of your points are empty, but as an oppressed leftist you use anything to try and baffle gab with the justification that you have no weapons like truth so you must fabricate.
BL@KBIRD on April 8, 2008 at 10:42 PM
I just remembered – this is what Ahmadinejad said when he visited the U.S. So, it must be right.
Entelechy on April 8, 2008 at 10:43 PM
Actually in this case I do have to agree with them – the average Joe is kinda stupid :(
A Axe on April 9, 2008 at 12:52 AM
Obviously a lady of taste and discernment.
Supporting our military staying Iraq, that is.
The U.S. Army is not going to surrender. Neither are the Marines. Get over it.
MB4 on April 9, 2008 at 1:25 AM
McCain is probably senile. He is about 99 years old so people should cut him some slack.
Ares on April 9, 2008 at 7:17 AM
It’s ironic that this post is now directly opposite this one, which confirms everything McCain said:
Hamas in Iraq: Iran funds al-Qaeda
I guess Ahmad Salah al-Din, the leader of Hamas in Iraq doesn’t know what he’s talking about either.
Like I said yesterday, anybody who thinks Iran does not and will not support Sunni groups, and that Sunni groups would not accept the help, never studied the history of Afghanistan from the Soviet invasion on.
TheBigOldDog on April 9, 2008 at 9:19 AM
Entelechy”
He said “we don’t have homosexuals like in your country,” meaning not as many, which of course is not true, but not as offensive as the misquotation.
dave742 on April 9, 2008 at 9:53 AM
Taking up where that poster who was around just to bash Fred and make love to Mitt, left off (after Mitt lost, he has not posted here)…only this is to bash McCain for every little item.
What is the term…One note Johnny?
You missed where his shoes had a scuff mark, proving he was not as good as soldier as he said. Aren’t you the one (I may be mistaken, there are so many over the top loons) who was defending the guys that said McCain really didn’t suffer in VietNam or sold out his men?
right2bright on April 9, 2008 at 10:17 AM
Maybe McCain should tattoo it on his hand:
Sunnis- al Qaeda/Osama/Saudis, majority
Shi’ites- Iran, Iraq, minority.
It is all Islamic trouble, but Johnny Mac is supposed to know that the Nazis and the Commies (to use a historical comparison) were also different.
profitsbeard on April 9, 2008 at 10:36 AM
not a gaffe at all, according to a Powerline post
corona on April 9, 2008 at 11:35 AM
dave742– Since you seem to know your way around a Bible, can you tell me where this verse is? Yes, in the Old Testament. Guess what– there were NO CHRISTIANS then. This was written for the old nation of Israel, when the young culture needed structure and a code of behavior.
If you had ever READ the New Testament, you’d know that Jesus NEVER advocating stoning anyone. So, before comparing Christ to Mohammed, go back and READ the whole book. Sheesh!
leftnomore on April 9, 2008 at 1:49 PM
Oh, profitsbeard, you have the majority/minority backwards. Do i have to do all the correcting around here? >:’]
leftnomore on April 9, 2008 at 1:50 PM
…and dave742 slithered into the night, to come back again and misquote, mispost, and misrepresent…
right2bright on April 9, 2008 at 3:18 PM
That’s right2bright, and I’ll be waitin’ to fisk that character should he re-emerge.
leftnomore on April 9, 2008 at 3:32 PM
probably no one will see this comment, but it turns out I was right when I said this:
McCain just said on Fox that he wanted to make it clear by asking Petraeus that the actual AQ is still a problem, and that the fighters who are claiming to be AQ aren’t in reality just some of the various obscure Shia and Sunni groups of fighters.
He did not confuse Sunni with Shia.
juliesa on April 9, 2008 at 5:23 PM
Sorry, I garbled the cut&paste of my quote, but I think you get the picture.
juliesa on April 9, 2008 at 5:24 PM
How about posting the new video paid for by Johm McCain?
corona on April 9, 2008 at 5:32 PM
Barack Obama makes “gaffes”, too. Here’s one from the Petraeus/Crocker briefing yesterday:
He meant Iranian, not Iraqi.
Amy Proctor on April 9, 2008 at 9:26 PM
I think McCain still owns the defense/war battle space.
We’ll know when McCain has held a weekend retreat with Robert Spencer when he starts quoting Koranic Suras.
moxie_neanderthal on April 9, 2008 at 10:15 PM
Juan “Z-Visa” McCain is how old???? As old as Ted Kennedy?
McCain/Kennedy
STAY HOME ’08
DfDeportation on April 10, 2008 at 11:43 AM
What an outstanding comment Ares!!!! I was going to vote for McCain, but you have shown me the error of my ways – I’m going to vote for Obama – thanks to you!
Thanks again!!!
wise_man on April 10, 2008 at 5:00 PM
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