Where in the World is John McCain?
Back in the 1980's and 1990's, millions of American children learned the basics of global geography with the software and later TV show, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? As his latest geographic blunder suggests - this time regarding the "Iraq/Pakistan border" - John McCain would have done well to tune in to the program.
McCain's map reading woes couldn't have come at a worse time. Barack Obama's tour of Afghanistan and Iraq is drawing rave reviews, including from the Maliki government in Baghdad. Asked by ABC's Diane Sawyer about Obama's assertion that "the situation in Afghanistan in precarious and urgent," McCain answered:
"I think it's serious...It's a serious situation, but there's a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border."
Now, McCain could be forgiven an isolated slip of the tongue that placed Iraq's eastern frontier alongside Pakistan, and not Iran. But given McCain's growing list of geographic gaffes this past month alone, American voters also could be forgiven for worrying that the man who claims to "know how to win wars" isn't sure where they're being fought.
Last week, for example, McCain for the third time in a year referenced Czechoslovakia, a nation which has not existed since 1992. Having repeatedly described the basing of the U.S. missile defense system in "Poland and Czechoslovakia," McCain days ago fretted over Russian pressure being applied to Prague:
"I was concerned about a couple of steps that the Russian government took in the last several days. One was reducing the energy supplies to Czechoslovakia."
As it turns out, McCain is an equal opportunity geographic bungler, getting lost in Africa as well as Europe and Asia. As ThinkProgress noted, McCain on June 30 got tripped up discussing the Darfur crisis in Sudan:
John McCain misspoke and confused his African countries while talking to reporters on the Straight Talk Express today. This time, he was bailed out not by Joe Lieberman, but by his close aide Mark Salter. "How can we bring pressure on the government of Somalia?" McCain asked, which prompted Mark Salter to correct him. "Sudan," Salter said. "Sudan."
(Of course, more disturbing that John McCain's struggles to remember who lives where is his confusion over who is aligned with whom. Four times in a matter of just days, McCain confused Sunni and Shiite, claiming that Al Qaeda operatives in Iraq were being trained by their arch-enemies in Iran.)
Last week, John McCain announced to great fanfare he was working to overcome his computer illiteracy, "I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself." Given his latest geographic gut-buster, that milestone can't come soon enough. McCain might start by clicking over to Google to look at some maps, or maybe just booting up an old copy of Carmen Sandiego.
UPDATE: The Politico on Tuesday documented other pages in John McCain's atlas of errors. As the video shows, McCain referred to "President Putin of Germany. And in an more bizarre example of American geographic confusion, McCain exchanged Pittsburgh for Green Bay in his tale of duping his captors in Vietnam.
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Not only where in the world is John McCain, but where the hell in the world is the media???
Posted by sketchy41 on July 22, 2008 8:08 AMDementia and senality are a bitch, aren't they
Posted by R.B. Ashworth on July 22, 2008 8:15 AMMcCain?
I don't think "senality" is the problem. The guy graduated near the bottom of his class; he just isn't the sharpest sword in the arsenal. He isn't the brightest bulb on the tree. His gun is loaded with depleted-your-brain-ium.
Posted by Geraldo on July 22, 2008 8:34 AM