John McCain’s loose lips
For the last several years, anytime high-profile U.S. officials arrive in Iraq or Afghanistan, it’s described as a “surprise” visit. No matter how many times these officials go to the countries, or how long their stay, it’s always a “surprise.” There’s no real mystery here — if the arrival of VIPs were publicized, their lives might be in danger.
Journalists are almost always responsible with this information, and see no reason to create a potentially dangerous situation. When there are exceptions, it tends to spark outrage — John McCain, for example, was “furious when the press reported on his son serving in Iraq” because McCain “feared the coverage would make him a target.”
The point is obvious — to protect Americans’ lives, details on trips to Iraq and/or Afghanistan are kept under wraps. Everyone knows this, and everyone respects this.
It makes John McCain’s careless remarks yesterday all the more striking.
For weeks now, Barack Obama has closely guarded the details of his planned fact-finding trips to Afghanistan and Iraq, citing security concerns.
But Friday, the Democratic presidential hopeful’s Republican rival, John McCain, may have let the secret out of the bag – infuriating some Obama supporters and putting Camp McCain on the defensive.
“I believe that either today or tomorrow — and I’m not privy to his schedule — Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators” who make up a congressional delegation, McCain told a campaign fund-raising luncheon. “I am sure that Sen. Obama is going to arrive in Baghdad in a much, much safer and secure environment than the one that he would’ve encountered before we started the surge,” McCain added.
While refusing to confirm or deny anything about Obama’s schedule, his aides were furious with McCain’s comment. They noted every major news outlet has resisted speculating on the timing or location of Obama’s war-zone maneuvers out of safety concerns.
John Kerry said he was “surprised” by McCain’s apparent breach of protocol: “I’ve been around enough of these trips to know that I’m leery of saying anything for security reasons. End of story.”
And therein lies the point: John McCain has been around enough of these trips to know the same thing. Yesterday, for whatever reason, he ignored security concerns because he wanted to score a cheap political point.
Once reporters began asking about this, McCain’s spokesperson, Tucker Bounds, said McCain “doesn’t know the itinerary of the trip, but was speaking in boarder terms.”
Actually, I really wish he had, but that’s not what happened. McCain said “either today or tomorrow.” Those aren’t “broader terms,” they’re fairly specific terms. A handful of reporters alluded to a general timeline — NBC”s Andrea Mitchell told viewers yesterday that Obama would be arriving in Iraq “shortly” — but only McCain referenced specific days.
Mark Kleiman considered some competing explanations.
1. John McCain is unaware that the timing of U.S. officials’ trips to Iraq is kept quiet to avoid helping terrorists there plan attempts to kill them.
2. John McCain is so forgetful that he didn’t remember that when McCain said in public that Obama’s trip to Iraq is scheduled for this weekend.
3. John McCain actually wants to help terrorists assassinate Barack Obama.
It’s hard to imagine the first and third options being true, which suggests McCain was either confused, forgetful, or dangerously careless — or possible some combination therein. (I’ve seen some suggestions that McCain might have been trying to force Obama to postpone his stop in Iraq, by making it excessively risky, and thereby saying, “A ha! Obama won’t go to Iraq after all!” This, too, strikes me as unlikely.)
I’m hesitant to get too outraged by this. Obama’s schedule wasn’t classified, and given what we know about the rest of his European schedule, one might have been able to infer that the stops in the Middle East were going to happen this weekend. For that matter, as much as I’ve lost respect for McCain, I’m hardly at the point at which I believe he’s willing to literally put Obama’s life in danger.
That said, John McCain’s increasing recklessness raises legitimate questions. Even if he wasn’t sure about Obama’s schedule, and was merely speculating about the weekend, McCain knows how this system works. He knows why any and all details are kept secret. He knows why breaking protocol is literally dangerous to those traveling into war zones. For most of us, it’s just common sense. For someone who’s been in the Senate as long as McCain has, and has traveled as extensively as McCain has, it’s standard operating procedure.
And yet, he did it anyway. At an absolute minimum, it should undermine public confidence in John McCain.
I’d just add one thing. Josh Marshall asked, “Any thoughts on the reaction if Barack Obama had publicly broken the embargo on details and timing of Sen. McCain’s imminent visit to a war zone?”
I shudder to think of the apoplexy. We would hear about it, literally every day, for the rest of the campaign. Republicans everywhere would call Obama a traitor, and the media would create huge graphics that read: “Obama: Does he want McCain killed?” Democratic members of Congress would distance themselves from Obama, and the senator would be forced to issue a public apology. Every media narrative — about inexperience, lack of national security bona fides, etc. — would be reinforced.
It would be a development that literally changed the election. But given that it was McCain who divulged details, the story will probably go nowhere.
IOKIYAR.
Good thing McCain’s strong point is foreign policy. Just think how bad he’d be if that was a weakness.
christomatic. Why?
This incident just underscores what a complete and utter wanker Mccain is…and
how desperate he is becoming.
Considering his behavior, in the last week alone, it appears that the implosion is fast approaching…hopefully, no one will get hurt…
I think McCain is simply careless. I believe that he wasn’t implying that he had specific knowledge about the schedule and was saying what was general knowledge – Sen. Obama is travelling to Europe and the Middle East. But it was careless for the obvious reasons. Of all the McCain confusion and carelessness, this really doesn’t rise near the top for me, it simply adds to the body of evidence that this man is not fit for public office.
The press seems to be more intoxicated with its ability to control perceptions than it is in the continued well-being of America. The laudatory, forgiving coverage of McCain suggests that most of the press has not thought through the consequences of a McCain presidency. It’s either that or they just want a horse race and they don’t give a damn about consequences.
Well, I guess we can say that the baton of GOP leadership—consorting with the enemies of the United States of America for personal gain—has passed from the hand of Bush to the hand of McCain.
Why, it’s just more proof that the man’s a maverick! We’ve been going by these stodgy old traditions of secrecy for far too long–it’s about time somebody broke ranks. Yay, Grampy!
Well, at least it’s nothing like releasing the identity of a CIA agent in the process of scoring a cheap political point. Oh, wait, it is. Well, it’s not like a democrat did it. That would be condemnable.
it’s LOTS easier to defeat a dead man…
unless you’re John Ashcroft
remember when the media reported that mccain’s SON was serving in Iraq and ol’ mcshitstain went BALLISTIC saying that the media was irresponsible and was putting his son in more danger ??
uh huh
mcshitstain needs a big heaping mug of STFU.
You forgot to mention that Wall Street Journal reported thursday night Obama would be in Iraq this weekend.
How is it loose lips when the Wall Street Journal reported it 18 hours before McCain said anything.
Andrea MItchell said he would be in iraq soon they sent her over there for an obama interview.
It was known he would be in Jordan the 21st, Israel the 22nd, and europe the 23 to 26th and leaving london the 26th so of course he was going to be in afghanistan and iraq first.
Major Garrett reported how he would be in afghanistan and iraq first yesterday morning.
All day long on CNN they reported he would be arriving in afgnanistan shortly. Cnn gave specifics at which bases he would be at in iraq.
The Obama team already had announced he was going to iraq and afghanistan.
The big difference is McCain’s son is on the front lines dealing with IED’s.
Obama is going to huge bases.
You also forgot to mention McCain said he didn’t know his schedule. He said this at a closed door event. McCain said nothing knew.
The Wall Street Journal reported where he would be in iraq this weekend as the lead in their op-ed.
But who cares about the facts when the left can just lie.
The people on the left have are dense.
HELLO THE WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTED HE WOULD BE IN IRAQ LONG BEFORE MCCAIN SAID ANYTHING.
Yeah real secret he is in afghanistan now I wonder where he is going next.
Obviously he is going to iraq then on to jordan.
If he is in afghanistan now and will be in jordan on monday and will be in israel tuesday and europe from wednesday to saturday before leaving for the U.S then obviously he will be in iraq tomorrow.
Some secrecy.
Obama’s own campaign said he was in afghanistan now. They didn’t keep it a secret. So now everyone knows he will be in Iraq tomorrow. If they wanted to keep it a secret they wouldn’t have give the trip plans to all the media and have the Wall street journal report it.
It is the Obama campaign’s fault they gave the trip plans to all the media and the Wall Street Journal reported it.
The Wall Street Journal reported it online thursday night Obama would be in Iraq this weekend and it was in the lead of their op-ed in the papers friday morning.
They reported this more than 12 hours before McCain said anything.
McCain specificially said he didn’t know his schedule. McCain didn’t let anything slip.
Why does the truth not matter on this site. How is this a story when the wall street journal broke any embargo saying he would be in iraq this weekend.
Obama broke an embargo saying CIA cheifs visit politicians at the embassies when they visit. That has security implications.
WHY DOES THE LEFT HAVE TO LIE.
IS THE LEFT DENSE OR JUST PLAIN DUMB.
DO THEY NOT KNOW THE WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTED OBAMA WOULD BE IN IRAQ THIS WEEKEND.
WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTED IT FIRST ON THEIR WEBSITE THURSDAY NIGHT BUT SOMEHOW IT IS MCCAIN’S FAULT.
DOES THE LEFT NOT KNOW THE WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTED IT.
THEY CAN’T SAY THE WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTED IT FIRST BECAUSE THAT WOULD GET IN THE WAY OF THEIR LIES.
THAT IS WHAT THE LEFT DOES. IGNORE THE FACTS AND LIE TO SCORE PROPAGANDA POINTS.
WHAT FUN WOULD IT BE TO SAY THE WALL STREET JOURNAL SAID OBAMA WOULD BE IN IRAQ THIS WEEKEND.
THAT WOULD GET IN THE WAY ABOUT LYING ABOUT MCCAIN AND SAYING THIS SOMEHOW WAS A SECRET.
SO THE LEFT IS EITHER DENSE AND DOESN’T KNOW ABOUT THE WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTING IT OR JUST IS OUT RIGHT LYING TO THEIR READERS.
SO STEVE BENON IS EITHER DENSE OR A LIAR.
STEVE BENON THAT MORON DOESN’T MENTION HOW THE WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTED OBAMA WOULD BE THERE THIS WEEKEND.
MCCAIN SAID HE DIDN’T KNOW HIS SCHEDULE.
MCCAIN SAID FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. OBAMA ISN’T GOING TO BE IN IRAQ FRIDAY OR SATURDAY. THIS SHOWS MCCAIN DIDN’T KNOW HIS SCHEDULE. OBAMA WILL BE IN IRAQ SUNDAY. MCCAIN WAS TALKING IN GENERAL HOW OBAMA WOULD ARRIVE TODAY OR TOMORROW AND SEE THE SITUATION.
MCCAIN PREFACED IT BY SAYING HE DIDN’T KNOW OBAMA’S SCHEDULE.
MCCAIN PREFACED IT BY SAYING HE DIDN’T KNOW OBAMA’S SCHEDULE.
HOW HARD IS IT FOR THE LEFT TO FIGURE THAT OUT.
IT WAS THE WALL STREET JOURNAL WHO SAID OBAMA WOULD BE THERE THIS WEEKEND.
EARTH TO STEVE BENON.
YOU DIDN’T MENTION THAT WALL STREET JOURNAL SAID HE WOULD BE THERE THIS WEEKEND.
YOUR SITE IS A PROPAGANDA SITE FULL OF LIES.
SOME REPORTING NOT MENTIONING HOW THE WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTED HE WOULD BE IN IRAQ THIS WEEKEND.
THEY HAD HIS SCHEDULE WHILE MCCAIN DIDN’T HAVE HIS SCHEDULE BUT IT SOMEHOW MCCAIN’S FAULT.
I recemmend Haldol..
We all agree that the media has a conservative bias, but why? Does a conservative bias sell? Does it serve the business/career interests of the reporters. I can guess, but does anybody know why.
There needs to be some research out there somewhere on all this.
Thanks for any help,
Alex
Jason, I think you left your sippy cup sitting on the space bar and caps lock of your keyboard. Please move it and communicate like an adult.
Thanks, Jason, that’s a perfect example of Republican tactics. When you are clearly in the wrong: YELL, INSULT AND REPEAT THE TALKING POINTS. Even if you have to make stuff up.
HOW HARD IS IT FOR JASON TO UNLOCK THE KEY CAPS?
I agree with the first and third Jasons, stongly disagree with the second Jason, and find the fourth Jason unconvincing.
Thanks to all four of you posting here, though. It’s nice to see what the last remnants of the conservative base have been reduced to.
(Sorry, you might not have been able to read that: THANKS!)
Jason constitutes a nation of whiners. Mr. Gramm says so.
JASON,
3 McCain points. -30 for over use of caps. No McCain Keychain for you!
shoo fly … does your momma know you’re on the ‘puter ..??
CB: I shudder to think of the apoplexy. We would hear about it, literally every day, for the rest of the campaign. Republicans everywhere would call Obama a traitor…
That is absolutely dead right. And for those on the left excoriating Barack for his vote on FISA, the same “apoplexy” would have befallen him with a Nay vote on that sad bill.
The game is rigged against him folks. McMedia is lying in wait with a huge axe.
One slip… and they will make cheap hamburgers out of him.
But here is the good news: He is out-foxing McMedia at every turn.
And Barack’s base is big and grassrootsy enough that they can’t swing the axe without “just” cause. But know this: McMedia is steaming and salivating for his hide!
Did the McCain camp give jeff the day off?
Here’s the funny thing about Jason’s over the top response. CB made the reasonable point that McCain was, at worst, being sloppy and it wasn’t anything to get to worked up about. On the other hand, the right would have been apoplectic if Obama had made a similar slip concerning a McCain trip to Iraq or Afghanistan. Jason shows up to show us that the right doesn’t need an Obama slip to get apoplectic, the right can get apoplectic over just about anything.
Here by the way is what the WSJ reported on its editorial page.
anything to get to worked up about.=anything to get too worked up about.
For those who are convinced that the MSM is hopeless — avoid today’s copy of the NEW YORK DAILY NEWS. (Which is no longer the horror of the Phil Ochs song — today that’s the NY PESTilence — but is still, generally somewhat conservative Republican editorially.)
There on the front page — above the story about a strip club getting busted and next to a story about Brittany Spears (it IS a tabloid after all) is the headline:
“McCAIN TATTLES ON OBAMA’S IRAQ TRIP”
And the story takes up most of page 4, larger and more prominent than most political news since the end of the primaries. (And they were both pro-Obama and strongly anti-Hillary by about mid-April, so it isn’t a case of ‘home team favoritism.’)
I’m sure McCain let his lips flap so loosely *only* because he’s certain of the peace and security reigning in Iraq, due to his “surge”. I’m equally certain that, on his own next trip to Iraq, he’ll announce his detailed schedule in public for the same reason.
Jason @12 (the sanest of 4 posts)
Just being on the base doesn’t guarantee security. You might remember that the Green Zone had been attacked a couple of times around the time some high muckety-mucks were visiting. The attacks’ timing was off by one day in once case and by a couple of hours in the second, so that the designated target escaped (but not the grunts on the ground there). There had also been a “near event”, also missed by a couple of hours, in Afghanistan, when Cheney visited… a BASE (there, since you love the caps so much, have some)
Well, one thing is clear: Jason needs a cookie and a nap.
So this (trolls) is what we will have to put up with until Nov. 5 huh?
Well, since they make childish arguments and scream them(in all caps) just like a child demanding attention, we should probably not even acknowledge their presence.
All of the comments directed towards them distracts from the issue and titillates their warped ego. They then feel encouraged to continue.
They have nothing original to say, nor anything intelligent to add to the discourse here. They are right; you are wrong and must be made to know that. To think independently and evaluate reality for yourself requires much more maturity and responsibility than to allow someone to tell you what is and what isn’t. And having your gray matter turn to mush is very important when your leaders who told you what is and what isn’t all of a sudden say that isn’t is, and is isn’t. When you think for yourself you cannot reconcile the bullshit that is fed to us everyday by government and their media lackeys.
Are we accusing John McCain of wanting Obama dead?
Preposterous!
After all, dead Democrats have been beating live Republicans lately and getting beaten in NC VA and the Dakotas is humiliating enough when Obama is ALIVE.
JASON YOU ARE FULL OF SHIT AND CAPITALIZING IT. McCain’s son is not on the front lines dealing with IEDs. There is literally no end to your bullshit. Does your mother know you are showing your ass to the world. Authoritarian demands don’t work here. You use the word “left” with complete stupidity of what its application means. According to the polls most Americans are left on all the issues if left to you means agreeing with democrats. “You on the left”…just what does that mean? Is it people who disagree with you or what, because disagreeing with you is just plus or minus zero on the understanding scale and is neither left nor right. The country has been moved so far right that left only means disagreeing with right wingers as you literally exemplify.
McCain knows better regardless of who you compare him to or how you justify it. He was careless no matter his intention or how trivial you try to make it. Others may make such careless mistakes without repercussions …not presidential candidates, not about this.
That’s it….I’m cuttin Jason’s nuts off!
I’m more inclined to believe reason #3; that he wants Obama dead because he knows at this juncture he can’t win the election.
Those poll numbers will hold to Nov and he knows it. Never expect anything less from a Republican than the absolute worst of humanity.
eddiejoe said: That’s it….I’m cuttin Jason’s nuts off!
I”m confused. Wouldn’t Jason first have to biologically have them, before you could cut them off?