Comments on: John McCain Confuses Germany and Russia

By: Johnny

Johnny — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:05:08 +0000

If it happened once, it could be considered mis-speaking. But McCain has confused a series of countries and — most disconcertingly — ethnicities in Iraq (Sunni/Shia, al Qaeda/Iran). Not good for a guy who claims to be running on his international experience. Here is just a quick list I came up with via the Google (there must be more):

Iraq/Pakistan border (no such border):
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/07/mccain_appears.html

Sudan/Somalia:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/30/mccain-confuses-sudan-and-somalia/

Czechoslavakia (has not existed for 15 years):
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/mccain-keeps-me.html

Sunni/Shia:
http://uspolitics.tribe.net/thread/e7c28949-397a-4f65-bf53-cd91c258bd86

al Quaeda/Iran:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/18/132146/765/825/479209

By: According to John McCain, Iraq & Pakistan border each other. Huh. « White Noise Insanity

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:14:32 +0000

[...] Confused Germany & Russia [...]

By: C Stanley

C Stanley — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:28:39 +0000

Chris is right, this is an old video being recycled just to take jabs at McCain.

It’s a simple verbal gaffe, just like Obama’s 57 states remark. In both cases, it’s pretty obvious that the speaker’s mind intertwined two different thoughts so that the sentence came out wrong (in Obama’s case, he meant to say 47 states initially- that makes the math work out right- but since we’re so accustomed to speaking of ‘50 states’ he probably mixed 50 with the 47 and didn’t even realize he’d done it. In McCain’s case, he was talking about being in Germany and then accidentally repeated that country’s name when he obviously meant to say Russia.)

Of course this doesn’t stop certain liberal bloggers from using McCain’s gaffe as proof of senility, even though Obama also makes similar misstatements.

By: Claudia, Assistant Editor

Claudia, Assistant Editor — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:27:00 +0000

Oh c’mon Michael, 1st graders know there are 50 states. It’s not so much that it’s an important fact, it’s that it’s such a basic fact that it’s absurd to think that any non-mentally challenged adult wouldn’t know it. You’ll notice that not a lot of Americans have made a big fuss about it, just some jokes. That’s because no one, not even the rightwing, really believes Obama doesn’t know how many states there are.

This McCain thing is a tad more complex because though everyone over 8 knows how many states there are it IS concievable that a (very ignorant) adult could confuse Russia and Germany in terms of heads of state. I still think it’s a simple gaffe, not a sign of actual ignorance, and as you know I’m not exactly McCain’s base. Again, I doubt this is a sign of anything, but I wouldn’t be so sure about the Sunni/Shiia mixup, which actually COULD show a lack of knowledge, I think.

By: Michael van der Galien, Editor-in-Chief

Michael van der Galien, Editor-in-Chief — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 08:56:01 +0000

Claudia, actually that was an important slip-up and… graduating from Harvard means you’re intelligent, not that you know all important facts. Something tells me they did not spend a whole lot of time explaining how many states the US has at Harvard.

As for Obama himself; I’m one of his most passionate opponents in the blogosphere

By: Claudia, Assistant Editor

Claudia, Assistant Editor — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 08:32:42 +0000

Armenian genocide, that’s such BS it’s funny. Right, a guy who graduated top of his class at Harvard Law doesn’t know the number of states…suuuuuuure, that makes plenty of sense.

Personally I don’t even know my great uncle’s name, let alone what he did in his life. If I were to learn about it I’m sure I’d make a ton of mistakes while repeating it. It could be he used Auschwitz on purpose. It could as easily been a mistake. In any event I find it highly entertaining when someone goes after Obama because his uncle simply helped liberate a different concentration camp. Yes, it sooo substracts from the story of heroism. Please do not stop reminding people that members of Obama’s family fought heroically in WWII and helped liberate Nazi prisoners, I’m sure it’ll really hurt Obama.

By: Armenian Genocide

Armenian Genocide — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:53:54 +0000

This is most obviously a mild misspeaking.

Mixing up two countries is not a big deal. Perhaps he was thinking about Germany, it could be a Freudian slip.

The difference is, examine Obama’s recent slip-ups:
– Not knowing about how many states there are, he actually paused and thought about it, and then finally said "I visited uh…. 57 states"… This wasn’t a slip-up it was a factual mistake, because he didn’t know how many states there are.
– Claiming that his great uncle liberated Auschwitz a famous death camp very well known to the world, instead of Buchenwald a lesser known work-camp, means that Obama knew it, but said Auschwitz instead because he knew how strongly people would be affected by the story. Not to mention the speech had nothing to do with WWII. It was an intentional politically planned mistake, and they knew if someone "caught it", they would just say "ah well it’s a family story".

The mistakes of McCain are nothing compared to the serious mistakes of Obama. Seriously, objectively review each mistake by Obama and compare it to McCain.

As a Liberal Democrat, I can see Obama for who he is… Why can’t you?

By: Joerg - Atlantic Community

Joerg - Atlantic Community — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:10:52 +0000

"he remembers giving a backrub to a head of state that freaked out"

That was President Bush at a G8 summit two or three years ago.

In the video, McCain is referring to the Munich Security Conference of 2007:
http://atlanticreview.org/archives/591-Munich-Security-Conference-Clear-Messages-Instead-of-Icy-Silence.html

By: Interested

Interested — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:58:35 +0000

Chancellor of Germany he was uhm, petting. He might certainly, but I wouldn’t put it past him not to remember.

Gotta give credit to ole Bill - he’d have scored with her - or at least left a bad taste in her mouth.

By: Claudia, Assistant Editor

Claudia, Assistant Editor — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:44:49 +0000

Of course he knows Germany Claudia. He even flirted with Germany’s Chancellor. Well, he touched her, which freaked her out.

I’m sure he remembers giving a backrub to a head of state that freaked out, but I wouldn’t be so certain that he knows or remembers that it was the Chancellor of Germany he was uhm, petting. He might certainly, but I wouldn’t put it past him not to remember.