CNN catches McCain making contradictory statements about Sadr.
CNN catches McCain making contradictory statements about Sadr.
In an interview with CNN earlier today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) claimed that he has long understood the influence of Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr:
I said he was still major player and his influence is going to have to be reduced and gradually eliminated.
But in a report on The Situation Room today, the network noted that just two weeks ago McCain — trying to paint a rosy picture of Iraq — described Sadr very differently while speaking to CNN’s John King in Baghdad:
His [Sadr’s] influence has been on the wane for a long time.
Watch it:
This isn’t the first time McCain has inaccurately characterized Sadr’s influence in Iraq. In April 2007, McCain claimed that Sadr’s forces were “not contesting American forces,” at the same time Sadr’s urged his loyalists to “turn all their efforts on American forces.”
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This has graduated from silly, to possibly dangerous. I hope McCain’s doctor is keeping a close watch on him, especially for mini-strokes. He’s showing signs of diminished mental capacity, and short-term memory is usually the first affected.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:19 pmOr one of the first affected, I should say.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:20 pmYeah, but . . . why didn’t they call him on the discrepancy to his face?
April 1st, 2008 at 8:22 pm#2, you are aware McCain wants more deficits? More war and doesnt care about jobs?
April 1st, 2008 at 8:23 pmKeep talking McCain. The more you talk, the more you’re exposed to America.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:24 pmI have no idea what McWaffle stands for. He has flipped and flopped on every issue.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:25 pmDude’s having a continuous ’senior moment’.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:26 pmgummitch Says:
April 1st, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Yeah, but . . . why didn’t they call him on the discrepancy to his face?
Because they don’t know/aren’t prepared/too concerned about being polite/incompetent/etc.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:26 pmIf McCain continues to make these major gaffes, the media has a responsibility to us to point these things out. They’re already on the hook for lousy reportage during the start up of the invasion, and if they aided in getting another mental incompetent elected, their polling numbers would be worse than Congress’.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:27 pmFor insstance, McCain supported withdrawal from Lebanon [Reagan Era]
The fundamental question is: What is the United States’ interest in Lebanon? It is said we are there to keep the peace. I ask, what peace? It is said we are there to aid the government. I ask, what government? It is said we are there to stabilize the region. I ask, how can the U.S. presence stabilize the region?… The longer we stay in Lebanon, the harder it will be for us to leave. We will be trapped by the case we make for having our troops there in the first place.
What can we expect if we withdraw from Lebanon? The same as will happen if we stay. I acknowledge that the level of fighting will increase if we leave. I regretfully acknowledge that many innocent civilians will be hurt. But I firmly believe this will happen in any event.
And now he sees staying in Iraq for 100 years?
April 1st, 2008 at 8:30 pmMcStain is so hopelessly senile he can’t keep his lies in order, even with a staff of Nazis all arond him. this guy will finish the GOP forever, and for that, we will thank him.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:36 pmpig@2 – sorry to burst your bubble, but his is not the only time Mr. McShortTermMemoryLoss has flip-flopped:
http://howinsaneisjohnmccain.blogspot.com/ 2008/ 03/ mccain-never-met-position-he-didnt-like.html
April 1st, 2008 at 8:37 pmEgad. A typo. I hate that. –his, +this
April 1st, 2008 at 8:39 pmSo sad McCain is losing it fast. With Zell Lieberman to correct him with his mistakes anything will come out of his mouth. He doesn’t know the difference between Sunnis, Shiite or Kurds. Now he doesn’t know Al Sadr from Maliki. The Foreign Press at lease gave the correct information as Iran came in to settle the fighting problem. Yes the White House was left on the outside looking in. Notice how General Petraeus isn’t talking so much now. He has to get his orders from the 5 deferment Vice President. Bush is busy right now with his friends Mr. Jack Daniels and Mr. Weed. At lease while Bush is overseas he can drink and smoke freely with the US Press reporting it. Bush might make a quick stop over in Afghanistan for some cocaine, as they had a big crop this year.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:46 pmBetter be quiet or you’ll piss the old coot off!
April 1st, 2008 at 8:49 pmI don’t agree with McCain’s policies but, he’s not a lawyer! That’s enough for me !!
Government is primarily about law.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:54 pmThey better get his meds adjusted fast! He can’t remember what the hell is going on or what he is saying.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:56 pmYou’d think he doesn’t know what he’s talking about or something.
(goes to update list of flip flops)
April 1st, 2008 at 9:08 pmI see our illiterate troll of a thousand troll names is here; so who’s watching the TPwatch?
Does it get so few visitors that it can be left unattended for hours?
That’s really sad.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:12 pmSo if I am making one of those plus/minus data tables on some yellow legal pad I should put a plue under country and a - under lawyers. Is that is progressisgood? I must admit I am a little confuesed on the bovine flatucence. Do you have a columm header?
April 1st, 2008 at 9:18 pmsorry ’bout the typos but I think the idea is there
April 1st, 2008 at 9:19 pmWar is Viagra for John McSame. That’s all you need to know. And “possibly dangerous”? I’d say certifiably crazy. See his love for Hagee and Parsley, two of the biggest frauds on the planet. Can we please start talking about the crooks in his campaign and his pursuit of these Christian fascists for endorsements?
These people want to destroy the world. They believe that we must create Armageddon. We’ll destroy the world, kill millions and all suffer if McCain gets his wet dream.
If you think there are trolls out tonight, check out Raw Story. They are on it like white on rice. I am so sick of this crap. Are most people really that stupid? I don’t think so. Money is being paid to make sure doubt is raised on the “blogs” or the “tubes,” as it were.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:32 pmall aboard the “zero dignity express”!!
April 1st, 2008 at 9:32 pmdbadass Says:
April 1st, 2008 at 9:18 pm
So if I am making one of those plus/minus data tables on some yellow legal pad I should put a plue under country and a - under lawyers. Is that is progressisgood? I must admit I am a little confuesed on the bovine flatucence. Do you have a columm header?
I think it’s more like progressisforeign just did a header into a column. Ouch.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:36 pmfrom swimming freestyle:
“John McCain has admitted he’s clueless when it comes to the economy. (Fear not - he’s checked out Alan Greenspan’s book from the library). He’s made it pretty clear he intends to run on his military record and gung ho, never mind the facts, position on Iraq. That might be OK if he could just get the details right.”
http://swimmingfreestyle.typepad.com
April 1st, 2008 at 9:44 pmprogressisgood Says:
April 1st, 2008 at 8:19 pm
thats all they can find Mr McCain! your going to win this thing!! another 4 Years!!
That’s not enough for one day? Appearently your memory is as bad as mcan’tremember’s. Or maybe both your memories are as long as your dicks. and your mom is so fat she has to beep when she walks backwards.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:54 pmImagine that. Mr. Halfstack flips.
April 1st, 2008 at 10:20 pmBeing a Lawyer doesn’t make one creative or smart enough to manage the best country in the world.
Also lawyers are one of the biggest problems this great country has! Immensely more of a threat than cow farts!! -PIG
An MBA does?
April 1st, 2008 at 10:21 pmprogressisgood Says:
April 1st, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Bobwurst Says:
April 1st, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I’ve mentally raped you! All you have left is mama jokes! My job is done here! hahahahahahahahah
—-
Mama, Mama, I don’t want to go in circles…
April 1st, 2008 at 10:23 pmSadr will kill lots of his own or Americans or British before there’s any chance of doing him in. He is part of the political solution in Iraq and if McClone thinks he’s not, he’s in for a real surprise. His arrogance will take a hit on this one. Sadr is no joke, maliki is Bush’s puppy and Maliki doesn’t have the heart to fight to the death like Sadr does. Someone with a brain needs to start talking to Sadr before it’s too late.
April 1st, 2008 at 10:47 pmyou’re getting it wrong - his memory & intellect are fine. The danger of McCain is not that he can’t enunciate what he believes, it is that those core beliefs are an unimpressive mix of childlike war and valor talk with dated Reagan-era domestic dogma. No one wants to admit that he is simply pandering along with his romantic Bush-simple notions of how to solve difficult foreign policy probnlems. Bush + Romney!!
April 1st, 2008 at 10:56 pmAnd foreign policy is his strong suit?
April 1st, 2008 at 11:11 pmWhat a dolt.
mccain says that al sadr’s influence will gradually have to be eliminated…hmmm - so i guess that means that the usa should really be trying to hunt him down and kill him,right?…so why isn’t bush going hard out after al sadr? - i would have thought that would have been part of the ’surge’ - to quell violence caused by militant groups like the mahdi army…mind you,he hasn’t got a great record of tracking and catching shit stirrers
April 1st, 2008 at 11:41 pmMcSenile is a LIAR and a TRAITOR to the USA.
He runs on his “war record”, while pretending not to notice the AWOL coward and 5-deferment WAR CRIMINALS who put us in Iraq.
McCain has NO qualifications as a statesman, which is what we need in a president, not another BUFFOON like TRAITOR Bush.
McCain is a LOSER who needs to let COMPETENT PEOPLE who really care about America run it properly.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:44 pmMcCain really doesn’t have a clue– not even about this topic, which he boasts is his strongest. Imagine how stupid he must be about everything else.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:55 pmI’m going to go out on a limb here (heh) and bet that McCain will NOT be gotcha’d by terrible Timmy.
Interesting that dasm just above points out that McCain is clueless even in areas that are his alleged strength. I read a brief item a year or so back that it’s known in some circles in DC that McCain simply isn’t too bright.
If that’s the case then it solves the mystery of the media’s love affair with McCain (in addition to his well stocked bar). People don’t feel intimidated in the company of dolts and that may in part explain their early love of GW Bush and their hatred of Gore and all things Clinton. Just a thought.
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:47 amWhile I understand that a majority of people who read a blog entitled “Think Progress” are going to be unsympathetic to McCain as a politician, and while I think that’s perfectly understandable and reasonable, stories like this one don’t really do much other than polarize a political climate that’s ridiculously partisan already.
McCain doesn’t come close to contradicting himself in this video– after all, one can believe that Sadr is a major player and still believe that his influence is waning– those aren’t mutually contradictory. Moreover, McCain points out that he does want Sadr’s influence to lessen. To write some sort of “gotcha” post making that claim doesn’t advance your agenda in any meaningful way, it just makes you look silly and childish.
And people say its the right that’s the only side poisoning debate in this country?
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:14 am.
Oops,
He McSpoke AGAIN!
.
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:26 am#41 curtisschweitzer Says:
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:14 am
Two opposing opinions ARE a reality makes?
How can John McSpeak say that Sadr is a waning force and then say that the very same Sadr is a force to contend with. One CAN NOT hold two opposing views as their reality. ONE CAN NOT… You may, but rational people just don’t. It leads toward duplicitous behavior and hypocritical statements, as exemplified by this video clip.
.
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:30 amcurtisschweitzer Says:
April 2nd, 2008 at 1:14 am
While I understand that a majority of people who read a blog entitled “Think Progress” are going to be unsympathetic to McCain as a politician, and while I think that’s perfectly understandable and reasonable, stories like this one don’t really do much other than polarize a political climate that’s ridiculously partisan already.
McCain doesn’t come close to contradicting himself in this video– after all, one can believe that Sadr is a major player and still believe that his influence is waning– those aren’t mutually contradictory. Moreover, McCain points out that he does want Sadr’s influence to lessen. To write some sort of “gotcha” post making that claim doesn’t advance your agenda in any meaningful way, it just makes you look silly and childish.
And people say its the right that’s the only side poisoning debate in this country?
Pray tell us how you voiced your outrage over the smears and bombast the right is fomenting against Obama…For something his minister said. If this minor questioning of McShrub’s contradictory statements upsets you this much, I can imagine the apoplexy that must have shaken your very soul at the swiftboating of John Kerry.
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:04 amMcCain continues to show how clueless he is about Iraq.
Media has to highlight this. Way more important than replaying cherrypicked statements from Obamas pastor
“Eliminate” his influence? Like dropping a bomb on his head?
Al-Sadr is not just a leader of some lawless gunmen. He is the focalpoint of a popular movement and he demands what most Iraqis want, that the US occupation ends. What needs to be done about al-Sadrs influence is for the Iraqis to decide, not the White House.
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:26 amBoth statements are true. The first is obvious. As for the second:
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:09 amJohn McCrazy is just plain stupid now. Is it because he hangs with the neocons now? Could be. Neocons have dumbed down the nation for years.
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:04 amBoth statements are true. The first is obvious. As for the second:
The powerful Iraqi cleric Moktada al- Sadr has quietly returned to southern Iraq after a four-month sojourn in Iran, according to American intelligence reports.
So, at this late date you’re still believing reporters who reference “American intelligence reports?”
How can you say both statements are true, when one of the “sources” has been caught fixing the intelligence to match the administration’s agenda?
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:05 am“CNN catches McCain making contradictory statements about Sadr.”
This implies McCain knows who is Sadr?
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:06 amMcCain couldn’t figure it out in a hundred years.
May 1st, 2008 at 10:30 pm