McCain gaffes pile up; critics pile on

[EV_Ares]

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) said “Iraq” when he apparently meant “Afghanistan” on Monday, 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.

McCain will turn 72 the day after Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) accepts his party’s nomination for president, calling new attention to the sensitive issue of McCain’s advanced age, three days before the start of his own convention.

The McCain campaign says Obama has had plenty of flubs of his own, including a reference to "57 states" and a string of misstated place names during the primaries that Republicans gleefully sent around as YouTubes.

But McCain's mistakes raise a serious, if uncomfortable question: Are the gaffes the result of his age? And what could that mean in the Oval Office?

Voters, thinking about their own relatives, can be expected to scrutinize McCain’s debate performances for signs of slippage.

Entire story @ link: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11939.html

[fasttense]

1. The trouble with McCain is he keeps making the mistakes even after

someone points them out to him. He keeps making the same mistakes over and over again. Like he can't get the names clear in his head. It's ok for my 72 year old mother to mix up her children's names but when it comes to the President of the United States, I think he should at least know the names of our enemies.

[Youphemism]

2. "Are the gaffes the result of his age?" Or has he always been a dingbat? /nt

[MiniMe]

3. I have a question about the 57 states thing

Was he talking about 57 states or 57 primaries? DC isn't a state, but they have a primary. Same with Puerto Rico and Guam. I'm not sure if there are others.

[unblock]

4. he was talking about 57 primary contests, but used the word "states" instead.

it was an error, but obama's opponents tried to make it look like the number 57 was bizarre and inexplicable, which, in context, it clearly wasn't.

if we wanted to be cheeky, we could have ridiculed mccain's response that we have 50 states. of course, technically, we have 46 states and 4 commonwealths :)

[MiniMe]

8. Thanks, I figured thats what it was, just wanted some confirmation.

[sentelle]

5. maybe it was 57 variety

Of heinz.

After all, he remembers when there was only one heinz ketchup, and it was spelled 'catsup'

He also remembers when baskin & robbins had one flavor.

And when there was one kind of car, and it was called the 'chariot'.

Maybe he does remember a border. Only iran was called persia.

He remembers the invention of firewire, or at least the inventions of fire, and wire.

[L0oniX]

6. The McGaffe list review ...

"I disagree with what the majority of the American people want." --John McCain

"I 'Don't See How It Matters' That I Don't Know The Price Of Gas." --John McCain

"Only the most deluded of us could doubt the necessity of this war."
--John McCain

"Thank God for our form of government. The media won't let there be any cover-up." --John McCain

"We must win in Iraq. If we withdraw, there will be chaos; there will be genocide; and they will follow us home." --John McCain

"I am fully prepared to be commander in chief... I don't need on-the-job training." --John McCain

"Remember the words of Chairman Mao: 'It's always darkest before it's totally black.'." --John McCain

"I will veto every single beer, um, bill with earmarks." --speaking at the National Small Business Summit, Washington, D.C., June 10, 2008

"We should be able to deliver bottled hot water to dehydrated babies." --Kenner, Louisiana, June 3, 2008

"I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated." --John McCain

"I am a illiterate that has to rely on my wife for all of the assistance I can get." -after being asked whether us uses a Mac or a PC

"It's not social issues I care about." --John McCain

"F**k you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room." --to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), during a testy exchange about immigration legislation

"No, I'm calling you a f*cking jerk." --to fellow Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, when Grassley asked "Are you calling me stupid?"

"I said, 'The nice thing about Alzheimer's is you get to hide your own Easter eggs.'" --John Mc Cain

"Do you know why Chelsea Clinton is so ugly? Because Janet Reno is her father." --at a 1998 Republican fundraiser

"I will conduct a respectful debate. Now, it will be dispirited -- it will be spirited -- because there are stark differences. I am a proud conservative, liberal Republica-- conservative Republican...Hello? Easy there." --John Mc Cain

"I think it's serious. . . . It's a serious situation, but there's a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border," said McCain, R-Ariz., said on "Good Morning America."

“I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself.” --John McCain…Building a bridge to the 19th century.

:evilgrin:

[Doctor_J]

7. He's less lucid than *

I didn't think that was possible