CNN's Crowley, Fox News' Rosen cite McCain attacks on Obama's Iraq knowledge without noting McCain's misstatements about conditions in Iraq

On the May 28 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley uncritically reported that Sen. John McCain, "continually suggesting [Sen. Barack] Obama wants to surrender in Iraq without knowing what's happening there, is itching for a fight and a headline," and that the Republican National Committee has "set up a website dedicated to clocking how many days have passed since Obama's last and only trip to Iraq." On the May 28 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News Washington correspondent James Rosen said, "Obama's absence from the war zone over the last two and a half years, McCain argued, has left the first-term senator divorced from the reality that now prevails on the ground in Iraq." However, neither Crowley nor Rosen mentioned any of the misstatements McCain has made during and surrounding the recent trips he has made to Iraq, and during a Senate hearing with Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the Multinational Force-Iraq, which have raised questions about whether McCain himself "know[s] what's happening" in Iraq.

Specifically:

• As Media Matters for America documented, after visiting Iraq on a fact-finding tour, McCain twice made the Iran-Al Qaeda claim to reporters during a March 18 press conference in Amman, Jordan -- one day after he made a similar claim during an interview with nationally syndicated radio host Hugh Hewitt. After Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who was accompanying McCain on the trip and stood by McCain during the press conference, whispered something in his ear, McCain corrected himself, saying: "I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not Al Qaeda." As The New York Times reported on March 19, Iran is believed to be financing and training Shiite extremists in Iraq, not Al Qaeda in Iraq. As Media Matters noted, CNN host Wolf Blitzer misrepresented McCain's error on the March 18 edition of The Situation Room.
• At an April 8 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, McCain asked Petraeus, "Do you still view Al Qaeda in Iraq as a major threat?" Petraeus replied: "It is still a major threat, though it is certainly not as major a threat as it was, say, 15 months ago." McCain then asked, "Certainly not an obscure sect of -- of the Shiites all -- overall --" prompting Petraeus to reply "No," as McCain went on to finish his question: "or Sunnis or anybody else?" In fact, Al Qaeda in Iraq is a Sunni Muslim, not Shiite, group.
• On March 26, 2007, just before embarking on a fact-finding tour to Iraq, McCain told conservative radio host William Bennett that "[t]here are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods today." When asked about those comments the next day on The Situation Room, McCain told Blitzer: "General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed Humvee." When confronted about his comment on the April 8, 2007, edition of CBS' 60 Minutes, McCain, then in Iraq, admitted to correspondent Scott Pelley: "There is no unarmored Humvees. Obviously, that's the case. ... Of course I'm going to misspeak and I've done it on numerous occasions, and I probably will in the future."
• On April 1, 2007, as part of a Republican congressional delegation, McCain visited an open-air market in downtown Baghdad. At a press conference later that day, a reporter asked McCain about his previous statement that he "could walk through" neighborhoods in Baghdad, and McCain replied: "Yeah, I just was -- came from one. ... Things are better, and there are encouraging signs. I have been here many ... times over the years; never have I been able to drive from the airport, never have I been able to go out into the city as I was today." However, McCain later admitted during his interview with Pelley on 60 Minutes that he was provided with security during his visit to the market: "I understand why they would provide me with that security, but I can tell you, if it had been two months ago, and I'd have asked to do it, they'd have said, 'under no circumstance whatsoever.' I view that as a sign of progress." As Pelley noted, McCain was accompanied by "10 armored humvees, soldiers with rifles, and two Apache attack helicopters circling overhead." Several other media outlets also noted McCain's heavy security during the visit.

From the May 28 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:

[begin video clip]

CROWLEY: For the second day in a row, Obama did not directly engage John McCain on Iraq. McCain, continually suggesting Obama wants to surrender in Iraq without knowing what's happening there, is itching for a fight and a headline.

McCAIN: Now, I asked Senator Obama to go to Iraq. I asked him to go back. And I asked him to meet with General [David] Petraeus and our great ambassador there, Ambassador [Ryan] Crocker. And I said I would go with him, if necessary. I'd be glad to go with him.

Now, why is it that Senator Obama wants to sit down with the president of Iran, but hasn't yet sat down with General Petraeus, the leader of our troops in Iraq?

CROWLEY: McCain is getting reinforcement from the Republican National Committee, which set up a website dedicated to clocking how many days have passed since Obama's last and only trip to Iraq.

Yesterday, an Obama spokesman called the whole thing a publicity stunt.

[end video clip]

CROWLEY: And just a little bit more from the Obama campaign. Again, Barack Obama himself has not responded to McCain's comments today. But here's what his spokesman, Bill Burton, had to say: "It seems odd," says Burton, "that Senator McCain, who bought the flawed rationale for war so readily, would be lecturing others on the depth of understanding about Iraq." Wolf.

From the May 28 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:

HUME: Republican candidate John McCain is renewing his challenge to the Democratic front-runner, Barack Obama, to see for himself how things are going in Iraq. Correspondent James Rosen reports it's a way for McCain to highlight his strengths in an arena where he says, McCain does, that the younger man is lacking.

[begin video clip]

ROSEN: Kicking off a townhall meeting in Reno, Nevada, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain charged that Democratic front-runner Barack Obama is not only inexperienced, as McCain and others have long maintained, but also, in an attack on one of Obama's chief selling points, intellectually incurious, because the Illinois senator has only been to Iraq once -- back in January 2006. McCain noted pointedly that he has visited the Iraqi theater many times, eight, in fact, since the war began.

McCAIN: I learned from the men and women who are serving in the military. I learned.

He could meet General Petraeus and he could meet Ambassador Crocker, and he could see -- he could see the fact that Sadr City is quiet. He could see that -- with the [Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-] Maliki government has taken control of Basra. He could see that the Iraqi military is leading the fight in these places with the support of American troops.

ROSEN: Obama's absence from the war zone over the last two and a half years, McCain argued, has left the first-term senator divorced from the reality that now prevails on the ground in Iraq, where commanders say last year's surge in U.S. forces has reduced violence to its lowest levels in four years.

But McCain, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, did not limit his new line of attacks solely to the war in Iraq. He also reprised a theme first sounded by the Clinton campaign about another war.

McCAIN: Senator Obama is the chairman of a important subcommittee that has the oversight of what's going on in Afghanistan. He has not held one single hearing on Afghanistan, where young Americans are in harm's way as we speak.

ROSEN: McCain's comments, particularly on Iraq, reflected a concerted effort by the GOP, as was clear from the new feature posted on the Republican National Committee website, a clock counting the days since Obama last stepped foot in Iraq, a figure that debuted at 871.

The McCain campaign first sought to exploit Obama's long absence from the war zone earlier this week when the Arizona senator proposed cheekily that he and Obama visit Iraq together. That proposal earned a swift dismissal from the Obama campaign, which responded to today's thrust by casting doubt, as it has for months, on McCain's judgment.

"It seems odd that Senator McCain, who bought the flawed rationale for war so readily, would be lecturing others on their depth of understanding about Iraq," a campaign spokesman said. "Senator Obama challenged the president's rationale for the war from the start. Senator McCain stubbornly insists on pursuing the failed Bush policy that continues to cost so much," unquote.