Letters to the Editor
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Not a gaffe; a new Republican talking point
(I'm copying my own comment here from another Salon blog -- hope that's playing by the rules!)
On NPR this evening, Matthew Continetti of The Weekly Standard (house organ of Moonies and the Washington Republicans) insisted that it was not a gaffe or even a misstatement, because, he claimed, there was solid proof going back many years to back up the connection between Al Qaida and Iran's ayatollahs. You can hear the piece at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88689984
There's no transcript yet, but I've taken the liberty to transcribe it myself -- enjoy:
Continetti: "McCain's statement that Iran is aiding Sunni terrorists has been treated as a gaffe in the media, but I think it isn't a gaffe. I think if you look at the 9-11 Commission, I think if you look at the Washington Post's own reporting on some things that Major General William B. Cauldwell has said, there IS a pattern of Iranian assistance to Al Qaida -- not just since the Iraq War began but even in the 1990s. We can't forget that Imad Muniyah, the terrorist who was recently killed in Syria, was allied with the Iranians, and of course also helped Al Qaida when it was becoming an organization."
Robert Siegel: "He was Lebanese."
Continetti: "He was Lebanese."
Siegel: "So you think he believed it, you think he meant it when he said it."
Continetti: "McCain believed it, and I think the facts, under strict scrutiny, bear him out."
Siegel: "Matt Continetti, E.J. Dionne, thanks so much."
End of story. No follow-up. Amazing.