Letters to the Editor
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How is it a "gotcha:"?
He keeps doing it. But there is aprofound difference between sunni and shiia...at least as profound as between Catholics and fundumentalist protestants. Anyone who spent a day learning about the history of Iraq or Iran would understand this. He either can't keep it striaght or won't because he wants to get Iran. Either way, its bad news for America ... he's clearly not ready to lead on day one.
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So?
Most of the American public (and press, and pundits) are just as confused, so unfortunately most will neither understand nor care; what they all do know is McCain is a straight-shootin' maverick defender of the American way of life and a Republican, and that's all they need to know (besides knowing that Obama is a lousy bowler and a closet Muslim radical, and that Hillary is, well, Hillary).
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nail him on this
America!
This is the man who claims he's best suited to handle our military, our war, and our diplomatic relationships with the world.
Yet he can't keep a basic "Who's Who" list straight. (Remember what happened the last time the President was someone who couldn't play "State Dept. Bingo"?)
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Another lie in mistake's clothing
Why do we keep giving McCain the benefit of the doubt every time he pushes the "Qaeda is a Shi'ite organization" talking point?
He's lying.
In order to make his lie pass in the mainstream news, he's wrapping it up as if it were a mistake.
It's not a complicated process. We've seen Republicans doing it for 20 years. It works so good, McCain does it every time, and every time he gets the same pass.
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No worries!
Everybody and everything that you don't understand is now Al Qaeda, Hell even the spelling can be non specific! Go McBush!
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"He's lying" or....
I know he's old, but 72 isn't THAT old by today's standards. He doesn't just look old, he looks like he's dying. He seems completely befuddled. I have to ask...did he have a stroke? That's what he acts like.
I don't think he's deliberately confusing the issue as some sort of backdoor move on Iran. He appears genuinely confused. That's why I say, watch the Republican's choice of VP very carefully. McCain is a Trojan Horse. He can be sold to the public. He'd never finish out his first term. He'll step aside and let the real President take over.
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Two problems...
I'm guessing that the lack of outcry this inspires is related to two intersecting problems.
One: too many people in America are confused about the difference themselves, or they don't think there's truly any difference, or they just don't think it matters. ("Sunni, Shi'ite, who cares, they all want to kill us, right?")
Two: the MSM (what a surprise!) doesn't spend enough time analyzing and interpreting, and thus teaching readers/viewers about the difference in a way that would get through to them.
It's very simple. Saying "Al-Qaeda is a radical arm of the Shi'ite sect" would be a lot like standing up and saying, "The IRA were/are a radical arm of the Baptists."
... Yeah. Would most Americans not spot the GIANT MISTAKE in such a statement immediately? Would they not, to some degree or other, understand that Baptists and Catholics are radically different, though both Christian?
Perhaps I am hopeful, but maybe if you hammered it home to Americans (including our so-called leaders, like McCain) that when you confuse Sunni and Shi'a, you sound just as ignorant as if you were to confuse Baptists with Catholics... maybe that would make an impression on them, by giving them an example they can relate to.
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He wasn't covering his bases
I believe he simply doesn't think about it like that. Sunni, Shi'a, who gives a shit? Them's Muslims, and therefore enemy, and therefore we can label them all Al Qaeda and bomb their ass into the stone age. Everything else is unimportant details. The public (those who may hand him the Presidency in November) isn't watching CSPAN and dissecting what's being said. And the media won't tell them, either. He's safe. He can let his remaining hair down and display not his ignorance, but complete indifference. He doesn't give a fuck who he bombs, he just wants the nuclear football. He wants to be Commander in Chief, to happily move the toy soldiers around a big map in the Situation Room. Like the good ol' days! The rest is not his problem.
He is more dangerous than Bush: unlike Junior who's never had combat, he's been there and liked it. Unlike Junior whom we can shoot down as oblivious and removed from reality, McCain can argue that he was there! he knows! he's experienced! It's all bullshit, and we all know this. My Grandmother lived through the blockade of Leningrad during World War II, enduring hardships that never even entered McCain's worst nightmares in Hanoi Hilton. Does that make her a foreign policy expert? She'd be the first to laugh if I suggested it. And McCain knows it, and he doesn't give a crap. He wants his nuclear football and his toy soldiers and his maps and nice, compliant Chiefs of Staff that can "bomb bomb Iran". Oh yeah. I'd say he'd be the first President who's seen active duty and yet gleefully proceeds to bomb the shit out of anyone who looks at him funny.
Presidential candidates always put their best, most benevolent face on when they're running. They become a lot more scary when they're safely elected. If McCain is so overtly oblivious / indifferent / warmongering right now... what's he going to be like if (oh please, make it an if!) he's elected? I shudder to think.
I've no data to back this up. But I see it clear as day. Please, if there is a God, make me wrong about this.
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We have to right to know...
...whether it is incipient senility, gross intellectual lazyness (like W.) or an expression of latent racism (dem ragheads are all the same!). Whichever this repeated error is an expression of, it certainly does not augur well as qualification for the highest post in the land! And we should know it sooner than later.
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It surely seems his faculties are failing - another McCain Moment.
I can believe that the crusty old senator's wandered in a fog for the last 6 years, incapable of distinguishing Shi'ite from shinola among other pertinent points.
But since his taxpayer-funded tour of the Middle East when these comments were finally discussed publicly, surely he's been briefed on the difference between Sunnis and Shi'as and that little ol' tiff they got goin' on over there? He's likely been strongly advised against screwing up this particular point again.
So, he wanders out to his seat at the podium, and somewhere along the way the distinction eludes him. He ventures a guess as his mind whirs ineffectually (al-Qaeda, er... Shiites?), then covers his bases.
Oh, for uncomplicated times when all those assholes out there were just undifferentiated "mooslims". Almost makes a man pine for non-empire days. Before all these damnable foreign entanglements. Before ignorance is hardwired by the ravages of age.