Politico: McCain gaffes pile up; critics pile on ("Are the gaffes the result of his age?")

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Tue Jul-22-08 06:56 AM
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Politico: McCain gaffes pile up; critics pile on ("Are the gaffes the result of his age?")

Edited on Tue Jul-22-08 07:07 AM by Pirate Smile

McCain gaffes pile up; critics pile on

A string of erroneous word choices is helping opponents make his 71 years a matter of age, not experience.
Photo: AP

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?

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11939.html

Gaffe list from article:

- “I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border," McCain said. The ABC posting added: “Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border. Afghanistan and Pakistan do.”

—“Somalia” for “Sudan” — As recounted in a reporter’s pool report from McCain’s Straight Talk Express bus on June 30, the senator said while discussing Darfur, a region of Sudan: "How can we bring pressure on the government of Somalia?"

Senior adviser Mark Salter corrected him: “Sudan.”

—“Germany” for “Russia” — A YouTube clip from last year memorializes McCain referring to Vladimir Putin of Russia – following a trip to Germany — as “President Putin of Germany.”

—This spring, McCain said troops in Iraq were “down to pre-surge levels” when in fact there were 20,000 more troops than when the surge policy began.

—Also this spring, McCain twice appeared to mistake Sunnis and Shiites, two branches of Islam that split violently.

—In Phoenix earlier this month, McCain referred to "Czechoslovakia,” which has been divided since Jan. 1, 1993, into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. He also referred to Czechoslovakia during a debate in November and a radio show in April.

—In perhaps the most curious incident, McCain said earlier this month that as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, he had tried to confuse his captors by giving the names of Pittsburgh Steelers starting players when asked to identify his squadron mates. McCain has told the story many times over the years – but had always referred correctly to the names he gave as members of the Green Bay Packers.