Fox News Sunday's Wallace, Chicago Tribune's Dorning falsely claimed McCain's repeated Iran training falsehood was momentary
SUMMARY: Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace falsely claimed that Sen. John McCain "momentarily mistook Shias and Sunnis in Jordan," and the Chicago Tribune's Michael Dorning asserted that if Sen. Barack Obama "makes a mistake" on his upcoming overseas trip, "it'll be a much bigger deal than, say, when McCain was in Jordan, or somewhere in the Middle East, and basically mixed up Shia and Sunnis for a moment." In fact, McCain did not "mix[] up" Shias and Sunnis just for a moment; he made the false statement three times in two days.
On the July 18 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace falsely claimed that Sen. John McCain "momentarily mistook Shias and Sunnis in Jordan" when he made the admittedly false claim that Iranian operatives are "taking Al Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back." Similarly, on the July 18 edition of MSNBC Live, Chicago Tribune Washington correspondent Michael Dorning asserted that if Sen. Barack Obama "makes a mistake" on his upcoming trip to Europe and the Middle East, "[i]t'll be a much bigger deal than, say, when McCain was in Jordan, or somewhere in the Middle East, and basically mixed up Shia and Sunnis for a moment." Contrary to Wallace's and Dorning's assertions, McCain did not "mix[] up" Shias and Sunnis just for a moment; he made the false statement twice during a March 18 press conference in Amman, Jordan and once the day before on Hugh Hewitt's nationally syndicated radio program. After Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who accompanied McCain on the trip, whispered something in his ear during the press conference, McCain said: "I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda."
Wallace also said of Obama's trip: "He also runs a little bit of a risk if suddenly he's too much of a rock star in the Muslim world or in Europe. I wonder if some people back at home might say, 'Gee, is he representing our interests or their interests?' Some people have suggested that his foreign policy is a little too European anyway."
From the July 18 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
CARLSON: That was going to be my next question, because you could look at it as a high-risk trip for Barack Obama. However, one of the points for that to happen, potentially, would be that these three mainstream anchors actually ask tough questions.
WALLACE: Yeah, well, I think that they will. And these things always end up being less about the questions that are asked than they do what the guys say. I mean, like John McCain when he momentarily mistook Shias and Sunnis in Jordan. You know, it -- it'll be interesting to see. He also runs a little bit of a risk if suddenly he's too much of a rock star in the Muslim world or in Europe. I wonder if some people back at home might say, "Gee, is he representing our interests or their interests?" Some people have suggested that his foreign policy is a little too European anyway. So, it's going to be a really -- look, it's going to be an interesting week. And we're going to be covering it on Sunday and all next week. And, you know, I wish I could've been along for the ride, but, you know, they -- they've chosen who they want to speak to.
From the 11 a.m. ET hour of the July 18 edition of MSNBC Live:
DORNING: Well, the whole point of the trip, I think, is to make him look presidential and give him -- give people a sense that he's actively engaged in foreign affairs. And there's nothing like the pictures of a future commander in chief or potential future commander in chief actually talking with troops on the ground in the battle zone to make people feel that way. Then he'll be meeting with foreign leaders in Israel --
HALL: Right.
DORNING: -- and in Europe. It all looks very presidential. And, you know, I think then he can later on say, well, I was in Iraq and I made this observation. So, I think politically --
HALL: But, is that really enough, Mike, to counter what McCain is saying to the American public? Yeah, you will see him in these scenarios, but this is just a stunt.
DORNING: Well, I think that it can only help him some. There is a lot of risk attached to it, of course, if he makes a mistake. It'll be a much bigger deal than, say, when McCain was in Jordan --
HALL: Right.
DORNING: -- or somewhere in the Middle East, and basically mixed up Shia and Sunnis for a moment.
HALL: Right.
DORNING: With Barack Obama, he's a newer person, so just a little mistake --
HALL: Mm-hmm.
DORNING: -- will raise people's doubts about him.
HALL: Right.
DORNING: But, that said, you know, McCain can talk about photo-ops and so can the RNC, but people are going to see those photo-ops for seven days straight.
HALL: Right.
DORNING: And he's going to have a chance to talk to all the network anchors and make his case. So there will be all this attention about him talking about foreign policy.
DORNING: -- or somewhere in the Middle East, and basically mixed up Shia and Sunnis for a moment.
Ahem - it's called a "senior moment" and can last quite a while from what we've seen of gramps.
Ahem - it's called a "senior moment" and can last quite a while from what we've seen of gramps.
Its funny - McCain's senior moment spans over 3 days. While Hillary's "thats not what i said" on drivers licenses only took a matter of minutes.
Do you really want to do this? You have now embarrassed yourself twice on the autism thread and then not understood my use of "PC" on the O'Reilly thread (thinking I was using "politically correct" and not "personal computer") which only completely invalidates anything you post IMO.
In spite of that - what does Hillary have to do with anything in this thread?
And finally, it has been gramps senior moment longer than three days - he did it again about a MONTH later when questioning Gen. Petraeus...
MCCAIN: Do you still view al Qaeda in Iraq as a major threat?
PETRAEUS: It is still a major threat, though it is certainly not as major a threat as it was say 15 months ago.
MCCAIN: Certainly not an obscure sect of the Shi’ites overall?
PETREAUS: No.
MCCAIN: Or Sunnis or anybody else.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/08/mccain-confused-about-al-qaeda-again-suggests-its-a-sect-of-shiites/
Can "gramps" county fifty states...?
Probably not without dozing off or peeing himself. But I admire his efforts, and his service to our country.
What's that - McCain's 5th, or 6th momentary mix-up regarding sunnis and shias?
It's a good thing he'll be ready on day 1 to take on foreign policy. Now, how long will he be able to study before day 1 gets here?
I'm confident at this stage of Mr. Obama's campaign, that his judgment is exceptionally good (I also believe him to have many exceptional Military and Diplomatic Advisors), and so I'm not bothered by what the above transcript contains, and what in essence is contained in all the prattling noise the media is making, about Sen. Obama's upcoming tour of IRAQ.
The media (and the above transcript) prattle on about "photo ops", and about what this is supposed to make Mr. Obama look like ("presidential" is the consensus opinion it seems), and that he's "making his case", and that everything about his tour is all just a campaign of perceptions.
Of course, these idiots who are prattling on this way are describing a television show... it's a television show they're planning on broadcasting, and so naturally of course they're promoting it and selling it that way. But read between the lines, and you'll see that they are doing more than just promoting a television show that they know already they are scheduled to broadcast: they are trying to PROGRAM and SCRIPT and DIRECT that television show, ahead of time... because television is their product, isn't it... and they not only promote and broadcast what it is you see on television, they create and manufacture it too, don't they.
IN TRUTH, I have no real idea why anything that Mr. Obama does while touring IRAQ, should be photographed, or televised and broadcast, or allowed to be made into anything at all like a media event, or into anything at all "media".... I make special emphasis on the fact that there is no reason at all why Mr. Obama's tour of IRAQ should be a media event.
I know that those nosy chits, who are always looking to misinform the American People, and to influence and manipulate the political opinions of Americans, I know that's what those chitstains do for a living... I know that's what they live for: Media Events...
But that's not what this one is about: this is far more serious than that. I hope (no, I know) that Mr. Obama will not allow ABC and NBC and CBS to dictate for him, where he goes in IRAQ, and what he does, right down to where he exactly stands as they check the lighting and focus the cameras... right down to where they say "OK we're all set, you can begin anytime you feel the part", like Directors of television shows do, when they control and manipulate the things before the camera that will be broadcast to the American People.
I believe these television media people are prattling on about this media event, exactly as if it were not only something they are promoting and broadcasting, but will control and direct too...
I myself am not going to be watching, so I wouldn't mind it a bit if Mr. Obama CANCELED their media event, by refusing to play a role in it... and instead, he went seriously about his tour of IRAQ, and met with U.S. Soldiers and talked to them beyond cameras, and at length and in a familiar and personal way... and got to know them all as family, as Brothers and Sisters and even as Sons and Daughters: as he will be charged soon I think, with the great and terrible responsibility of their Command.
I don't know what ABC and NBC and CBS presently do for the American People, that should make them a part of all this... I fail to see why Mr. Obama needs them on his tour of IRAQ: I know I don't need them, not one bit...
I would rather that Mr. Obama kept all the things he says and does with those U.S. Troops he meets in IRAQ, kept those things out of the media, out of ABC's and CBS's and NBC's influence (because what do they do for anybody: anything?)
He can save all his thoughts and all his recollections and all his experiences for us: he can mediate on his tour of IRAQ, and form the words well, and then express them all to us at once, in one great and awesome address... from the Democratic National Convention perhaps...
He could even accompany his address to us, and his recollections and thoughts of all the good people he met with and got to know in IRAQ, accompany it with camcorder video taken by a variety of people whoever has a free hand among the group will do just fine....
That'd be great! We'd then get to see video of our Brothers and Sisters and Sons and Daughters in IRAQ, and at the same time hear Mr. Obama's meditation on their health and well-being as he found them... that'd be great!
That would be a media event even I would watch on television!
"basically mixed up Shia and Sunnis for a moment."
No, multiple times. As well as multiple times he:
Claimed Iran was supporting them.
Talked about Czechoslovakia in the present tense.
Someone might want to tell him that East and West Germany have united.
Yesterday or the day before, there were reports that SAUDI SUNNI "AL QAEDA" was supposedly wanting to harm George W. Bush (which is about as believable as hearing that Sonny and Michael Corleone supposedly want to harm the Godfather): and now today I see that after a year's boycott of participation in the IRAQI Parliment, the SUNNI Bloc has returned to that national assembly... these two things things together, give me a strange and awful apprehension for Mr. Obama's safety, when he tours IRAQ... and if he were not the actual target of any violence, but there was violence anyway, in the form of terrible bombings while he were in IRAQ, then this recent conjuction of two stories ("AL QAEDA HATES BUSH" and "SUNNIS ARE TRYING TO GET ALONG IN IRAQ") wouldn't fool me for a moment, because I'll know anyway that any violence in IRAQ while Sen. Obama is there, whether directed against him or not, is violence and bombings done for and in the name of SAUDI SUNNI "AL QAEDA", becasue that's what they do...
I especially wouldn't be fooled by the strange and convenient timeing of SUNNIS seeming to reconcile with Shiites in participating in IRAQ's government: as though they would have the world and Americans believe, that whatever might happen in IRAQ while Sen. Obama is there, can't possibly be their work, because "look, we've rejoined the government: we're back on board, so no, it can't be us behind any bombings"...
Which would be a lie: because that's what SAUDI SUNNIS do to Shiite IRAQIS (and to U.S. Troops in IRAQ, and to 3,000 Americans on 9/11).... they bomb and kill them.