McCain the Pathological Liar: Iraq borders/Czechoslovakia?

Recently some people have been attacking Obama for a statement he made in Isreal regarding his connection to U.S. Senate Banking Committee. Now my first thought was that as usual with most campaigners his schedule caught up with him and he was referring to a bill he helped to pass but got confused however I see that most don't agree and have called him a liar.

Maybe he was lying, and did not make a gaffe!

Maybe we should reevaluate our positions on these statements that "seem" to be made in error. Maybe these two candidates are manipulating us. Perhaps we should hold these politicians feet to the fire, and not assume the mistakes were accidental.

The idea made me search out other statements that were written-off as gaffes and look at them for what they were...an absolute lie. Which brings me to the other candidate in the race. John McCain claims that Iraq borders Pakistan and that Czechoslovakia still exists. The latter was done on more than ONE occasion.

He also said Al Qaeda is in Iran but Lieberman caught his lie.

I don't want to presume this is from campaign exhaustion.

I don't want to presume that McCain has been asleep at the switch since '93, or that he has an outdated globe in his office.

I don't want to presume the reason he doesn't know these things is because his age may be catching up to him and be accused of "ageism", so I'll assume he stated those things as truth.

He is lying to us.

McCain Owns First Foreign Policy Gaffe During Obama's Iraq Trip

Asked by Diane Sawyer whether the "the situation in Afghanistan in precarious and urgent," McCain responded: "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."

But as ABC's Rick Klein noted: "Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border. Afghanistan and Pakistan do."
Huffington Post

McCain Defends Czechoslovakia, A Non-Existent Country -- Again

UPDATE JUNE 15:
McCain made the same mistake again today during a town hall meeting in New Mexico. Huffington Post

Why is McCain lying to the people so blatantly?
This is wrong.

- Lee


[edit on 24-7-2008 by lee anoma]

reply to post by lee anoma


You have got to be kidding. So, you're telling me that you have never made a mistake when talking about two similar subjects? Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows that he was talking about the Afghanistan/Pakistan border.

Why would anyone lie about something like this? Do you think he was trying to trick the American people into believing Iraq and Pakistan bordered each other? You think he was trying to pull a fast one on us, like none of us own a map? Why would anyone lie about something as stupid as this? What would he have to gain by lying? Generally, people who lie do it for a reason. What would McCain's reason be, Lee?

You're killing me. Please use common sense in further threads.

Obama says we have 57 states

So what.

There is no chezchslovakia. But there is a Czeck Republican and Slovakia Republic.

Most americans knowledge of geography are right about where McCain's is.

but this election isnt about that. Its about puttin a war hero who has tirelessly worked for his country half of his life, or putting in a Jr. Senator from Illinois who is power hungry.

[edit on 24-7-2008 by soup_sandwich]

..... in all fairness, i suppose we should do some focus on mccain, being obama is burned at the stake.

by this thread alone, its quite obvious he's a liar, a crook, a theif, a crminal.. not born in the United states.. its obvious he's producing FAKE documents at every turn and is nothing but a scheming sob.

.... there ive done it..

christ, i feel so dirty!

lol, this is getting extremely stupid....

reply to post by Dronetek


Yes it is. I believe that's the point.

I applaud you, Lee, for making this point. "Pathological liar"? People make mistakes. They mis-speak. The get very tired and especially, if they are old and haven't had their nap, they might say something that is out of integrity with reality. It doesn't mean they're lying. It just means they're human.

Having said that, it's funny!

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
reply to post by Dronetek

 

Yes it is. I believe that's the point.

I applaud you, Lee, for making this point. "Pathological liar"?

People make mistakes. They mis-speak. The get very tired and especially, if they are old and haven't had their nap, they might say something that is out of integrity with reality. It doesn't mean they're lying. It just means they're human.

Having said that, it's funny!

Someone was smart enough to see this as my own New Yorker cover.
Thanks again BH.

Of course it is stupid guys. It is stupid because we are overreacting to the simplest things. Of course McCain made a mistake. Of course Obama made a mistake. Why are you all blowing them out of proportion and making ridiculous absolute assertions, such as calling someone a liar or unpatriotic over a gaffe.

I was jokingly mocking the recent influx of threads (mostly Obama) that do the very thing some of you scoffed at in this thread to make a point. That you see and hear what you want to, regardless of the common sense answer. You have even proven when the same is done to the opposite candidate you only THEN see how stupid the behavior is.

This is YOUR behavior that you now scoff at.
See how ridiculous it can be?

How about we raise the bar on political discourse?
Anyone in favor of this?

- Lee

reply to post by Agit8dChop


Heh, yeah I felt dirty as well.

Most people would I believe, if they have any sort of moral compass. It is stuff like this that drags us all through the mud. Either you ignore the lies, innuendo and rumors, or you reveal them by standing in the mud and debating the slingers.

One way or another you always end up a little dirty.

It is not the sort of thing I do, but a point needed to be made and setting it up this way was the best way to do it. I may not be a full fledged Obama or McCain supporter but the absurd things being said around here is like listening to nails being raked over a chalkboard. And that's from reading the title of the thread alone!

I know what you mean and thanks for playing along.

- Lee

Originally posted by lee anoma
How about we raise the bar on political discourse?
Anyone in favor of this?

- Lee

Me! Me!

Originally posted by lee anoma
One way or another you always end up a little dirty.

I LIKE feeling a little bit dirty.

You know, it's interesting, seeing how everyone is responding this election... having been here since shortly after the LAST election. The shoe is COMPLETELY on the other foot and everyone is behaving JUST like the people who they scorned then. Including me. It's human nature and it's funny.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
You know, it's interesting, seeing how everyone is responding this election... having been here since shortly after the LAST election. The shoe is COMPLETELY on the other foot and everyone is behaving JUST like the people who they scorned then. Including me. It's human nature and it's funny.

Would you care to elaborate on that?
I am not sure I understand what you mean.

Are you saying that on these forums the same sort of outright lies/rumors/exaggeration's were being spread about Bush and that you participated in that?

I wasn't around then so I am not sure.

I know I don't agree with that sort of "Limbaugh/Savage" style of deceptive political rhetoric (although my brother is fans of both men and Bush), no matter who it is played on. I have legitimate reasons for being disappointed in both Democrats and Republicans in office so hyperbole really isn't needed. The whole lot is corrupt or about to be. Democrats aren't above that.

Pelosi is ineffective and right now Obama is pandering to Israel and anyone else that he feels he needs to get this election in the bag. Reminds me of when Kerry started trying to act tough and appeal to the hard right, claiming he had a desire to catch or kill Osama.

I think my stomach turned about as much as it did when I saw the "Mama Mia" trailer last weekend while waiting to see The Dark Knight.

If it is human nature then I guess I am not human.

Figures.

- Lee

reply to post by lee anoma


Sorry, what I meant was that when I first came on board at ATS and George Bush had just "won" the election (see? I still haven't given it up), I was POd about it and complained about it. And the same people here on the board who are being snarky now were laughing and having a great old time because "their guy" (or their party) was the winner.

Does that make sense?

reply to post by lee anoma


I for one agree, these gaffes make for great daily show fodder, but even that is self described as "fake news".

The level of political discourse should be raised up to exclude using obvious mistakes as a means to make an incorrect political assertion.


It's one thing to poke fun at your candidate or his opponent with these things, but they shouldn't be raised to anything more than the trivial mistake that they are.