{"id":15836,"date":"2008-06-11T13:38:55","date_gmt":"2008-06-11T17:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/15836.html"},"modified":"2008-06-11T13:38:55","modified_gmt":"2008-06-11T17:38:55","slug":"mccains-confusion-has-nothing-to-do-with-his-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/mccains-confusion-has-nothing-to-do-with-his-age\/","title":{"rendered":"McCain’s confusion has nothing to do with his age"},"content":{"rendered":"

I can appreciate the fact that the McCain campaign and Republicans in general are a little touchy about the senator’s age — running to be the oldest president in U.S. history will do that — but that’s no reason to characterize every critical adjective in the language as some kind of slight<\/a> about McCain’s septuagenarian status.<\/p>\n

Poll after poll shows that more voters trust Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on matters of national security than they do Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois. Hoping to bridge that chasm, the Obama campaign and Democrats harped on comments McCain made on the Today show this morning, repeatedly calling the 71-year-old presumptive GOP presidential nominee “confused,” seeming to feed into concerns voters might have about the Arizonan’s age.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After McCain said this morning that it’s “not too important” when U.S. troops come home from Iraq, Obama aide Susan Rice said on a conference call that McCain’s comments reveal a “real confusion and lack of understanding of the situation in Iraq” and the larger region. She added that McCain’s series of errors of fact and judgment are “reflective of a pattern of lack of understanding and lack of strategic depth.”<\/p>\n

Reporters, apparently having internalized McCain’s talking points, asked Rice if she was attacking McCain’s age by calling him “confused.” She responded, “[W]hat I meant by that is very simple — on critical, factual questions that are fundamental to understanding what’s going on in Iraq and the region, Sen. McCain has gotten it wrong. And not just once but repeatedly.”<\/p>\n

This comes a month after Obama, responding to an ugly attack by McCain about Hamas, told CNN, “[F]or him to toss out comments like that I think is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination.” McCain, Lieberman, and their GOP allies said this was a shot at McCain’s age<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Look, this is silly. Every criticism is not a veiled reference to McCain turning 72. “Losing his bearings” has nothing to do with age — it refers to someone who has lost their way. They’re off track. They’re moving in the wrong direction. Likewise, people of all ages get “confused.”<\/p>\n

Maybe McCain and the media can draw up a list of acceptable adjectives that McCain critics can use?
\n
\nThe kicker is McCain really has been confused. Whether he’s 72 or 22 is irrelevant — he’s been consistently wrong about Iraq, demonstrating time and again that he just doesn’t understand the basics.<\/p>\n

* McCain has been confused about how many U.S. troops are in Iraq<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* McCain has been confused about whether the U.S. can maintain a long-term presence<\/a> in Iraq.<\/p>\n

* McCain has been confused about the source of violence in Iraq<\/a>. <\/p>\n

* McCain has been confused about Iran’s relationship with al Qaeda<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* McCain has been confused about the difference between Sunni and Shi’ia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* McCain has been confused about Gen. Petraeus’ responsibilities in Iraq<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* McCain has been confused about what transpired<\/a> during the Maliki government’s recent offensive in Basra.<\/p>\n

* McCain has been confused about Gen. Petraeus’ ability to travel<\/a> around Baghdad “in a non-armed Humvee.”<\/p>\n

* McCain has been so confused about Iraq, in November 2006, he couldn’t even do a live interview about the war without reading prepared notes<\/a> on national television.<\/p>\n

And we’re not supposed to say McCain’s “confused”? Why, because it might make him sound old?<\/p>\n

Tell you what, reporters and McCain campaign, pick a better adjective for us. “Confused” sounds like an attack on his age? Fine. You tell me. Befuddled? Bewildered? Baffled?<\/p>\n

The problem isn’t that McCain’s critics are picking loaded terms; the problem is McCain doesn’t seem to know what he’s talking about<\/em> when it comes to his signature issue.<\/p>\n

Why we’re not supposed to mention this is a mystery. I guess I’m confused.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I can appreciate the fact that the McCain campaign and Republicans in general are a little touchy about the senator’s age — running to be the oldest president in U.S. history will do that — but that’s no reason to characterize every critical adjective in the language as some kind of slight about McCain’s septuagenarian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15836\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}