Letters to the Editor
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Howie backtracks!
Wow. He actually responded to the question:
Acton, Mass.: Mr Kurtz, you have written about McCain's "gaffe of saying Iran was training al-Qaeda operatives, which the senator corrected a moment later." But McCain previously made that statement at least three times on his trip without correction. It is clear that this represents a severe policy misconception on McCain's part, not just a one-time "gaffe." So why are you (and the media in general) playing this as just a slip of the tongue?
Howard Kurtz: I was just recounting what happened. The fact that McCain has made this "mistake" before suggests that either that he believes Iran is actually training al-Qaeda operatives or is not being very careful about sticking to established facts.
I had assumed from the start that Howie would blow off this issue, so I wasn't polite in the version of the question I submitted:
Hey, Howie, do you even read the stuff you post? In your March 20 column, you blast A.J. Rossmiller for jumping on the McCain false Iran/Al Queda link. You state this is something “the senator corrected a moment later”, yet the very passage you then quote from Rossmiller shows that McCain spread this falsehood at least three times. At least one of those repetitions of the lie was the previous day on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show. How on earth can you say McCain corrected it a moment later? I think a correction to your article is only the beginning of a long road back to credibility for you on this one.
As for your question “can the Democratic candidates really argue that they know more about foreign policy?”, the simple reply is yes. McCain was wrong about the Iraq invasion: he was for it and Obama came out against it before the invasion. Both Obama and Clinton want to end the occupation in Iraq while McCain is okay staying a hundred years. McCain was wrong in supporting the surge. He was for it and Obama and Clinton were against it. It has failed miserably to achieve the political reconciliation that was the stated goal . McCain’s experience in foreign policy is a constant display of failed judgement.