CNN

The military operation to dispose the Iraqi government was a huge success. The Diplomatic process to replace the Iraqi government was a huge failure.

The sucess of the surge was based on the performance of the troops, but more importantly, the game plan of one General Petraous, who has stressed getting into the Iraqi communities and engaging the population. At very best, the surge by its self did nothing more than stabilize areas that American forces were "occupying", the true success came about through the "diplomatic" efforts of the American Military, right down to the lowest enlisted man engaging the Iraqi people to take charge of their own situation and get involved.

In my humble opinion, the belief that Iraq requires a military solution, is narrow minded and inept, headed for failure, the constant proclaimation that al Qaeda is a major threat in Iraq is equal to crying the sky is falling the sky is falling. While we shall have some military forces in Iraq for quit awhile, the solution to the problems in Iraq are diplomatic and political, and General Petraous , not our political leaders, has taken the first steps forward in activity engaging the Iraqi's in the security and the rule of their nation. It is something that could have been done within days of the collaspe of the Iraqi government, had our administration known what it was doing.

Looks like Grandpa McCain got caught "stretching" the facts just a bit again. What next – the "surge" that he supported ended the Cuban Missile Crisis or that the "surge" help end the Cold War?
Seems that the "surge" will eventually help to end poverty and world hunger if Grandpa McCain can figure out a way to spin it that way.

Well they all do make mistakes. Campaigning as long as they have and his age has something to do with it as well.

The old man is losing it!!!!!!! People wake up and smell the Old folks home....CNN once again your "MODERAITOR" is closing comments about McShame way before it should be closed. Last article only had 44 comments and it was closed already. Have you Karl Rove on your staff now?

Not the first time he miss fires. It has been a trend.
He confused Al -qaeda with the Iranian supported shia miliias
He confused somalia with sudan
He confused Iraqi borders with afghanstain
He doesn't remember what he had vote for before
He still talks about a country that doesn't exist since 1993
And now......? you can fill in the blanks

This old fool doesnt know what he is talking about. zzzzz

I wish my comment will be published this time.

MCCAIN IS OUTDATED,SOMEBODY SHOULD REMIND ME THE RETIREMENT AGE IN AMERICA.

AMERICA SHOULD TELL MACCAIN THAT WE ARE IN 21ST CENTURY ,WHEN WISDOM IS FAR MORE VALUED AND IMPORTANT THAN OUTDATED EXPERIENCE. After all many Kings are born not made out of baised exprience.

Come November 5th 2008,the sun will rise from the east,and Obama will be pronounced new preident elect of America. And the blind will not see it but here the rousing jubilation from far and wide.

AMERICA OPEN YOUR EYES.

perhaps his handlers should allow only scripted interviews the way they did with W in the beginning until mccain grows into the job. he is not doing well with eastern europe either, nor does he seem to know much about birth control issues.

This is no suprise Mccain has consistantly made gaffes and some he repeated on different occasions. Mccains camp likes to talk about the media coverage Mccain isn't getting aa much of but doesn't mind the media being more critical of an Obama gaffe than Mccains. If Mccain had more coverage he would just makes gaffe after gaffe. Thats why the media followed Obama on the tour not because he's a great guy but the story of a gaffe abroad. If the media was looking for gaffes all they had to do is stay here and cover Mccain he's made 2 om just a week. Mccain is proving on a daily basis that he would be a worst president as Bush and he doesn't understand the challenges were facing in the 21 century or have the policies counter them.

McConfused didn't graduate 894 out of 899 from the Naval Academy for nothing.

McConfused doesn't have the intellectual capacity or mental stability to be president.

Gramm may be back in McCain's campaign.

McCain just needs to pack it up. He's lost

And to think he is considered a Foreign Policy expert. With all these gaffes, I am not sure he what he knows.

McCain has another senior moment and they try to deflect it back onto the Democrats. Unbelievable. We are awake, Gas and Oil Party. And we won't be fooled again.

Are you going to at least move this story back up to the top to show McCain's and CBS's responses?

Even my conservative/Republican friends are starting to have doubts about John McCain as president ... although they certainly won't go and vote for the other guy.

... and that was before this gaffe by Candidate McCain.

Perhaps instead of replacing the campaign staff; the campaign staff should replace McCain as candidate.

Is anyone else finding McCain laughable? The man speaks then sends his campaign people go scrambling to try to re-define what he "really meant". He clearly has no idea about what is really happening in some of the most dangerous countries in the world. He can't keep the basic facts straight, let alone deal with the complex issues that these centuries old societies present. Yet he is willing to continue to put our brave men and woman at risk.

When I think of that, then his comments are no longer laughable.

You would think if McCain was going to blast Obama, he would at least have his facts straight, but then again, maybe facts don't really matter. Straight talk, come on. McCain will say and infer anything to get elected. Egads, its dejavu all over again...

"If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda, and US forces would have already left Iraq in defeat," he added.

Getting a bit strident aren't we?

Not to mention al Qaeda wouldn't have been in Iraq in the first place if Obama had had his way.

The Sunni's awakened to the fact their militia was going to be killed by overwhelming American force if they didn't go along with the agenda.

It's not diplomacy that redirected/restricted Sadir's forces–it was reduced supply chain from Iraq and Syria (courtesy U.S. forces) and the fear of ultimate death!

You can't negotiate with people whose prime aim is to kill YOU.

don't believe he is lying
It is an age issue and most of us will make similar mistakes at age 72

McCain needs to consult with his Geriatrician before he talks

I don't believe he is lying
It is an age issue and most of us will make similar mistakes

McCain needs to consult with his Geriatrician before he talks

You mean McCain made ANOTHER Iraq gaffe. I'm shocked.

McCain confusing the truth again? NO! Surely not McDementia.

Grandpa Simpson is going senile!

Mis speak Mc Cain that is what you are good at tell the truth that your bearing are loosing grip. Senior moments I don't know about you this is scarery for the position he is looking for. We can nor afford a presedent who mis speak 70% of all his statements a day.

How many mistakes related to foreign afffairs does McClueless have to make before we accept the fact that He is OUT OF TOUCH and dangerously ingnorant. He doesn't grasp past or future realities in the foreign affairs arena.

Does anyone else get annoyed at McCain's whistling through his teeth (dentures?) while speaking. If he hadn't been a Senator for the last 25 years he'd already be sitting on a bus bench in Sun City, AZ waiting for 4:00 pm to come around so he could drive his golf cart over to the Red Robin for the Early Bird Special.

If, it (the Surge) is working; I really don't cares to know the "why", "how" ,and the "who" of it...........it's working! Period.........

The Double-Talk Express! He got his facts wrong, and now has to rely on his staff to distort his blatant disregard for history into half-truths.

-MCSENILE THINKING, OR LACK THERE OF.

"PUTIN PRESIDENT OF GERMANY" PER MCBUSH SPEECH, 2X.

CONFUSED SUNNIS & SHIITES.

CONFUSED GREEN BAY PACKERS for PITTSBURGH STEELERS.

CONFUSED ABOUT THE FORMER ( 16 years ago)

--CZECHOSLOVAKIA in NOVEMBER,

--THEN TWICE THIS MONTH. couldn't figure it out for 8 months???

CONFUSED ABOUT THE SURGE & THE "AWAKENING", WHICH

ACTUALLY HAPPENED MONTHS BEFORE SURGE.

WAKE UP AMERICA,safe to say mcsame is OUT of his MIND.

He he, you said "gaffe"...he he, he he.

Alzheimer's '08

Hey CNN, how about some unbiased headlines for a change:

Obama Incorrect on Surge; Refuses to Admit Mistake

Obama's Election Racketeering Plan

Obama Contradicts Himself Yet Again

etc.

By the way, check out his website on the second one. He's recruiting lawyers to "work the election" in an official group called Counsel for Obama. Remember how he won in Chicago? Yeah its that bad.

Another goof in the white house will just destroy America's reputation. Look at whats happened this past decade first with Clintons impeachment and now with Bush's incompetence. Can you imagine our credibility if we elect another stumbling and bumbling idiot.

another one or the same Iraq/Pakistan one..if it is another one- then- what the hell is going on with McCain..does he or does he not want to be the PRESIDENT

Why does McCain take his direction from Osama Bin Laden? Why does McCain put US troops where Bin Laden tells him too?
If Osama Bin Laden said "The central front in the war on terror" was Antarctica would McCain agree and surge troops there too and leave Osama Bin Laden to plan another attack?

Maybe the surge reduced violence in the Iraqi civil war, but I am still with Obama that those 20,000 troops would have made America safer if they were working to deny Osama Bin Laden and his terrorists a base to make their tapes, laugh at us and plan their next move.

Obama has been consitantly focused on getting Bin Laden and terrorists responsible for 9/11 for 6 years.
Oposing the distraction of the war in Iraq when it really counted, before we got tricked into fighting in what McCain and Bin Laden call "The central front in the war on terror" Iraq.

McCain and Bush let Bin Laden get away with killing 3000 Americans by pulling troops out of Afghanistan.

Judge for yourselves if we would have had a better chance of getting Bin Laden with Obama as President in 2002:
barackobama.com/judgment

I ask my fellow citizens to make your vote based on firsthand information and with clarity.
The one who was right in 2002 should be President in 2008.
God Bless America and God Bless You...

Or, put another way, McCain HAD his way and the sheiks WERE murdered at the hands of al Qaeda. So, what is his point?

Why does McCain take his direction from Osama Bin Laden? Why does McCain put US troops where Bin Laden tells him too?
If Osama Bin Laden said "The central front in the war on terror" was Antarctica would McCain agree and surge troops there too and leave

Osama Bin Laden to plan another attack?
Maybe the surge reduced violence in the Iraqi civil war, but I am still with Obama that those 20,000 troops would have made America safer if they were working to deny Osama Bin Laden and his terrorists a base to make their tapes, laugh at us and plan their next move.

Obama has been consitantly focused on getting Bin Laden and terrorists responsible for 9/11 for 6 years.
Oposing the distraction of the war in Iraq when it really counted, before we got tricked into fighting in what McCain and Bin Laden call "The central front in the war on terror" Iraq.

McCain and Bush let Bin Laden get away with killing 3000 Americans by pulling troops out of Afghanistan.

Judge for yourselves if we would have had a better chance of getting Bin Laden with Obama as President in 2002:
barackobama.com/judgment

I ask my fellow citizens to make your vote based on firsthand information and with clarity.
The one who was right in 2002 should be President in 2008.
God Bless America and God Bless You...

why does this matter....violence is down in Iraq and we are succeeding because of the policy proposed by John Mccaine....I don't see how this matters one bit. Thanks for another BIG STORY Cnn

I am ceaselessly amazed that the media continues to ignore McCain's gaffes. If Obama had said any of the things McCain has said, Obama's campaign would be over.

McCain is handled with kid-gloves, by the media, and i'm sick of it.

Thank you CNN, for at least noting McCain's gaffe.

Wake up America as a 64 year old women believe me I know what age does to you. Why is that every time McSenile makes a gaffe his campaign tries to turn it around on Obama?All McSenile can talk about is the surge what about McSenile voting for the war, if he and his friends had not started the war this would not even be an issue and maybe we would not have the problem with the economy we have now. This is just another example of McSenile looking backward and not forward. I think this pattern of gaffes is something the American people had better take notice of, is it senility or even worse the start of Alzheimer's? Some employers mandate competence test after the age of 70. Connie from Indiana

The McPuppeteers

1. Carl Rove has absolute control of that his head (in person and remotely)
2. George Dubya and cronies are controlling his right arm
3. Rush Limbaugh and the hardcore rightwingers (Hannity, Imus, Bortz etc) are controlling his left arm
4. The lobbyist running his campaignng and driving the "Scare Tactics Express" are controlling the strings for his legs....

Just how many more mishaps will it take for people to realize that he is too old to be given that much power. My grandma who is 82, God bless her, is scared to death that McCain will end up with the presidency, she says she knows how one feels at such age. There is nothing wrong with that and I have the highest respect for our elderly for if it weren't for them and the sacrifices they made, we would not be where we are today. It is just that presidency is a job that can't afford any confused states, any mishaps, misunderstandings and such and some of these things naturally occur when one is as old as McCain is. I will get there one day, but I'd never want to apply for the hightest office in the land. I don't even know why he did!?!

Why is this at the bottom of the ticker? If Sen. Obama had made this level of a mistake, the MSM would've declared his bid for the Whitehouse OVER.

Shame...

The surge provided the security to allow the "awakaning" to mature. Geez, the Obamites and the Obamite Press are so desperate to get the attention off of their candidates idiocy. Obama denied the surge as being central to the progress made in Iraq. He basically spit in the face of the sacrifice those troops made. Obama is an egotistical tool.

Now insert the usual "Mc"-isms and childish rants of the Obamites: 5,4,3,2,1.....

If Obama said this the republicans would use it as "proof" that Obama was not fit to be president. We provided arms to the Sunni's to go after the insurgents before the surge, everyone knows that. We don't even know who much progress would have been made because of this even without the surge. In fact, the surge really only added 16,000 troops to Iraq, from 152,000 before the surge to 168,000 after the surge. (28,000 went in, but 12,000 rotated out).

The surge surely made a difference, but how much of a difference we'll never know. We could have had a very similar result with or without this addition of US troops. The Iraqis standing up for themselves against terrorists is what matters most, it started before the surge and is continuing now after the surge (the surge ended, we are back to pre-surge levels).

The republicans argument that the surge was responsible for all the success is speculation. I'm sure it was helpful, but the major progress might have happened without it. Circumstantially, the timing of the surge coincided with things getting better in Iraq. But we don't know that the surge was the sole cause, in fact, we're pretty sure the Sunni awakening was a big cause.

Before the surge there were only a few sunnis taking part in the sunni awakening against al queda because there was no security. By the summer of 2007 there were 14,000 sunnis taking part in the awakening.

How can McCain claim "experience" as an advantage when he clearly has no understanding of what happened or is happening in Iraq? Wasn't Lieberman there to correct him this time? It is scary how out of touch this man is.

This is not accurate. The story is McCain made a serious misstatement of the truth and CBS edited it out of the video the Couric played on air. She kept the question but inserted McCain responding to a different question!!! Why are you not reporting this?

So McSame is now claiming he "Invented the 'Anbar awakening'"??

Sad old man. Time to put him out to pasture.

This is getting rediculous even for CNN. Common, can we move onto something else...I mean this is a bunch of supposing and stuff. B.O. did give credit where credit was due and that is to the TROOPS. He also gave credit to the other people who were necessary for reducing the violence. McCain...can twist and turn this however he wants but honestly, we the American People don't really give a crap. We want our troops back home or put into better use. Its time to set time tables and withdraw...I see so many falacious McCain arguments. Like withdraw means defeat? Huh...when did it mean that? I know McCain camp is simply trying to twist words but the American people should be smarter than that this time...No McCain..No GOP...No to War...and No to warmongers

When will people see McCain is a bad canidate for the US Presidency? Here's a foreign policy nightmare.

About time, the Media lets the voters know how McWar mis-speaks all the time....thank You

Lets us not forget the millions paid to Iraq citizens in revolt not to shot at American Soldiers. It would appear McCains foreign experience doesn't included understanding time lines, facts and the significant participants in modern day events, at least not as the rest of the world views the same exact occurrences.

This is so expected, I mean can you blame him, he admits to not knowing much about the economy and he clearly can't tell the difference between Shia and Sunnis in Iraq....or Iran and clearly does not know that Pakistan does not border Iraq.......so why is this a gaff, this is John McCain, look, he's old, he's boring, he brings no new ideas, he's old, he's boring, he brings no new ideas and will continue to keep the Bush tax cuts and keep the war going, so what is his change, the fact that he is the oldest person in the world running for President......bless his little heart when he gets rouzed up talking bad about Obama, ya'll see him, he gets pumped....bless his little heart(pacemaker).

McCain, you old age is starting to set in and you are just too old to run for President for the first time. You have no foreign policy experience....being shot down and hel captive does not count as experience......get over than.

Now you are upset that Obama has gone to Iraq and Afghanistan, Isreal, Jorda, England, France and Germany and now you are upset.......didn't expect the media to be all over him did ya........stupid. Just cause no one wants to follow you cause you are boring and old don't get mad at Obama....hell can your wife hire a crown to follow you around......

This would be news IF this wasnt McCains 4th, 5th, or even 6th time misspeaking. The thing about McCain, he tries to come off like he's so sure about about what he's saying until somebody 60 seconds later realizes he was wrong.

Obama '08.

Yes and if Senator McCain had his way we would have had rewritten history books. Can you imagine what would happen if this guy becomes the president and a huge campaign like Obama's is not there to catch all his lies and misrepresentations. He will just rewrite the history to justify whatever he wants to do. Not that the republicans feel like they need to justify themselves or that the American people deserve an explanation. To them we are just cattle and sheep. Good for sending to wars and working in less than minimum wage jobs without healthcare or education so that they get richer and stay in power. That's all.

Our oil men in the white house seem to have an agenda – this from another article in the news today.

As for the economic arena, crude oil production is below U.S. goals, even though it has "improved for short periods," the GAO report said. Goals for water service are "close to being reached," but the daily electricity supply "met only slightly more than half of demand in early July 2008."

Old Man Yells at Cloud!

Mcsame = MISTAKE

Covers Ears
"blaaaah, blaah blaah blaah blaah!!!!!! I can't hear you!!!!!! Blah blah blahhhhhh, barack obama is wrong vote for me!!!!!!!"

/John McCain

McGaffe to say the least!!

Please make it stop! Apparently the Republicans would vote my dog into office if they are willing to accept this old goat. I can't even keep up with the amount of stupidity surrounding McCain's campaign, and all the Repub's are left with is nitpicking or otherwise ripping on Obama, because God know's their candidate has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO OFFER.
If more then 35% of our society votes for this unfit clown, then we deserve whatever kind of government we end up with. It is like watching the slow death of your own society........

What is missing in this report is that CBS edited out these false remembrances of history. So much for the contention that the media is in the bag for Obama.

This is not a "gaffe" as McCain's constant rhetoric about the surge has become the centre argument of his campaign. This is just another example of the Republicans attempting to rewrite history.

How would you believe anything this McClueless says all he does is lie to fill the air space he just rambles on and on don;t have a clue about anything / he dont know if the name in iraq is really Sunni,Arizona or Tim-buck-too .
Did his right elbow puppet man Lieberman screw up again?
Mc Lost is like a baby Crow all mouth and - squak squak squak .
He looks worse than 40 miles of torn up highway ,

The surge did not work. Al Qaida merely moved its forces from Iraq to Afghanistan. The are playing a shell game. We need to look at this war against terrorists on a global basis. The surge meant we had less troops in Afghanistan because the additional troops were placed in Iraq. Al Qaida and the Taliban took advantage of this situation by attacking our troops in Afghanistan. If we "win" the war in Iraq but are defeated by the Taliban in Afghanistan, it will have devastating consequences for the United States.

Typical republican strategy: remake history (lie) to fit the current message.

If Obama had his way, the Republicans would not be ordering our military to murder people in an illegal war.

If we would have left Iraq, the Sunnis and Shias would have continued to fight and in a couple of years ended the war. We were and are policing this insanity and spending 12 billion a month to do so. We should have left Iraq when Sadam was overthrown. Mccain is a joke.

lol, mcsame is losing his mind. grandpa should spend time at home.

Does anyone admit anything here? Everything is always so partisan. When looking at timelines and historical events, there is a truth. If someone Will just tell it!

When will people get it? This guy is the reincarnation of Gerald Ford. Iraq/Pakistan border, Czecheslovakia, Czecheslovakia, Al Qeada in Iraq, Misstating the timeline. The guy is a buffoon. WALNUTS!

This is what we will get if he becomes the president. Our nation cannot afford it...

Obama '08

McCain is a moron. He continues time after time to make false statements that are due to either ignorance or are just blatant lies. His latest attack ad says Obama has not supported our troops. Yet McCain has lower grades and rankings than Obama from some of the biggest miliatry veteran groups. McCain is a liar and definately is prooving more and more that he cannot be trusted.

I am so cool, I am so cool, I am so cool. John McCain aint though.

"Sour grapes" on McBush's part!

I'm still waiting for the McCain Awakening when he actually proves he knows something about the Middle East. Doesn't know factions, doesn't know countries, doesn't know borders, doesn't know how many troops are there, doesn't know the timeline. Umm ... John ... Get a clue and a brain before you decide to run for POTUS! Time for Grampy's Aricept and applesauce.

Did you know that companies in the US have said they would hire a white
man with a felony record and no high school education BEFORE they would
hire a black man with NO criminal record and a 4-year degree?

I REST MY CASE – IS IT A WONDER THAT WE WOULD ELECT MCCAIN OVER OBAMA EVEN WHEN THE THE DIFFERENCE IN THEIR INTELLIGENCE IS LIKE NIGHT AND DAY?

Add this to the ever-growing list of McCain blunders. He should just keep a low profile and hope Obama makes the mistake abroad that the entire GOP is praying for. Unfortunately it's McCain who is beating him to that punch.

-Stevenage

Obama is too naive to be president.. McCain mis-speaks often. Write Hillary Clinton on your ballot in November. I don't want either of these dummies.

This words that are coming out of the McCain camp are down right cruel and harsh. I find it difficult to believe any of our future presidents would want to loose the war and/or see people die for political gain. THIS ARGUEMENT IS PLAIN DUMB!!!!

Looks like the straight talk express is heading south.

Now this bull headed egotist is smarter than the General. How the HELL did he got so smart at such a young and INEXPERIENCED age????? This is getting crazy the way everyone is eating his line of C-ola. I know some bridges that I could sell you. Take the blinders off people.

He's an idiot.... surprised?!? This old man is a joke. He seems even more incompotent than Bush at times. What kind of person would even consider voting for him?!???? All he talks about is War and he's mostly wrong on that, he knows nothing about the economy, health care, education, or any other domestic issue. What qualifies him to be president? McCain is a joke and you are a gluten for punishment if you vote for him.

Obama '08

If statements like this by McCain and his minions aren't indicative of a flailing, desperate campaign I don't know what is. In the warped and absolutist world of conservatives, making a rational examination of all of the numerous factors preceding or following the surge policy that lead to a drop in violence is somehow a treasonous slap in the face to our troops or defeatism. This mentality is very reminiscent of conservatives' steadfast refusal to even acknowledge much less address the potential risks of starting this preemptive war in the first place. While I personally believed at the time that one last surge in troops was warranted, resistance to that policy is entirely understandable given four solid years of gross incompetence and the mounting problems in Afghanistan. Resistance to the surge and a call for drawdown may, in fact, have even been necessary to demonstrate our unwillingness for permanent presence. In any event, McCain's charge that Obama secretely wished for defeat is not only absurd, it's unpresidential.

Good grief...another gaffe? I thought his expertise was Iraq? This is getting scary. In fact, my Dad is close to McCain's age and doesn't have the energy or the intellectual sharpness to run my busy household.

Wake up, America!!! This time....could we please elect a president with some brains?

It seems like at least once a week there is a headline that goes something like "mccain makes blah blah gaffe".

Why is this relegated to a Ticker post. This should be front page/center news about how McCain is either out and out LYING or SENILE.

And the Repugnants claim the Media is bias towards Obama. How many "gaffes" (cute word for major, potential, campaign-busting blunder) can McCain make before he is exposed?

Obama is too nice to expose this old relic for the sham of a man he really is. What a disgrace.

McCain cannot be our next president, he's easily confused, is not familiar with world countries, has a nasty temper and is Bush's twin. The fact that he confused the timeline of this makes me believe if elected he will be the worser president than Dummy Bush!!

Listen, I'd hate for McCain's campaign to be a referendum on his age, but you have to start wondering. He has misspoken so many times, and had so many "gaffes" that it is starting to get a bit worrying. Is this normal for him, or is it because he is getting up there and the memory is fading a bit? I don't know, but it is definitely becoming a campaign issue for him.

While McCain has made many gaffes during this campaign, the biggest gaffe was when he supported the Iraq debacle, costing 4,000 brave soldiers lives, 30,000 wounded soldiers, 100,000 Iraqi civilians dead, 2 million refugees, and 700+ Billion taxpayer dollars wasted.
So much for "judgement and experience".

Wow! When he makes a mistake on facts, which seems to be often, he absolutely won't back down and then to boot, he adds something so extreme and vile as "If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda, and US forces would have already left Iraq in defeat,"?

Really? Is this man desperate or what?

Once again, the McCrypt campaign tries to blame Obama for the ignorance of the Republican candidate. Just like the Pakistan/Iraq border. One would think, that after 8 trips to the area he would at least REMEMBER that! It is becoming apparant that his campaign cannot keep up with the "senior minutes" or keep his lies sorted out.

So, once again, this is more proof McCrypt is in the early stages of dementia with short term memory loss or is just a flat out liar.

Question: Is the the man you want attempting ANYTHING at 3:00 A.M. that does not involve Viagra?

"If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda, and US forces would have already left Iraq in defeat," he added.

Can the Obama campaign sue him for Libel? I mean jeesh, what a gross statement. I'm sure Obama really wants a bunch of leaders dead in Iraq.

And not to mention, All Obama did was call McCain out on another misstep – one he shouldn't have made since he used the Anbar Awakening as a reason for the surge! And the spokesman of course plays into fearmongering and the usual GOP Scare tactics.

Nice.

Obama 08'
Hope. Not Fear.

I almost feel sorry for McGaffe:

Every other week produces some silly statement.

I really belive the Rep wish they left Mcain alone and pick Mitt.
He is a POW/War Hero! But that is all he is!
He beat the other Rep because they needed to match him against a Dem. He look Like a Dem in 2000!

But against a real Dem, he is a failure.
He hid in the Sen as a Mavrick trouble maker, but this was he soap role he play. We are now seeing the real Mcain- An old War hero we feel sorry for.

P.S.
He is still good for the media- He staff and him are full of dumb things to say to anyone with a mic.

Does anyone that has followed any of this stupid war really believe with out the surge the Iraq people would been able to avert a blood bath???
We got this mess going now it is our place to make sure they are capable of standing up and defending themselves. To bad it is taking so long for them to get organized but they haven't had any decent leadership. It would be a shame to take the Bull headed non bending attitude like NOBAMA and have to go back in . Lets get it done and done right the first time and then get out. No one seems to realize the amount of time and expense that moving just the equipment in and out. We can't leave it all there or we would have nothing to use anyplace else. All tax payer money. Replacing it is Not feasible.
He should be over here working on trying to get relief for the Americans dealing with this energy mess that our leaders(???) have gotten us into. BOTH parties are SOOOOOO to blame.
This idiot running around over there trying to jump the gun like he is already Pres. just can Not relate with the reality. He is living in a dream world and ignoring the facts.

....and how is it that Al Quada is even IN Iraq, Tucker?

If "Obama had his way" US troops would never have been there.

And NO ONE IS diminishing the surge. Simply pointing out that McCain does not know the timeline.
Add it to the list.

Obama screws up too, but McCain is beating him in the Gaffe War.

Oh my goodness, I cannot beleive the McCain campaign. Are there that many idiots in the US that would listen to this man?

Well if Obama is President I guess we will see whats working and what isn't when he starts taking troops out in 2012.

So basically McCain changed history to make it sound like "the surge is working! the surge is working!"

He may as well say our strategy during WWII or gas prices made the surge work!

Gee there's a surprise..another misspeak.

Must be something like his statement that Iraq borders Pakistan and his reference to Czechoslovakia, a country that no longer exists.

How many times is this man going to "gaffe" before the American politic (and the American media for that matter) realizes that he is just about as mis-informed as the average American when it has to do with this Iraq war. He's not making gaffes he truly doesn't understand what is going on, why we are there and how we are going to get out of there.

I hope that "we" wake up and realize that McCain is incompetent to run this country. Not because of his age but because of his ignorance.

John McCain may have been the Maverick but now he is the Avenger.
John McCain is trying to avenge himself. It's known that John McCain joined the military reluctantly. He disappointed his father and his grandfather in Vietnam. No winner was declared in Vietnam. John McCain scares the hell out of me, he wants to become president so we fight and fight and fight for 100 years or more so he can prove a point to himself. (quote from McCain) " I would rather lose a campaign than lose a war". His message is I WILL BE A WAR VICTOR....I WILL DO WHAT I SET OUT TO DO YEARS AGO.... This unnecessary war has cost us too much in more ways than one. John McCain owns this guilt trip not the rest of us. He's only in this presidential race to make amends for himself.

This goofy old man is one big joke-and he is potentially very dangerous.

So Republicans basically admit they are wrong but won't come out and say it... and said "well, yea... but the surge is working too!"

Time for his nap. He gets it wrong too many times to be trusted as POTUS. This was suppose to be his strength, but clearly the man is not ready to be POTUS, and never will be!

Sadly, CBS fails to air McCain's original response on the day the McCain camp decries media love for Obama. Now McCain wants more media attention? Be careful what you wish for Senator. You have escaped media scrutiny for months. Frankly, I hope the media starts paying attention to McCain as he has said things at his town hall meetings that if were said by Obama, would be recognized and reported. Truly disgraceful and blatant double standard by the media!

I keep hearing, "We won't leave in defeat" from McCain...

But I've yet to find out what constitutes a "Victory"!

Why is this a gaffe, and not a fact confusing or fact distortion???
Why is CNN always treating McCain with gloves???
McCain often seems senile and confuses facts about very fundamental issues. This is quite disqualifying for anyone seeking the presidency!!!

Oh, so now it's a Gaffe?

The Sudan and Somalia Gaffe

The Afghanistan and Iraqi border Gaffe

The Czechoslovakian Gaffe

Well, after much thought....... Gaffe sounds good to me.

"If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda, and US forces would have already left Iraq in defeat,' he added."

Awesome, Tucker. Don't address the actual mistake- insult Obama. You're so transparent.

This is too funny!!! While McCain and the media are both looking for Obama to make a bad move on his tour, McCain has been constantly "misspeaking." For someone who claims he is experienced in Foreign Affairs, his doesn't act like it. He refers to non-existing countries and borders, and know he's mixing up the events that led to the surge!!! He is definitely loosing his marbles. I see why he isn't talking about his policies. Because everytime he does he makes a gaffe.

ALTERNATE REALITY SHOW

"If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda, and US forces would have already left Iraq in defeat," he added.

WELL – THAT SEEMS FAIR AND BALANCED.

Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening. I mean, that's just a matter of history."

CHECKOSLOVAKIAN HISTORY NO DOUBT

It has been well documented that the “awakening” he referred to got under way in September of 2006, close to four months before the surge policy was implemented. McCain himself used the in-progress Sunni uprising in January of 2007 to advocate the surge policy.

POOR OLD McNUGGET

Some Please tell McCain to get of the soap box, someone could use the wood. He needs more talking points besides iraq. I mean half the time he can't get the facts straight and the other half is so last year. We as a country need to look forward.

"If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda, and US forces would have already left Iraq in defeat," he added."

AND I THOUGHT CARL ROVE SKIPPED THIS CAMPAIGN.

Doesn't he have handlers that are supposed to feed him correct information? Between that and naming countries that haven't been countries for a while I'm surprised he gets anything right.

Dog bites man. They should wait until the McCain campaign goes an entire day without a gaffe, and then that would be big news.

I believe America will be great with Obama as it commander in thief.

So what's new you can pick out multiple McCain gaffs every day just watch the Daily Show or any late night talk show. McCain has replaced Bush as their bread and butter guy.

If Obama made a fundamental misunderstanding in the War such as this the media would be going nuts. McCain clearly is lying here or truely does not understand the Iraq war.

Either way he is in NO WAY qualified to be commander in chief.

It does not matter if the surge is working. I like the majority of most americans want our soldiers home on american soil as soon as possible . Obama offers us this withdrawl and mcwar wants us to stay until our grandchildren are dying in Iraq.

Notice how McCain side steps a simple question about whether he was incorrect in his suggesting a cause and effect relationship between "The Surge" and "The Anbar Awakening" (which began before the surge) to go on the attack about how the democrats want to disparage the troops by not wanting to falsely attribute to the surge an event that began BEFORE the surge. More mind blowing nonsense from the masters of spin and propaganda.

Logically, if you want to credit one event for influencing another event, the event you credit MUST COME BEFORE THE SECOND EVENT.
At least that's how things work in the universe most of us inhabit. Maybe, McCain found a worm hole to travel back in time to revise history.

If Barack Obama had his way, the war in Iraq would have never had happened, and 4000 brave GI's would be alive today. I would not say the surge was a success, because every time MCCain walks around Baghdad he always has a core of troops around to protect, and a few heavy armed helicopters above his head. Once McCain can walk around Iraq with out any military presence, that is when you can say the surge worked.
McCain wants to be in Iraq, not for the best interest of America, but for trying to save the Republicans from history. He is fighting for Bush's mistake in hopes the GOP will not be tied to the biggest mistake in American History.
McCain Is showing more and more each day with his 1970's cold war mentality that he is not really in touch on what is going on with the world. Every one with a brain knows the war on terror had nothing to do with Iraq. So finally violence has gone down a little in Iraq, whoopee! It only took six years in a war against a nation that did nothing to America on 9/11

John is making a lot of mistakes lately, whats next? can he be trusted to run the country given the huge gaffes he has been making? i shutter to think about what will happen to this country and the world given McCain's mental capacity....will we be able to trust McCain will not be confused as President like he has been confused as a candidate?

McCain has been making gaffes for the last three weeks. I think he's very confused and out of touch.

McCain's response includes another gaffe "the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda". Look up Abu Risha, the prime founder of the movement, HE WAS MURDERED AT THE HANDS OF AL QAEDA. Just more proof of how absolutely clueless this guy is on world affairs.

McCain has the inability to process facts and logically convey them. And to think that the anti-Obama crowd is looking forward to McCain debating Obama. I feel sorry for McCain. I hope that McCain gets his wish fulfilled for media coverage. He will have a rude awakening when there are reports not of what he and his campaign propagandize, but his true lack of knowledge.

Watch out what you wish for... now, just one day after nearly begging the press for coverage, the McCain camp is canceling their only press conference of the week! It seems for some reason McCain want's to change the subject.

it's sad that the media completely ignores the moronic things mccain says. he is receiving absolutely no scrutiny when it comes to stuff like this. meanwhile the press is just waiting for obama to screw up.

and people say the media loves obama? no, they just want him to screw up so that they can cover it. and while they are obama watching, mccain can say whatever stupid thing he likes.

McCain...

If the surge really did work... why not bring our troops home????

Perhaps its because if US forces did leave Iraq would fall apart. So the surge in reality DID NOT work. The media never calls you out on that.

Come on CNN, tell the whole story – CBS covered for McWar by not airing the gaffe/mistake. It was found in a transcript posted on their website, but for the low info voters – they were treated to a cleaned up version. After all, the MSM are McWar's base, right.

Can you Immagine in a time of war a commander in thief sigh an executive order giving rights to it'scommanders in the fiels to direct a nuclear attak on an enemy and insted of telling to lunch and distroyed deluma say good jugments can you immagine the seriousness of loosing goods jugments the world will be mourning for a long time I am sure American will preserved and secure good jugment and whom who carry it so that He can not soffer no arm.God Bless America and Obama our future commander in chief and all Americans.

Both candidates can debate this issue ad nauseam as far as the general public is concerned. The surge certainly provided impetus for the current situation, however Iraqi leaders and their "behind the scenes" negotiations had just as much to do with getting to where we are. The fact is Obama is right, regardless of who or how the situation got to where it today, the Iraqi's will ultimately be, and need to now be, responsible for their failure or success. McClueless is a one-trick pony and this is his issue/stage to continue the scare tactics gwb used to so effectively to gain the trust and confidence necessary to win. Fortunately, hopefully we are a little more intelligent today than we were 8 years ago.

McSame is just like a Doctor saying the heart is located in the Abdomen. Is he really a doctor? That's a question the MSM need to point out. Some mistakes are tolerable and some are not.
He is clueless about Irak (does not know who we fighting nor what is the surge about) and I can bet anything that McCain can not name two provinces in Irak. he is clueless about the economy when people are loosing their jobs and gas and food price is rising( I blame him on the economy because he said himself he is clueless). he is clueless about everything. What kinda experience does he have concerning foreign affairs. AMERICA WAKE UP.
McSame just sit in the foreign affairs committee for 35 years and does not know the difference betwen Suni and chia and can't get the purpose or mission of the surge right? Come on don't fool me.

The Iraq situation is supposed to be McCain's strongest area of expertise, yet once again he gets a major fact wrong. The media plays along, calling them "gaffes", but many of his mistakes are more serious than that. A gaffe is mispronouncing the name of a foreign leader or referring to Czechoslovakia, not making fundamental errors. And how "straight talk" was his campaign's response, the non-correction correction? Also, I'm getting very worried about comments like "a transparent effort to minimize the role of our commanders and our troops in defeating the enemy". Only a liar or a fool could claim that pointing out a clear error/falsehood is somehow attacking the troops. Add that to his implication that Obama is specifically out to "lose the war" so he can win the election – i.e borderline treason – McCain is starting to run a campaign so dirty that it threatens the country. Too much more of this, and we may not be able to pull the nation back together, no matter who wins.

THIS IS WHAT YOU CALL FOREIGN POLICY EXPERIENCE??!!??!?:

McCain thinks Pakistan and Iraq and Pakistan share a border.

McCain thinks Czechoslovakia is still a country.

McCain claims we are victorious in Iraq, and then says we need to stay in Iraq to secure victory.

And now this.

Yep Johnny – you're nothing like Bush. You're worse.

if you asked McCain, he'd probably say that the death of Archduke Ferdinand led directly to the Treaty at Versailles.

Of course there was a World War in between there, but hey, who's counting?

To say that the Awakening Councils and the Sadrist Cease Fire had nothing to do with violence dropping in Iraq shows an extreme lack of understanding of the situation. Adding more Soliders probably did help out the situation, but would it have done as much without the other factors? Probably not. Believe me, I was there twice. We cannot be on every street corner babysitting Iraqis, they will have to figure this out themselves. The wrong answer is to simpify everything down to one black and white answer and wave the flag in the face of everyone who disagrees. This from John McCain, someone who claims his strength is foreign policy.

Here is another way to phrase McCain's last statement: "If Barack Obama had had his way...", a lot of good Soldiers would still be alive, the Iraqis might have stepped up to the plate sooner (as they started to in Basra) and we might be well on our way to disengagement from Iraq, which is really what we all want, right?

Gaffe, gaffe, gaffe...is that some kind of old man disease? Time for old men to turn the leadership over to the young men...and women!

Hey McBrainless, yer 70+ years old. Retire already! You ain't got NOTHIN' new to add for our children's and grandchildren's inheritance. Yer buddy W already screwed 'em with the 6 years of war. And you wanna make it 100 years? FYI.

It's not a mere "gaffe" or one of his senior moments (like not knowing that a country in Europe hasn't existed for 15 years), this demonstrates that McCain simply doesn't KNOW something that is basic to what's going on in Iraq today.

What do you expect from a son and grandson of an admiral who barely made it thrrough the Naval Academy with a rank of 894 out of 899? That's nearly the bottom one-tenth of one percent.

We don't need any more failures as president.

How typical McBush, McSTUPID, McLIE to the people of Gramps. Lies won't work, not this time.

Calling you out.

thanks for changing your header from "McCain charged with making Iraq gaffe" to McCain makes Iraq gaffe" because he did make a gaffe.

Proof positive that being a POW does not automatically give him a corner on being an expert on military expertise.

The multi-headed beast has finally regained its equilibrium and has agreed to attack the good Senator Obama with non-stop requests for him to admit that the "surge" is the penultimate reason for "victory" in Iraq. The beast was knocked off balance when all of Barack Obama's foreign policy ideas have been proven to be correct. His trip is already a success even if he does nothing more. The glowing reviews and hope in the eyes of our troops and our foreign allies when seeing Obama have made the beast sick to its stomach and the panic button has been pushed. After goading Sen. Obama into making this trip, the McCain camp is on the verge of total meltdown. Sen. McCain has even gone so far as to accuse the Democratic nominee of treason. Meanwhile the beast has allied itself heart and soul to the McCain campaign and the preservation of a corrupt status quo. At every stop of his tour, a different head of the beast will attack Sen. Obama with "the surge" and continue to miseducate the public about the true description of a Commander-in-chief's duties. The beast can not admit its cowardice in the lead up to this disastrous war for oil and corporate greed because in the last few decades, the beast has become so intermingled that there is no discernible difference. The beast's next attack will be to say that Sen. Obama is attacking and hates our troops because he is not giving the "surge" the 100% credit that it believes it deserves. All other factors must be ignored and marginalized or as Sen. McCain did last night in his interview–lied about. The troops love Sen. Obama and they know that he doesn't want them to be mired in an endless police action of an imperialist colony. I pray everyday that the beast has underestimated the intelligence and goodness of the American people.

Hmmmm.....I just noticed that John McCain is NOT wearing a flag pin in this photo.....does that mean he is NOT patriotic?

So.... for all the talking-in-circles BLATHER at the end of the article...
what still stares McCain and his campaign in the face is that he gaffed yet again... In McCain's own words ; "its a matter of history"

that

It has been well documented that the “awakening” he referred to got under way in September of 2006, close to four months BEFORE the surge policy was implemented.

(SEE... when you take the time to cut thru the dizzying republican spin, you can actually FIND the all important TRUTH).

Leave this Grumpy old-man alone.

Who knows, it may be early signs of Alzheimers.

Get him some drugs for Alzheimers disease, instead of attacking him.

War-mongers for McCain arise !!!
Fear-mongers for McCain arise !!!
NeoCons for McCain arise !!!

your candidate needs help.

McCain is NOT COMPETENT TO BE COMMANDER IN CHIEF – he makes mistake after mistake and this is starting indicate a pattern of not getting facts right.

another day another blunder from McCains staff-its like a comedy of errors from this guy...but no his age has nothing to do with it

tell me again about how iraq and pakistan share a border

Gag!!! What lies thye love to dispense. Who supported the GI Bill of Sen. Webb's? You guys are laighable!

The thing is.. the surge wouldn't have been needed if we hadn't gone to war in Iraq in the first place. Misinformation, lies, and fear brought us to Iraq. Surge or not, we should have never been there to begin with!! It's null to even argue with Obama over the surge.

I am a former United States Army officer that served 2 tours in Iraq. I am also an Academy Graduate (West Point) like McCain. I truly respect John McCains service to this country as a member of the United States Navy and a POW in Vietnam. However, that does not qualify him to be president of the United States. Becoming a president of the United States is not a reward for service but a call for inspirational, intelligent, energetic and sound leadership. McCain does not possess those leadership qualities. He has never possessed those qualities. He, like Senator Obama, has no presidential experience. Neither candidate has been president before, so I don't understand the presidential experience argument. The best example of how they would perform as president is to see how they run their campaigns. In that respect, there is no contest. Obama has run an excellent, well coordinated, financially sound campaign and McCain has not. McCain has fired many of his campaign staff and has been many millions of dollars in the hole prior to rebounding financially. I know many officers that have actually commanded combat units that run rings around McCain from a military strategy and tactics standpoint. He has never held a high level command. So, I don't understand the points that many people are making. He has served in a lower level officer in the military (like I have), served as a POW and has been in the Senate. That is it folks. The experience is a wash. The key questions are can he manage, can he inspire, can he lead, can he make sound decisions, does he have poise, is he respected throughout the world? I would have to say that the answer to the majority of these questions is no.

I fail to see how this is a gaffe. Prior to the surge, we were forced into a strategy of securing a neighborhood, and then withdrawing our troops to cover some other area. That is what happened in Fallujah and why we fought two battles there: we kicked all the insurgents out the first time, but then our troops had to deploy elsewhere and the insurgents came back. Sen. McCain is exactly right: because of the surge, we were able to leave USMC forces in western Anbar to support the sheikhs. Otherwise, our forces were most likely going to be repositioned in the continual cat and mouse game we were in. The surge, even if it came a few months after that initial overture, allowed the Marines to remain in place in most of Anbar while the additional Army combat brigades took care of eastern Anbar and the "mixing bowl" south of Baghdad. The surge did not cause that individual sheikh to approach the Marines, but the surge enabled those efforts to succeed and is a big reason why so many other sheihks joined the Awakening Councils.

John McCain, good sir, either you are lying or you are losing your wits.

So Mr. Bounds are you calling Obama a Murderer with intentions? Let's tone down the debate here, they are getting way to personal. The debate is losing its focus.

And John McCain is supposed to be an expert on the Iraq war. I can't believe the main stream media is allowing these gaffs from Senator McCain to continue without calling him on these vital issues.

It also tells me that the interviewer is not up on their history of the war because they do not challenge Senator McCain when he makes these gaffs. Why are we allowing him to hide? He is NOT an expert on the war and heaven help us if he gets elected.

All you mothers out there, if Senator McCain is elected, prepare your sons to do battle in Iran.............what an awful person, that John McCain!

How has McCain's alchimers progressed? Oh, he made another false comment. It seems that he can't differentiate bettween September and January. That's just sad. And some people acctually think that McCain would be a good leader.

Why is this article so far down?

This is not a gaffe, it was a lie! McCain is suppose to be an expert on the surge and the war yet he gets the facts wrong.....this is what happens when you are too busy attacking and not talking about what you can do.

So Obama is saying that the surge didn't really work at all. I guess he knows because he just visited Iraq and walked around and saw all the attacks happening.

Barack is an ignorant deadbeat. Bring his uncle in who served with the Soviets!

We cannot afford a President who consistently fails to keep important facts straight. McCain is dangerous, and must NOT be elected!

Its obvious that the Republican "lies machine" is in full swing. I'm afraid Americans will buy it as they always do. Keeping it simple and distorting the truth or telling bold face lies works with the American voters. (mostly older and white) This is the same formula that has been used over and over and it works. God gave these people a brain and they are afraid to use it to understand the complexities of the Middle East.

CNN, I was up earlier today, and this was not posted at 8:30 am or it was posted then removed. I did finally see this article posted at the top of the ticker at about 11:15 am then moved back down the list.

If you keep the post up long enough, maybe you would get more responses. Thanks.

Let's look at some real measures of success. In August 2006, the month before the 'awakening' started US combat deaths were 66. the awakening started in Sept. 2006. Deaths continued to climb through 2006 and were 112 in December, almost double the pre-awakening level. The surge began in January 2007. Since then combat deaths have dropped dramatically, standing at 29 last month. It appears that the awakening impact, if any, wasn't felt until the surge began. So Mccain may have mispoke on the timing, but his point is correct. Without the surge, the impact of the awakening was minimal at best. Obama, be a man andjust admit you were wrong.

A SCRUBBED version for CBS Evening News...

A REAL version for the web...THAT'S how they were caught by bloggers!

REPORT, CNN!

This rewriting of history by McCain just shows that even if you haven't "met with commanders on the ground" you can still have a better understanding of the war just by reading the newspaper.

This is a very big deal. This isn't just a mix-up of the timeline; this is a fundamental lack of understanding of the cause and effect of certain military actions. The Anbar Awaking paved the way for the success of the surge, not the other way around. And you can make that statement because its true without in any way denegrating the troops. They did everything we asked them to do.

To imply that Obama is not honoring the troops by refusing to give them credit for something they didn't do is insulting and cheap. God Bless our troops, but let's not distort the truth (read: blatantly lie) to heap unwarranted praise on them. There's no honor in that. Just ask Jessica Lynch.

You failed to mention that CBS originally tried to hide the story and didn't include it in their original broadcast of the interview. This right on the heels of McCain's complaining of media "bias" favoring Obama.

CBS EDITED and SPLICED a better answer for McCain!

THAT is the REAL story...CBS has become a scripted, SITCOM!

The Republican playbook.. lie, lie and then lie some more... and when you get caught, blame the other guy.

I find it hard to believe that McCain's campaign can utter such drivel! To suggest that Obama doesn't respect the commanders or soldiers on the ground is ludicrous and libelous. Or that he wants to lose the war... Don't they listen? Or are they commited to the lies and deceptions practiced by the GOP since 2000? I have lost all respect for McCain (whom I supported in 2000). His campaign treats us as imbeciles that don't have the intelligence to listen to both candidates and make accurate judgements. I really wish they'd stop the lies and discuss the issues factually.

I just want to respond to Tucker Bounds that If Barack Obama had had it his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would not have been murdered because there will be no al Qaeda in Iraq and US forces would not have been defeated because they should not have been sent there anyway.

Open mouth, insert both hands, feet, and every object not nailed down.

Growing old stinks!

because of course obama never makes any gaffes..

This was a really big mistake!!! He doesn't seem to understand timelines or history. AND most of all he doesn't seem to understand what Obama is saying. Obama has said repeatedly that the most important job of president is to protect the American people!!! McCain just wants "win" wars. Vietnam and now this one. NO WINNING anything. NOT when we should not have been there in the first place. GO after the real terrorists in Afganistan to protect the American citizens and provide a sound government, economy, energy policy, health care, etc. for Americans.

Is it all about war for McCain or there's something else that the US can and should do? I think he need to change the rhetoric. The war drums have beaten for far too long and we are none the better for it.

McCain is 71 so this is just another in a series of memory failures that have been well documented.
Obama has given high praise to our military for their efforts during the surge. However, like so many others he also realizes that the Iraqis themselves deserve some of the credit. Working together the Iraqis and our brave men and women in uniform have made the difference. Plus the horrific ethnic cleansing that happened prior to the surge in the Sunni & Shiite neighborhoods helped too.
Truly too sad that Bush & Co. didn't have this "surge" at the beginning like all the military officers requested, so Iraq never would have gone down the destructive path it did.

McCain aka McBush IS a fool. He has been in the Senate for nearly 30 years and hasn't done much of anything other than back Bush's failed policies. So I ponder and answer, what does his experience really count for ? nothing !

He has lied to the American people and has flipped-flopped humongously ! The facts can not be disputed – history places the awakening as developing through 2005-06–well before the 2007 surge was implemented. So once again McCain has lied. McCain = Bush. He is an idiot and so very wrong for this country as president.
It's time to turn the page and chart a new course in America…enough of the same old Washington…enough of the failed policies of the past…enough of McSame !

It’s time for REAL change in Washington, it’s time to elect Barack Obama for president !

McCain is far too much of a fumbler and bungler to hand him the ball to run with. This man is as unprepared to repesent our nation as the baffoon who already sits in the White House! McCain is a marginal mind without character or insight ... and simply too small of a human being to admit he is wrong ... which is very often! NO more adulterers in the White House ... he has no moral authority to set an example for our children!!

right, and this is the so called foreign policy expert....

Obama is over seas whooping mccain's butt on foreign policy, and McCain is here, making gaffe after gaffe after gaffer, and on top of that, calling obama a traitor on top of it

can we say desperation?!?!? (what happened to the lofty campaign he was gonna run?!?!?!?

IM GLAD THE MEDIA IS FINALLY PICKING UP ON ALL OF MCCAINS GAFFES!! AND THEY ARE ALL FOREIGN POLCIY RELATED!!!!!!

Are you guys going to ever update the 2008 election page to show that there are more than Democrats and Republicans running? Believe it or not some poeple are sick and tired or both of these parties. How about actually having a tab or icon that demostrates your website is unbiased and ready like many Americans for an alternative to the same old song and dance that is the Replican and Democratic parties. The public expects more of your site than this. If you need some IT help to update this I imagine you can call or email any alternative political party and they will personally update this for free since you have made the choice not to.
Best election coverage.......Yea Right....Come on CNN...Update this!
Thanks Josh

ADVICE FROM THE MILITARY IS NECESSARY BUT SHOULD NOT BE GIVEN A HIGHER FOCUS THAN OUR ELECTED LEADERS.

McCain's recurring gaffes demonstrate the memory loss and delusions that are fairly common among 72 year-olds.

I am glad that McCain is being held to account; America is in crisis and we cannot afford to have another delusional airhead as POTUS right now.

Maybe it's me...but does anyone else wonder if McCain has any knowledge of ANYTHING beyond war? It is ALL he talks about...and can SOMEONE please tell him to stop saying, "My Friends."

I used to support McCain, but more and more I find myself wondering if he can handle the pressure. He keeps mixing things up. I don't think it is a good idea to have his finger on the "Button".

Obama has always praised the troops and has consistently said that the increase in troops has resulted in decreased violence. He has also (accurately) said that the surge was one part of the success in Iraq.

The most outrageous part of this story, and the part CNN omitted, was that CBS edited McCain's gaffe from the broadcast interview. CBS didn't just remove part of the statement for timing purposes. They replaced the statement with an answer to a completely different question. The media continues to try to cover-up the many mistakes made by McCain.

That McCain he is such a kookster! He is so imcompetent it is not even funny anymore. Everyday he digs himself deeper and deeper into a hole he is to inept to get out of. Poor guy I almost feel sorry for him.

It was bad enough that once again he is proving not to know anything about the region and what has and is happening in the region BUT the worse part is what CBS did to cover up this so called gaffe! Talk about media manipulation! Blatant dishonesty on CBS – I am stunned!

Attack Attack Attack... McCain and his crew are always in this "ATTACK" mode. Seems like their whole political stand is to Attack!!

Is this the kind of person/group who is going to lead the US in the 21st century?? Rest of the world is raising their bar McCain. Please learn to adapt and prosper... please don't go down the same lane as Bush and Chaney.

Independent and Objective Person.

Hey CNN, why the title change?

If this were Obama you would have, "McCain Slams Obama Again."

But, in the case of McCain, "McCains make minor slip."

This is a major gaffe. This indicates that Senator McCain does not know what is going on in Iraq. Yet, he wants more Americans to dies for his cause.

McCain's timeline is off. It has been well documented that the “awakening” he referred to got under way in September of 2006, close to four months before the surge policy was implemented. McCain himself used the in-progress Sunni uprising in January of 2007 to advocate the surge policy... Check out the DATES ****************************************************************************
Senator McCAIN admit that you misspoke and move on.....this is mild compared to all the non stop ATTACKS on Senator Obama everyday sometimes 2 to 3 times a day ....YOU and your Surrogates ......and you stepped it up while he was on foreign soil......Shame on YOU !!!!!

Even without the surge, Al Qaeda can never defeat us militarily. How many fighters do Al Qaeda have? At most in the thousands. We had 130,000 troops over there before the surge. If withdrawing troops is the same as defeat and we have to stay in Iraq until "the job is done," as Republicans like to say, does that mean we were already defeated in Afghanistan, since we moved most of our troops from Afghanistan to fight the war in Iraq before we could finish Al Qaeda in Afghanistan?

We all respect Senator MCain's past contributions to our country, but this is getting hard to watch...Republicans must comfort themselves by chanting "VP VP VP"

Sounds like McCain's concept of time and reality are similar to GW Bush's. Haven't we had enough of this by now?

The truth is that almost every single liberal Democrat in America is hoping and praying for our military to fail and to be attacked for political benefit while moderates and conservatives hope and pray for their success.

The only good thing about an Obama presidency would be that all Americans would be hoping and praying for the best for America and our brave men and women fighting the war on Islamic terror. It would be great for the left in this country to finally be on America's side once again.

Just a question, do you libs ever think about the fact that it is someone's son or daughter, father or mother that you are hoping dies in Iraq soley for your liberal Democrat ideology benefit? I know you don't care but I just can't figure out how someone in this nation can become so hateful, blind and partisan. Deny your true intentions and hopes, but at this point you guys have destroyed any doubt.

BTW, no, there is no difference about Iraq having WMDs that was spoken from the mouths of liberals or conservatives. The fact that you want to rewrite history and ignore all the Democrats who spoke about the serious threat Sadam was before the war really is just further proof about my dead on comments about your morals, values, lack of decency, and blind partisan hatrid.

I think it is an outrage for Sen. McCain to keep stating that if we leave Iraq we are defeated. What message does that send all the troops that will finally be coming home? Are they non-patriotic? Are they losers? Are they dysfunctional? Were they derelick in their duties? Did they not follow orders? Making this a victory/defeat issue greatly insults and tarnishes all our troops.

John McSame's mental capacity is definitely coming into question. He was also asked which wars he had won. He began to name Kosova, Desert Storm and several others. Do you think he knows he has dementia????

Gaffes are becoming natural occurrences for McCain.

Damage control is a full time business when your candidate is a walking gaffe. This is not the first and it's far from the last.

Good thing they can so accurately report the results of events that never occurred. The McCain campaign really benefits from having that machine that lets them look into alternate realities, and surprisingly, always finds that the Iraqis are unable to do anything on their own.
And that Obama would let the terrorists win intentionally.

Because, you know, he's so stupid that he'd ask for every US soldier to come back at once, at least according to some of the comments here.

Give both candidates the benefit of the doubt on intelligence, at least. They both know that we can't bring everyone back immediately, and Obama has never advocated that.

Wow. "If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda, and US forces would have already left Iraq in defeat," he added.

So what Obama wants is for our potential allies to be murdered? Keep spinning, Tucker Bounds...

Let's not forget the fact that Katie and CBS News tried to cover-up this slip-up by replacing McCain's "gaffe" answer with an answer to another question when the interview aired on TV...the unedited interview was available on their website...

Neither candidate, nor Bush, has promoted the right policy. Neither party is telling the story how it actually happened.

As McCain has noted the war was mismanaged from the start. The surge came too late to make the significant difference that it could have realized. Democrats had initially called for a surge, then the politicians switched positions. Everybody flip-flopped.

Recall that immediately following the fall of Baghdad that the Bush administration declared "Mission Accomplished", and then made the mistake of removing US troops from Iraq. Congressional Democrats decried, "What are you doing?" "Add MORE troops." In other words, they were pushing for a surge very early.

After it became apparent the Iraq War was turning into a Phyrric Victory, democrats called for withdrawal. This is when the first calls for a surge by republicans began. Democrats were against the surge. The GOP was for mostly for a surge.

It is funny how such a complicated War/Occupation is coming to an end because of one variable. Surge = less violence and end to war. You have to be very narrow minded to believe this strategy alone is the cause of current events. We all should employ an Independent thought process here. When has any dispute between human beings with opposing views been solved with just one variable??? Someone please try and rationlize this one.

Why does it have to be the Obama campaign that points out that McCain was lying. what is the job of the MEDIA. Is cnn supposed to unquestioningly parrot blantant falsehoods a politician speaks?

It is funny how such a complicated War/Occupation is coming to an end because of one variable. Surge = less violence and end to war. You have to be very narrow minded to believe this strategy alone is the cause of current events. We all should employ an Independent thought process here. When has any dispute between human beings with opposing views been solved with just one variable??? Someone please try and rationlize this one.

there seems to be a surge of misinformation from mccain

Senator McCain, ineeds to STOP making a reply to everything that Senator Obama says maybe just maybe you would remember what and when an event occurred – He pushed Senator Obama to go to the
Middle East – now Senator Obama has – McCain is making stupid reponses too everything Obama says.

McCain please go home and take a nap.

Obama 08

And McCain wants media coverage! The more coverage he gets, the more poorly prepared for the United States Presidency he looks. He should be careful for that which he wishes. He scares me.

WHY ISNT THIS AT THE TOP OF THE TICKER???!!!!

McSame keeps making mistakes, and the media is hiding them to avoid a landslide victory for Obama.

Senator McGaffe?

This was more than a "gaffe" by McCain. It was a fundamental misunderstanding of the history.

A "gaffe" is just a slip of the tongue.

Why did we go in Iraq?

1)WMD? No. Next.
2)Overthow Saddam? See #1 and he was a bad guy.
3)Fight al Qeada? Bring them in and the fight them. Never mind al Qeada are Sunni and 60% of the country is Shia (by the way, they don't get along too well).
4)Fight for democracy? Who cares if they want it or not, we are going to give it to them.
5)Iran threat? No, really. We are there to protect Iraq from Iran.
6)Fight for out new ally? See all the above and tell them we need to stay to make sure all of that never happens again. We will leave when we want because your vote doesn't count yet.

Using this logic, Sudan, Zimbawe, Somolia, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Syria are on our list.

Afganistan doesn't count. They don't have any resources fighting for. Who cares if al Qeada lives there? Bin laden? He is not as big as a threat as Iraq (who ever we are fighting there).

I think Obama wants to surrender...if only he could figure out to who. Maybe he will lay down a white flag in Bagdadd and leave for "to whom it may concern". I'm glad McCain knows what's best for Iraqis even though he may or may not know his geography. History, geography and details are for dorks and losers. We just want to win peroid. Go team McCain!!!!

"McCain 2008" sold out "McCain 2000".

Mcain has been doing that alot latley like the iraq and afghanistan border and dont get me wrong obama has had his share too but not as bad as mccain i think mccain is slipping into dementia my dad is 70 and the doctor told me at this age is when its possible!!!

This "article" refuses to mention that cbs edited out mccain's bungling of the facts and the only way we know mccain's actual response is from the transcript, because cbs was trying to cover his incompetence and lack of knowledge on the basics of current US Iraq foreign policy.They spliced in instead a different response to that question.

His statements about non-existent czechoslovakia, about iraq sharing a border with pakistan and his not knowing the difference between shi militia and al qaeda which is sunni, constitute the most under reported fact of the campaign. McCain has negligible grasp of current affairs.

But also why is cnn covering for cbs. JOURNALISM IS DEAD. i bet this comment does not even make it on....

CNN needs to stop covering for its fellow member of the corporate media. Why no mention of the fact that CBS News tried to COVER UP this enormous gaffe by McCain, leaving Couric's question in the interview aired on the evening news while replacing McCain's LIE of an answer with his answer to an entirely different question. The American people DEMAND free, objective, fair press. If we cannot find it from the conservative, John McCain media, which covers up his mistakes in an attempt to shove war down our throats (war sells papers), then WE will find someone willing to do so. Shame on CBS News, and shame on CNN for being complicit in this SCANDAL.

How many times does the "foreign policy" expert need to make mistakes for everyone to notice and raise questions?

Hey , this was no mere gaffe Mr. Mooney, this guy cannot get one of the most basic and crucial fact about the surge and the dynamics that created the lowering of the violence.

Its one thing to want to appear objective and another trying to cover-up for McGrumpy.

Talking about Cover-up : what CBS / Kathie Couric did by substituting his flawed and borderline lying response for another one is nothing short of corruption. And she's complaining about sexism. Lady, do your job right – as oppose to the mediocrity you spew regurlarly – and you'll get the respect other anchors have enjoy. You Corporate Shill !!

This deserves much more than a post on the ticker. CBS tried to cover up the interview by editing his response with another answer. What makes it worse is that McCain starts with this:
'"I don't know how you respond to something that is as — such a false depiction of what actually happened,"

wow.

First, McCain "forgets" and tries to "rewrite" history. Then his surrogats approve of it because in their zealousness to "undercut" Obama; they will do and say anything. They are so desperate!

Next, McCain tries to "undercut" Obama's humanity by saying that he doesn't care about people getting killed. Unbelieveable!! And the MSM remain "silent". Oh, but if Obama had said that ; he would be "insensitive" and "barbaric".

Here's a tip to MSM, it's going to get worse! McCain is not getting any younger; he's getting older...and you guys (MSM) are going to run out of excuses for his GAFFES.

LOL! Nice try Tucker, but it's not going to work this time! So much spinning from the McCain camp that I'm getting dizzy. There's a huge difference between saying the surge began the Anbar Awakening and saying the surge helped the Anbar Awakening survive 4 months after it began!!! There's at least two gaffes every week from this group! This is who the PUMA idiots call experienced and want to vote for? Wow!

Obama/Clinton '08

McCain miss speaks often this is almost no news... what is news to me is the PUMA movement ... I just watched Preston’s on-line video where the PUMA folks was meeting in a bar.... seriously they can give any reason under the son why the will vote for McCain versus Obama but the true reason is they are afraid of Change... yeah they prefer Hillary because of Bill but versus putting a Democrat in the office they will switch to McCain ... even though Obama and Hillary policies mirror in comparison to McCain and Hillary.... Bless the poor PUMA hurts... they sincerely need to do some soul searching and truly be honest with themselves..... Perhaps they were Republicans in disguise... pretending they were Democrats to cause issues to the Democratic Party... I can believe that.

Obama is doing an awesome job; if Bill and Hillary both state they will back him then why not the PUMAs.... why not I say...... WE HAVE BEEN INFATRATED BY THEM.... ..... THEY WAS NEVER DEMOCRATES IN THE BEGINING.... we did not count on your vote and don't need it! Please don’t uses Hillary as your Pun we all see you clearly now....

Obama 08

The following headlines are overused by the major networks:

Obama Seizes on ...

Obama Pounces on ...

McCain Seizes on ...

McCain Pounces on ...

Democrats seize on ...

Republicans pounce on ...

If you don't believe me, Google it.

Moderator, please print copies of this comment and hand it out to everyone in the office, then have a brainstorming session about how to add more variety to headline names.

Thanks!

Well........I would hope that a canidate running for such an important job as Pres. could and would know facts.........but it seems the entire staff of McCain's campaign and he himself are out for very, very LONG lunch.............and so the story continues.

Also, to be defeated you have to fall short of the end goal. There is no end goal in this war, there seems to be no end period to this war, so again, I ask, how is leaving within the next year even considered defeat.

cnn,fox and all the macain backers wii be looking for a place to hide if this old fool is elected i am a 20 year army vet and i dont consider this phony a hero

He should change his name to John McGaffe.

McCain is the biggest gaffe ever made.

We don't need another bumbling President. this country can't take two in a row!

This is another example of McCain getting mixed up with factual data and his spin team trying to rescue him. It is a fact that the Anbar Awakening started in 2006 before the surge was implemented in 2007 and it is also a fact that as part of the Anbar Awakening, US commanders implemented payments to Sunni fighters to stop fighting the US forces and concentrate on fighting the AQI so that there would be less violence from AQI on the US forces (since they would be engaged in fighting the Sunnis). McCain and his cronies are making false staements that Obama and his campaign are not giving credit to US forces for reducing violence. On the other hand, Obama is time and again giving credit for their heroism besides stating the real story behind the success of surge and tactics whereas McCain wants to ignore the facts.

seriously why would anyone vote for this guy?
he doesnt even know what hes talking about

Why does CNN call Mr. McCain's statement a gaffe? It seems to me that there are at least two other possibilities: he could be grossly misinformed; or he could have been purposefully skewing the facts (this is also called lying).

Don't leave out the part about Katie Couric and CBS editing out the gaffe and replacing it with McCain's answer to another question. When a presidential candidate cannot tell you what even contributed to the reduction in violence besides a freakin' surge, he is not commander in chief material.

I have an Aunt who has been a geriatric nurse for over 20 years. she is convinced that McCain displays early signs of Alzheimers. We do not need a president with a bucket list!!!!!

Just one thing to ask:
if it was Sen Obama misspeaking or having trouble to state his judgement or having problems with facts what would CNN and all the MSM be doing right now? Saying that the media is in a tank with the other person?
AHHHHHHHHH Foreign policy

He looks pretty confused in the photo.

Once again, the McCrypt campaign tries to blame Obama for the ignorance of the Republican candidate. Just like the Pakistan/Iraq border. One would think, that after 8 trips to the area he would at least REMEMBER that! It is becoming apparant that his campaign cannot keep up with the "senior minutes" or keep his lies sorted out.

So, once again, this is more proof McCrypt is in the early stages of dementia with short term memory loss or is just a flat out liar.

Question: Is the the man you want attempting ANYTHING at 3:00 A,M?

I keep hearing this "leave in defeat" words. How can we leave in defeat when we went into Iraq without a clear mission? How can we be defeated if we don't know why we're there in the first place.

Senile?!!!!!

It is a sad reality that senility sets in for most of us. But it is possible that it is also setting in for John McCain.

How can you use the Sunni Awakening as a justification for the surge and months later say the surge is responsible for the Awakening?

Memory loss plain and simple.

Or worse, a purposeful misrepresentation of the facts to a friendly crowd that does not contain fact checkers to dispute what you say at a townhall meeting.

Even in their response to the challenge of his statement they do not deal with his getting the facts wrong. They continue to try to refocus the debate on his patriotism and Obama's.

Sad. Politcal. Ginko Biloba is the answer McCain.

In the week that Obama's been in the middle east, McCain has been very vocal. He's made four or five gaffes this week! I don't believe in judging a candidate by their gaffes, but all this confusion on McCain's part really does NOT reflect well on his ability to lead our nation.

Either McCain got his "history" wrong and didn't know that the Anbar Awakening was already happening in Fall 2006 before the Surge troops arrived (starting in March 2007), and therefore it is simply not true that "because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar Awakening" (by the way Col. McFarlane left Anbar before surge troops started arriving) OR McCain just falsely changed the timeline to suit his argument – wither way, McCain looks foolish.

John McCain will be stepping out of the race in 5...4...3...2..

It doesn't matter how often you've been on the ground if you still get it wrong.

Another in a long list of his "misspeaks". I really think McCain is too old to keep all this groups, cities and time lines straight. If it was no so serious it would be funny.

THIS SENILE MAN HAS MADE SO MANY GAFFES YOU CAN'T START TO COUNT THEM MR MCGOO GO HOME

Headlining this as a McCain "gaffe" is just typical media spin on its current love affair with Obama. But media love affairs have a way of turning sour – and when the honeymoon is over, look out, Barack. They'll turn on you like a pack of dogs.

Interesting, so Obama is essentially conceding that the surge has "worked," while recognizing that it is not the only (or even the required) factor involved in the current "success" in Iraq. A quasi-mea culpa. I must admit, I didn't think it would "work" either, but I'm pleased that violence there is down.

Anyway, it's amusing that McCain, just goes on the defensive again (Obama is really dictating the terms of this campaign) by saying that Obama (and the Dems) are trying to minimize the efforts of our soldiers. Nice fear-mongering... the Dems don't respect our troops now?

So, McCain goads Obama into ultimately going abroad (hoping for a gaffe) and yet it is McCain that ultimately inserts foot into mouth. Great!

The outcome of most elections are determined by independent voters.

Obama supporters, we don’t need to ARGUE with posters here. Trust me, the anti-Obama views ARE NOT coming from the people the Democrats need to win this election. The Democrats need the people that are largely sitting back QUIETLY reading and reviewing these blogs.

Use the anti-Obama posts so that you know all the negative attacks that we should dissect on this blog so that the UNDECIDED voter gets honest clarity around those topics and makes the smart choice. We don’t need to twist, manipulate or parse words. We’re backing the more intelligent, more thoughtful candidate that builds high performing teams.

Succinctly rebut the false claim. Support it with facts and give the reference for the facts so that it can be checked. When quoting McCain or a surrogate, list the name of the publication or TV show, the date it ran, etc. Pick your words carefully to remove ambiguity and to avoid exaggerating, or being bombastic.

Verbally denigrating an opponent never impresses someone else that you want to join your team.

Remember this is a public forum and people perpetrate their identities and their motives.

Let us be the adults here. Hire the smart guy, please.

Why is there no coverage about the fact that Graham has stepped down from Senator McCain's Campaign

Both of the people running for President cannot and should not make a time line for getting our troops out. Anyone who spent any time in the military will tell you that. Both should just keep there mouth shut.

Now who's changing things up to fit their purposes??? Of course Obama wouldn't want the Sheiks who started the Awakening to be murdered by al Qaeda....More of the same fear mongering that we are used to and have come to expect from McSame. I thought the "Buck stops with the President"...so why is McCain trying to ignore the fact that he made a mistake and attack someone else in the process...where have we seen that before...oh yeah...G.W. Bush.

As someone that was involved with the "Sunni Awakening" as it occurred, I find it irresponsible for Barack Obama to discredit the difficult sacrifice the American military members made through tribal engagements in the Sunni Triangle, particularly Ramadi. Obama really doesn't know what the hell he is talking about, and it is painfully obvious to the troops. To dismiss the success of the surge and the military efforts in tribal engagements, after a clear victory over Al Qaeda, is poor judgement and AWFUL leadership. This is not a capable prospective Commander in Chief.

I suppose being that old is an excuse for mixing up dates and the order of events. I agree that we should give our troops credit where credit is due, but to completely ignore the impact of the Anbar awakening is absurd. Obama's point is that without the Iraqis themselves getting involved in battling Al-Qaeda, the whole operation will never be successful. Instead Republicans like McCain seem to believe that throwing more money and soldiers at the problem is the answer. If we don't get more Iraqi involvement like that seen with the Anbar awakening then no amount of soldiers or money is going to make a difference and the US could end up occupying Iraq indefinitely, which is pretty much what the current situation is.

Oh and I'm sure the Iraqis appreciate being told that their help, when actually given, amounts to nothing in the eyes of the American leadership.

***********************************************

BEFORE YOU START CRITICIZING, GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT JOHN.

STOP LISTENING TO YOUR CAMPAIGN ATTACK DOGS. BRING YOUR IDEAS ON THE TABLE AND STOP COPYING OBAMA VISION.

SURGE OR NO SURGE, VICTORY OR DEFEAT.

THE IRAQ WAR IS STILL A HUGE EXECUTIVE JUDGEMENT BLUNDER. THE WAR IS IN AFGHANISTAN NOT IN IRAQ.

STOP THE MADNESS. VOTE OBAMA.

Can this senile fool talk about anything except Iraq ?
honestly, I havent heard him talk about anything else

So this is the guy with all the experience. He makes an obvious mis-statement but won't admit it. Sounds a lot like Bush. Say whatever supports your position. If someone questions it deny it if you can. If you can't deny it play on the fears and insecurities of the people.

The sad thing is how many people fall for this. Six months ago I prefered Obama becuase he inspired me. Now I am desperate for him to win becuase McCain terifies me. What I don't understand is how so many former Hillary supporter can be so angry and disgrunteled they would actually go against there belief system to prove a point. This is the bahaviour of children who are affraid not of rational adults.

"Anbar Awakening" Is that what you call it . I think PAY OFF is more appropriate. When you give people millions of dollars to join a cause and to reduce violence its a PAY OFF.

If I was Obama campaign I would watch what my candidate says before jumping on someone else. Didn't Obama make a mistake yesterday talking about Israel. It works both ways.

It's a shame the democrats are downplaying the sacrifices and gains our troops have made during the "Surge" to make Iraq more secure. It's too bad Obama is too stubborn and arrogant to admit he was wrong about the "Surge". I guess he'd rather tell the troops that they didn't actually accomplish anything. I'm sure the troops appreciate being told their efforts amounted to nothing. Maybe next Obama will tell them that they were foolish for even joining the military.

And this is a guy who's running on his foreign policy expertise, and that his "surge worked?" Who is inexperienced here? It is McCain! Despite his years in Congress and military experience it is clear that he is not conversant in the key issues and is far less capable than Obama of being Commander in Chief.

Plus, CNN, you should note the role of CBS in editing this interview. Despicable journalism.

Poor, poor McSenile ...I guess his buddy Lieberman wasn't there to correct his mistake.

McCain and gaffes go together like peas and carrots.

Wow, can McCain really dance that fast? Does anyone else notice he never really answers a question but replies with an attack on Obama (i.e., well he would rather lose the war to win the election and how do you respond to something that false - DUH, with the truth if you know it).

This is actually pretty huge on McCain's part. If he can't get this right it shows a fundamental lack of knowledge of the situation in Iraq.

His whole platform is based around foreign policy, yet he thinks Iraq and Pakistan share a border and Chzekeslovakia still exists...now this.

Wow.

Obama 08'

This is the candidate that you want to vote for as a protest against the DNC?

Once again, we come to a very familiar place. McCain and his campaign making a gaffe, then pivot to a litany of excuses, followed by a completely unfounded outrageous attack on Obama. So this time we are to believe that because McCain can not get the facts straight concerning the "Anbar Awakening" that it means that Obama is attempting to minimize US troops efforts in Iraq. What a leap and a complete distortion of the facts. Stay with your surge platform McCain since your whole campaign seems to be based on it. You may be partially correct about the battle, but Obama most certainly is right about the war. Which is more important? The objective of the war was not the surge you idiot so enough of this preoccupation with the success of the surge.

Nevermind that it was the poor judgement of people like you and your boy Dubya that made the surge necessary to begin with. You've got alot of nerve McCain and your lies and distortions will not work this time.

Everyone who's been paying atttention knows the surge has diminished violence in Iraq. To say otherwise is a slap in the face to the troops and pure political posturing.

no matter how the repugnants will spin, this, once again pathetic comment, it will stand as NOT CORRECT

wrong.....wrong....wrong...wrong....again and again and again

WARMONGER..doesn´t have any other issue that he can intelligently discuss....sorry repugs...your guy just doesn´t get it, period!

If nothing else this solidifies what I have always thought...McCain has no idea what he is talking about on a daily basis! Obama gives all the praise to the US troops for the success of the surge, while acknowledging the stepping up of the leaders in Iraq. McCain just wants to focus on the surge yes it worked, but as part of a broader plan. To say that Obama is taking the accomplishments of our brave men and women for granted is low...even for the McCain campaign. So much for him and his campaign bringing integrity to this race. I guess the real you begins to come out when you're losing!

And yet McLame, makes another " senior moment" gaff. What a loser.

Is McCain just TOOOOOOOOOOOOO old to president of U.S.? From the stupid answer he gave YES indeed. His (McCain's) timetable is off a bit I would say, pursuant to the reported accounts. LOL Republican's need to give it up.

The big deal about this is that fact that CBS edited McCain's real answer out and put in another answer. The real answer wasn't even aired.

CBS should be called out for their editing. I'd like to hope that CNN would not stoop to this sort of thing.

McCain says Obama is the media darling. I beg to differ.

McCain wants to act like this is no big deal but these little slip ups just continue to tell me that this man doesn't know as much as he'd like us to think he does about foreign policy and wars.

BTW McCain if Obama had had his way we wouldn't have been there in the first place!

This isn't just a gaffe... this is a FUNDEMENTAL MISUNDERSTANDING of what is going on, and has been going on in Iraq. How can somebody this inept be considered the "expert" on foreign policy?!?!

to anyone considering a vote for McCain – PLEASE think wisely about who you are voting for. The man has NO idea what is going on in Iraq

Well he wanted press coverage and was complaining about it. I take it this is a be careful what you wish for as hes been making unreported gaftes throughout this campaign and they have gone unreported.

A shaky old dog… following Obama around… snapping and snarling at gnats and ghosts…

McCain makes so many slip-ups, and he's trying to say he has better foreign policy? I won't forget that he though Iraq and Pakistan border each other, completely forgetting that Iran is between the two countries.

McCain's campaign protocols:

1. McCain says something embarrasingly incorrect.

2. McCain's campaign tries to cover it up and try to make us feel stupid for pointing out McCain's huge errors.

3. Repeat each day until the election.

McCain was given foreign policy credentials because he served in the military and was a POW...NOT because he actually knows anything about foreign policy. The more McCain talks the more I see similarities with Bush. McCain=Bush's 3rd term.

Hmmm, so this trip that everyone was anxious about for Obama... and how it could result in him screwing up big time.... guess that's not happening?

Isn't it interesting that the trip is forcing McCain to comment on something that is his supposed 'strength'? All it is doing this week is just highlighting some of his weaknesses. He is not good at parsing out details – it's just not his thing.

It is really amazing how McCain continues to make mistake after mistake after mistake... yet the Obama lead in the polls isn't very big. Interesting.

"the Arizona senator was asked about Obama's argument that a Sunni revolt against Al-Qaeda and the addition of U.S. troops both played a vital role in diminishing violence in the country."

and then

"The McCain campaign responded that Democrats are attempting to diminish the role U.S. troops have played in stabilizing the country over the last 18 months."

It sure seems that Obama was giving the US forces credit in that first part, doesn't it?

These aren't GAFFES. McCain is getting caught in LIES. He wants to get into the White House the same way Bush got into Iraq – by telling lie after lie after lie.

I would be sort of proud to have McCain as President.

I would be VERY, VERY PROUD to have this man, Senator Barack Obama, as President of my country, the United States of America...

I think that says it all....

This is so telling. McCain is not having "senior moments." McCain deliberately misrepresents facts to support his positions. We've been seeing it all along this campaign, but this is the worst incident. His campaign has been screaming "surge, surge, surge" for the last week, it's his entire platform. And he can't even get those facts right. Given the tone of statement – so dismissive and condescending – you'd think he'd actually have an argument. But he doesn't; he's trying to present a very nuanced situation in black-and-white terms. To anyone on the fence, this is why John McCain will bring the third Bush term. He has no viable domestic solutions. His campaign is completely centered on Iraq. And he can't even get that right. How anyone could vote Republican this year, I'll never know.

For someone running solely on foreign experience & world affairs MC Cain is making lots of gaffe in this field .. how many has this been for the past month ... hmmm

Obama i could accept he is not running on this .... Mc Cain is ...

A shaky old dog... following Obama around... snapping and snarling gnat and ghosts...

I was an ardent supporter of McCain, but to pander to the right he has lost what made him dear. He has become acustomed to embellishing his stories if not a pathological liar. The company he keeps now has turned a good man to one who has thrown all common decency out of the window..... a sad day. He claims that his opposition should visit the middle east and learn... did you notice that there isnt an Iraq/Pahistani border, Dafur is not in Somalia, Vladimir Putin is not the German president. While you fix your team as the lady suggested... call us up, we are a bunch of bored students with nothing better to do this summer and we will google facts for you pro bono.... my friend

What a liar McCain is.

I wish the media would take more efforts like these to point out the "gaffes" this man makes on a WEEKLY basis.. when Obama burps without saying excuse me...he gets round the clock gaffe coverage...And yet McCaint claims the media is still biased in favor of Obama..riggght.

McCain's handlers really shouldn't allow him to say anything involving facts concerning foreign countries.... By now we know that

– McCain doesn't know whether Iran is Shia or Sunni
– McCain doesn't know the location of Iraq ("Iraq-Pakistani border")
– McCain doesn't know that Czechoslovakia split up in 1993
– McCain doesn't know when the Awakening started or who was responsible for it

and so on.... some of this should have been major, front-page news, of course. However, the MSM treats those very serious indicators of rampant ignorance and incompetence as cute little tidbits when its responsibility is to inform the American people than one of the men running for president doesn't know the most basic facts on the international ground.

No McCain – if Obama had his way we never would have been in Iraq in the first place. More and more I am convinced that McCain = Bush!

Why is CNN not reporting that CBS tried to cover up McCane's mistake?

McCane is the biggest threat to America we have right now.

Keep spinning John. Who needs facts anyway right?

If you repeat something often enough, maybe people will be stupid enough to believe you? (I hope not – you credited the surge with something it did not do, and you refuse to acknowledge your mistake)

It doesn't matter whether McCain confuses Sunni and Shiite, or whether he misspeaks about the overall geography of the region, or whether he has hit facts wrong about when significant events occurred or why. He knows he's right, and that's all that matters.

Just like W.

This whole election drama seems so scripted.

A Repub that was left for dead and a Democrat far back in the pack both "surge" (the most overused word of the last ten years) to victory in their respective primaries.

The Democrat now rides a wave of Messianism, while the Repub seems destined for failure as he makes one misstatement after another.

This is why I don't read fiction. You can't beat reality.

McCain is a good man but he is acting like a scold and he is beginning to bend his straight talk because of it. It is a shame. He can be bigger than that when he wants to be but right now he wants to be President and is playing the talking-down, I am entitled because I am a Republican game.

This is beyond my comprehension... beyond the "old age" jokes, beyond the limit of verbal mis-speaking. For me, this is an obvious, almost painful demonstration of a basic and fundamental lack of knowledge regarding the geography, the cultures, the people, the events in the Middle East. The fact that MSM is not treating it as such is also beyond the wow factor. It is downright dangerous to conceive of putting a man in this powerful position who consistently mixes up his information.... this is simply mind boggling.

"OLD McCain" needs to give it up. I'm sorry folks but when you get a certain age, you need to sit back an let the younger folks-our future-step in and better things. McCain is practically 72 years old. I know his memory is not that great nor is his body. He looks worn out and tired-which he is. He walks like it hurts, which it does and oh my goodness, his voice is so weak and has that trembling sound to it. No way people. McCain does not need to be our commander in chief. We all know that Barack Obama will have a very intelligent staff in the White House. That means you people who don't want the black guy or the young guy in the office need to stop and think for a moment.

Where is Rich Little when we need him.. Maybe the mcsame camp can hire someone to imitate mcsames voice and give correct facts. When everything is said and done and the dust settles, mcsame will go down in history as bereft of ethics. A man will say and do whatever he needs to get elected. Time is getting short for him, he will be off to oblivion, soon!

Tucker Bounds is a Republican mouth piece. He never answers direct questions, but diverts answers to what HE wants discussed. He is as much a political analyst as I am.

At this point I really can't believe anybody would want to vote for McCain.

These types of guffes are intolerable.... too sad.

Twists the truth Just the George Bush

the need for the surge was well known before it was really publicized and the sunnis knew it was coming and just responded in their best interests, nomama is not willing to admit this basic fact, the surge did help calm things down, why not, how can we ever trust nomama when he can not even admit to this fact, he is a twister, whiner, and the worst liar around, typical washington type, he is not change but no change,

As Republican members continue to focus much of their attention on the surge, we should remember the surge happened in Baghdad, not Anbar.

Obama is correct that the work with the Sunni tribal members had already begun before the surge. Is McCain perhaps confusing Sunni and Shiite again?

I commend Obama for showing a true command of the issues we face in foreign policy, as many of his positions are being adopted (i.e. Afghanistan, Pakistan, talks with Iran, and North Korea).

Obama '08

How can the republicans allow this man to keep making a fool of himself? I watched him this morning in PA, and it is (to say the least) very pathetic.

Why doen't John McCain talk about the fact that we're paying 80,000+ Iraqi insurgetns $10 per day not to attack/shootat/bomb us! That "policy change" happened at the same time as the "surge" that he wants to take credit for. In my opinion, paying off tens of thousands of your enemies probably had a lot more effect than adding 30,000 additional U.S. forces to Iraq.

"Sheiks...would have been murdered if Barack Obama had his way"?

THESE COMMENTS NEED TO BE RETRACTED AND TUCKER BOUNDS SHOULD APOLGIZE AND BE FIRED!!!!

there goes Mcattack again. lying, denying and criticizing. that's all he does.

false depiction is exactly what mcmoron has done. he clearly states that the sheiks would have been able to come together if not for the surge. the surge started four months AFTERWARD the awakening.

then mclie attack dogs, instead of admitting mcsenile was making "fales depictions of the truth", tries to change the argument to whether the awakening SURVIVED because of the surge. mccain says the surge was the reason that the awakening happened not survived. Pay close attention to these repugs they are low down.

That's not what the democrats said and the repugs know it . this deceitfulness is the way they operate by stretching, lying, changing the actual facts. They think the American people are dumb, but the joke is on them.

Imagine that, Grandpa McCain made ANOTHER mistake involiving Iraq and foreign policy. I can't believe it LOL I thought this guys whole campaign was supposed to be about how experienced and knowledgable he is in foreign policy In the last week alone he said Czechoslovakia still existed, Pakistan and Iraq share a border, and now this How can anyone take this senile man seriously ?

If this is what experience get you i am findin the youngest doctor I can find next hospital visti because Experience amounts to nothing

Yes, that's right McCain – Obama would have preferred that people were murdered and our troops forced out in defeat. Good grief – who in their right mind would even consider voting for this man?

Oh yes, the MSM attacks McCain who gaffes but still hasn't verified that Barry Dunham Soetoro Obama was actually born in the USofA. Where's the birth certificate? Why did Lolo Soetoro register him in Primary Schools as Barry Soetoro, Indonesian Citizen, Islam Religion? THAT information is verifiable in Jakarta, Indonesia. But where's Barry Obama's birth certificate? And is "Obama" his Legal Name? Or did he just pick it up without ever applying for it to be his legal name?

Where are the hard facts about Barry Obama??? And why is the MSM not researching for them?

This deserves much more than a post on the ticker. CBS tried to cover up the interview by editing his response with another answer. What makes it worse is that McCain starts with this:
'"I don't know how you respond to something that is as — such a false depiction of what actually happened,"

wow.

How many times does McCain's lack of knowledge/gaffes about the war, foreign affairs and the economy have to slap us in the face before we see through his charade? He is CLUELESS! He has hidden behind this veil of "experience" for long enough. He's outing himself!

Are you kidding me? Listen to some of the comments made by Obama while he is on his tour. I've never heard so many uh ah uh ahs in my life.

You have to wonder, since McCain is incapable of keeping things straight and remembering what he has even done, who would run this country if he won? Certainly not the person people voted for, because he definitely has shown he needs constant handlers to keep him in check.

Thank God Obama is going to win and bring some intelligence back to the White House.

What's that number 3 now? First he didn't know the difference between Sunni and Shiite, then he thought Iraq bordered Pakistan, now he doesn't even know that his surge didn't cause the uprising...how much longer can he claim to know more about the Iraqi situation than Obama? He has been CONSISTANTLY inaccurate when talking about Iraq.

Obama/Sebelius 08'

McCain does seem to forget timelines. I don't think this has anything to do with his age. I think it all has to do with his world view. His views are concrete.

This country gan not afford to be led by someone who continuously gets his facts wrong. Another Bush for sure.

No more GOP Lies, Doublespeak, or pandering to the wealthy few.

A vote for McCain is a vote to end this wonderful country as we know it.

Obama 08

WE WOULDN'T HAVE WENT IN THE FIRST PLACE. my mistake

Oh, so not only does Obama want us to lose the war in Iraq, he also wanted the Sunni leadership to be murdered.

I hope that the American people are paying close attention to this campaign full of hate-mongering, bigoted, liars.

But I hope that people elsewhere in the world are ignoring it. Our image is bad enough already.

O.K.

McCain's latest MOUTH PIECE, Tucker Bounds, has gone too far!!!

The McCain camp is REAKING of DESPERATION and they are spewing the hate!!! To suggest that Obama would advocate failure for our troops and the murder of "the Sheiks" is pushing it way past the decency marker.

Rather than admit McCain is making up fairytales about how important he (McCain) was in reducing the violence in Iraq, his hit man, Bounds, starts grasping at straws and insulting Obama.

STOP the COVER UP!!!! We all know McCain is having increased episodes of senior moments & it will only get worse.

We will not entrust the safety, security, & national treasure of our country to this man. He has spent decades in Washington & all of a sudden he's going to CHANGE???????!!!!!!

JOKE IS ON YOU, McCain!!!!

Female Veteran for OBAMA 08

Well, let's see. Obama shouts for 4 years that he will get us out in 16 months no matter the consequences. McCain's plan is followed and we win. Obama continues to tout the 16 month plan even after we've won and says he's the man because now that we've won everybody is talking about us going home. He then stretches things a year and says that his 16 month plan is the same as the Iraqi's end of 2010 (29 months). The press says it's "roughly the same" and praises the old statesman himself, Obama.

No, they're not in the tank for Obama at all. As Mary Matlin said: "When the press falls, they fall hard."

McOld has been drinking the Clinton Kool-Aide because he can't admit he made a mistake.

All of the back and forth attacks from both sides is exhausting. It is time for the two of them to debate.

If I recall, it was the Republicans who were pushing Barack to visit the region. He has gone and everything seems to be going his way. Now what? Be careful what you wish for.

They make a mistake they attack Obama. Lets get the record straigt.

IF OBAMA HAD HIS WAY WE WOULD HAVE WENT IN THE FIRST PLACE. 100 BILLIIONS OF DOLLARS WOULD BE SAVED AND 4000 TROOPS WOULD STILL BE ALIVE AND AN ADDITIONAL 30000 AMERICAN SOLDIERS WOULD NOT BE INJURED. ALSO IRAN WOULD NOT HAVE UNOPPOSED INFLUENCE IN THE REGION.

Doesn't know Shiite from Sunni, doesn't know his geography of the Middle East and now this!

Where is this man's credibility? Between McCain's erroneous statements and unscrupulous behavior since Obama has been overseas, I can't believe that anyone with half a neuron could still consider voting for him.

John McSame is dangerous and reckless!

Can we really take another four years of these Bush-style policies?

Tucker Bounds suggesting that

"If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda, and US forces would have already left Iraq in defeat,"

... is such a farse and another sign of immaturity and desperation from the McCain camp.

Uh.....wasn't it pretty much made clear that if the U.S. had not gone to war with Iraq that Al Qaeda would not ever have gotten into that country???

You can look at this two ways:

He's LYING.
He's SENILE.

Neither is a viable reason to elect this fool to the highest office in the land.

Seriously, America. And all you "PUMAS" out there... if you don't like the Democratic party, FORM YOUR OWN. Maybe Hillary will join it.

It doesn't surprise me in the least that Sen. McCain's timeline is off. He is 15years last on the Czeck-Republic

Tucker Bound has never been in the military and never been to Iraq. The last person who should be responding to how much General of the World McCain does not know is someone who has no idea what they are talking about. I was there when we first were approached by the Sunnis in Anbar. I remember them asking for money to not shoot at us. We said ok and then the Surge came to help. Tucker you know nothing about anything so quit talking and acting partisan before we lose this election. McCain please have this clown canned. Huckabee is and always was the better candidate.

I am astonished everyday at how biased the coverage on cnn.com is toward the Obama campaign. Absolutely stunning...

MCan't is to old

McCain is his own worst enemy. He doesn't seem to know what he's talking about. You make "gaffes" when you say something wrong and it's an anomaly... but just about everything that comes out of McCain's mouth is wrong. It's not a "gaffe" anymore... it's just revealled ignorance. The man is woefully and frighteningly unknowledgable about world and domestic affairs.

Can't wait for the debates... Obama will wipe the walls with this guy.

This guy is either not smart or his age making it difficult for him. I hope

Americans don't elect him but look what happened with Dubya, trust

them to do it again.

McCain campaign should take the responsibility of Gramd Pa forgotfullness instead of blaming Obama. Grand pa Mccain does this every other day. It's not his fault we all will do when we are old as him.

What is new? McCain is the commander of gaffes. He has been so frustrated with Obama oversea trip, that he has been making one gaffe after another. Obama is getting all media attention and McCain is just jalous about it. I will jalous too if I was in his shoes, there is only one reporter and one photographer that are following him.
It is obvious that, the media follow the person they believe will be the next president of the United States.

Ha Ha HA this has just been a bad week for Old mcshame then they try to make it seem like Obama is saying it had nothing to do with the surge and that is a Lie because Obama stated that it was with the efforts of our brave troops in uniform as well as the Iraqi people that the Army is paying to fight militants in there Neighborhoods. on PBS yesterday a top commander in the Army stated it was a combination of the TWO this just shows you how The Republicans will spin anything they do wrong and try to make it seem like the other person did something worse DOWN WITH ALL REPUBLICANS 2008

Two possibilities:

1. McCain is so blinded by frustration, hatred and ambition that he will say anything to diminish Obama.

2. The butter is slipping off the man's noodles.

I'm not sure which possibility is the most disturbing.

By McCains logic we should stay in Iraq regardless of how many more lives would be lost. What would a parent choose? To win the war that never should have been, or have their son or daughter back?

ah blah blah i am always right......i was right about not going to war now i am right about why the surge is working,,, ADMIT IT YOU WERE WRONG.........WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DOES NOT COUNT..especially when soldiers are dying///

I really have a hard time with this guy...he is SUCH a baby...i'm sorry but if age causes him to make all these mistakes, i wonder why people will give him the country for 4 yrs

I'm not one of those who disparage Mcsurge because of his age but at this point I think reasonable minds have to start wondering. Either Mcsurge is picking up where Bush/Rove left off in twisting facts to suit their interests OR his mind is not as sharp as it should be.

Why is Mcsurge collecting social security when he's still gainfully employed, making over $150K a year?!? I find that scandalous. Why doesn't the MSM point this out. If it was Barack in that position, no doubt we would never hear the end of it!!

Hey Tucker, McCain said the surge LED TO THE AWAKENING, which is clearly a "false representation of history". But don't let facts get in the way of your mudslinging.

It continues to scare me and other Canadians that I know that McCain continues to make mistakes about important matters going on in the Middle East. First, he confuses Shiite with Sunnis (when Lieberman came to his rescue). He thinks that there is a Iraqi-Pakistan border (maybe he should get a few geography lessons). And now he is confused about when the Anbar awakening actually started.

It is also amusing to see that McCain is now starting to give the Afghanistan war some attention (AFTER, I repeat AFTER Obama made it part of his overall Middle East strategy).

Finally, who supported the Iraqi war in the first place?

It is scary to think that someone with this lack of judgment and confusion of the facts is running for the most powerful position on the planet.

Oh, by the way, I would still like McCain to tell the Canadian people why our public healthcare system doesn't work well (twice he made statements during the primaries where he slammed the Canadian healthcare system). I didn't know he was an expert on public healthcare.

Oh another thing about the surge, I'm not sure how much of the reduction in violence in due to the surge and how much is due to the Sunni's going against al Queda and how much is simply due the fact the neighborhoods have been segregated. The main source of violence was after all people killing each other because they belonged to different sects. Now that they have separated themselves there is less opportunity for fighting. There is no way to know really and I am not sure if it matters. It gives us the opportunity to get out of there.

McCain makes another Iraq gaffe.
These are serious mistake.
The News group even tried to edit this mistake out.
He's just to old.
The Facts sEN. McCAIN ARE VERY IMPORTANT,

John McCain made a mistake this evening, which as far as I'm concerned, disqualifies him from being president. It is so appalling and factually wrong that I'm actually sitting here wondering who McCain's advisers are. It's a real misunderstanding of what has happened in Iraq over the past year. If we are going to have an Iraq-centric war on terror policy, he should at least understand what he is talking about.

McCain and his people are reaching as usual.

On the CBS interviews, please visit the transcripts for Katie's interviews with Obama and McCain. What I found when I reviewed them is that her questions for Obama were based on his trip, hardly mentioning McCain. However, every question for McCain was set up to bash Obama.

Additionally, what aired last night is not the same as what is on the website yet McCain says that Obama is the media darling. Seems to me that CBS was attempting to cover up this gaffe, or can you really call it that? Seems he is just out of touch on a subject he proclaims to be expert on.

So McCain's own spokesman confirms McCain doesn't know what he's talking about?????

McCain: "The surge started the Anbar Awakening."

McCain spokesman: "The Sheiks started the Awakening, but if Obama was in charge, they would be dead already and our troops would be gone."

LOL. LOL. LOL.

Is McCain campaign really being serious here? This can be reality. can it? They make daily blunders have have the nerve to say Obama is getting preferential treatment????

C'mon, enough is enough.

McCain should realize by Obama simply stated the facts of the matter is not 'talking down' about the job our troops have done. What an idiot.

This just proves that all McCain's claims that he would be a great Commander in Chief are bull. He's made so many errors about Iraq and international issues that it shows he really doesn't know that much and is completely out of touch. If he's elected, we'd be replacing one idiot as president with another. Can you imaging what McBush and the republicans would say of Obama if he made this and other mistakes McBush has made. The republicans are pure hypocrisy.

Vote Obama!

Notice how CNN watered down what this really means. It means that John McCain does not know what is going on in IRAQ!

Mr. McCain, Where is your foreign policy knowledge?

Mr Magoo has no clue!!!

Tucker Bonds needs to stop Fear Mongering people, its not going to work this time, The surge MURDERED thousands of IRAQ civilians too and that's a fact. And how can you say something would have happened if the situation were different?Is the McCain campaign fortune tellers now?
McCain is an empty suit that does not know facts about IRAQ, THE MIDDLE EAST, and the ECONOMY.
If OBAMA had made this remark, the media would be going ballistic!
SHAME ON THE MEDIA!!!!

does not matter. the occupation was a bad course of action.
lost of lives and billions we are still loosing. you can't justify it , unless it was all for oil and profit. check there stock portfolios.

time to change the current direction

Obama 08

Go Obama, If putting more American Soldier on the ground is working, President Bush said the time table for the surge is over. Now it's time to set a plan in place to start brings some of the America soldier home and stop sending more soldier to Irag.

"If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda, and US forces would have already left Iraq in defeat," he added.

What the hell is that? The Obama camp should question this statement.

"If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda, and US forces would have already left Iraq in defeat," he (Bounds) added.

One of the Sheiks who started the Awakening was killed by a roadside bomb in the Fall of 2007. Credible sources say that Obama had nothing to do with it, though.

McCain's strengths are his weakness.
As a public official his greed is all that recommends him for success, that his dishonesty, and the heroic young man he once.
I'd say money too, but his wife's money and family is not exactly the right kind, like say Bush.

Facts and truth don't deminish the efforts of our U.S. troops but untruths do. The U.S. should never again be viewed as a country that fabricates the truth as we did going into Iraq for WMD's. Obama is absolutely correct in reporting the truth and John McCain should be the first to support the truth being that he did vote to go to war in Iraq. We cannot and will not allow John McCain to further deminish our country with untruths around the world.

McCain cant get his stories straight? He must be getting senile in his old age.

John Mccain is senile and to old to be President. By tomorrow he will have forgotten who he selected to be his VP. He starts talking and forgets important information. If we needed him to answer the phone at 3 a.m. he probably wouyld forget where he put the phone. THINK ABOUT THAT REPUBLICAN PARTY!

WHAT IS CONSIDER A WIN IN IRAQ? I'M VERY CONFUSED.

WHAT ELSE IS NEW WITH MCCAIN. DO WE NEED FURTHER PROOF OF HIS ABILITIES OR NONABILITIES.

MCWAR, MCGAFFE, MCWRONG,MCLOSER

McCain aka McBush IS a fool. He has been in the Senate for nearly 30 years and hasn't done much of anything other than back Bush's failed policies. So I ponder and answer, what does his experience really count for ? nothing !

He has lied to the American people and has flipped-flopped humongously ! The facts can not be disputed – history places the awakening as developing through 2005-06–well before the 2007 surge was implemented. So once again McCain has lied. McCain = Bush. He is an idiot and so very wrong for this country as president.

It's time to turn the page and chart a new course in America...enough of the same old Washington...enough of the failed policies of the past...enough of McSame !

It’s time for REAL change in Washington, it’s time to elect Barack Obama for president !

Thank you CNN for posting this story...however. It is not a gaffe. It is clear that Senator McCain doesn't entirely know the history of the sole issue of which his entire candidacy is based. Is someone going to ask him about it, or does this just go on the list of "things McCain has said that aren't true but it doesnt matter because he's the maverick."

John McCain – OK I don't know what I am talking about, but Barack Obama hates the surge. I mean that the Iraqi war isn't important. What is important is that lots of Americans dies over there. We keep on fighting for 10 more years; and the world will know that the surge worked. The Iraqi people had nothin to do with ending violence between the Persians and the Afghans because the surge did that. Oh, I ment Sunni and Al Qaeda. That was after Al Qaeda received training from Iran. I was a POW and that alone qualifies me to be President of the USA. You are unpatriotic for questioning me!

This isn't new, McCain has shown repeatedly that he doesn't know anything about which he speaks. He has lied many times about foreign and domestic policy. You (the press) call them gaffes, I call them LIES. This is the first time you even bothered to report on it, and only after the Obama campaign brought it up. DO YOUR JOB, CNN!!

Since the situation can be easily evaluated, there remains one question.
Do all the elder people in the town hall meetings with army caps on will read this post and make up their minds? I don`t think so, but that is the way the political game has been played for centuries. This goes similar with the blue collar voters.

John McCain said:

"If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda, and US forces would have already left Iraq in defeat,"

Is McCain saying BO wanted the Sheiks murdered???? Too much political doublespeak for me....by both parties

To make a mistake on the one issue that you have been harping about constantly is just deadly. McCain had out all his eggs in the surge basket and then sat on the basket! lol

Tucker Bounds is way out of line! They are getting so desperate. They don't realize that they are saying some damaging things to their campaign. They are doing it to themselves! The aprt about Sheiks being murdered is way over the line. Shame on the McCain Campaign!

McCain seems to be confused on a daily basis, wether its about the "Iraqi/Pakistan border", Shiite's and Sunni's, the Czech Republic.....he really is sounding more and more like Dubya everyday. I never saw this coming.

"If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda, and US forces would have already left Iraq in defeat," he added."

Thats a big IF.

IF McCain had not endorsed this war we would not have ONE DEAD American in Iraq.

IF McCain had not endorsed this war, we could have captured Bin Laden in Afgahnistan.

IF I were McCain, I would stop speaking in public.

Once again McShame makes fabricates history to suit himself and his self-serving, self-seeking ways. He has no interest in the truth. This is just another twisted step in his unethical grab for power.
It should be obvious to the whole world by now that McShame is a liar – a dangerous old fool who will with that strange frozen smile on his face, lead the world into another world war.
Not only does this man need to be soundly defeated in November, he needs to be relieved of his Senate seat.
The sooner this man can be put out to pasture the better.

That's more than just a gaffe, that's not knowing what the hell you are talking about. I find it amazing that, with the surge having become the centerpiece of McCain's campaign in recent days, that he doesn't even have a firm understanding of the events surrounding the surge.

Attack Mac just can't get it right.

John McCain repeatedly has stated, "Al Qaeda is not defeated. They're on the run, but they're not defeated."

If McCain is such a shrewd war strategist and Al Qaeda is the enemy, why does he continue to pursue Al Qaeda in Iraq? They weren't there until after we invaded. They're hardly there now. They have been in Afghanistan and Pakistan the whole time.

McCain is fighting on the wrong front.

The man is very confused
.

Wheeeee, again!!! Im just wonderin' why Johnboy gets away with constant ignorance and misinformation? If Obama made just ONE of these many, repeated errors, he would be skewered and roasted until DONE! Sheesh!

Everytime McCain opens his mouth it's like Christmas for Obama.

That last statement is outrageous.

What's that smell? Oh, yeah, desperation.

McCain can't remember anything – what a geezer! First he talks about the Iraq-Pakistan border, now he can't get his timeline right on when the troop surge policy was implemented ... and his lame response to Obama is to whine, "Obama disagrees with me – he doesn't support the troops!"

Give me a break!

Like Bush, McCain does not appear to be a fact checker. That is in addition to his confused memory. Are we going to have a stumbling
President? It is a good omen that the media might become less protective of McCain's image.

I am so tired of McCain making such negative and hypothetical accusations of Obama, saying things like "seems to me Obama is more interested in winning a campaign then winning a war"... rediculous. He is looking less and less presidential everyday with his pathetic attacks.

The are no winners OR lossers in Iraq... however, our role in this conflict is just about finished, it's time to really start bringing them home.

Someone remind me which one has all the experience and which one is the uninformed one, please.

I'm not sure if MCain is just lying or if he really does not understand what is going on. I guess it doesn't matter since 30% of the population will vote for him anyway. A lot of them will never know he made these incorrect statements because they get their news from a limited number of sources.

Now if the media was as bias as the Mcbush claims, they would run with this story because we know that if "the one" made the same mistake we wouldn't hear the end of it

THERE YOU GO OBAMA's campaign!!!
Finally you decide to talk about this since the media wont. The only show that mentioned this last night was AC360.
The OBAMA campaign needs to capatitalize more on these serious mistakes.
McCain does not know alot of facts when it comes to the middle east, and this need to be clear for those that want him to be president.

How much more idiocy do you people need ?
McCain is old and foolish, and would be a joke as President.

Even the country who he claims to be helping is saying get lost.
Still McShame has no Shame.
OBAMA (2008 -16)

Hmmm ... How often does this man misspeak ?

Your camp can try to downplay it all you want...Old boy just can't seem to get his bearings every time he opens his mouth.. better get some more pills and applesauce McGrandpa! Everyone knows that the main reason violence has temporarily gone down is because they are being paid by the U.S. to stop fighting our troops and go after Al-Queda, let's be real here.

Every time McCain says something idiotic, along comes
Tucker Bounds and attacks Obama. The McCain Camp
NEVER acknowledges his gaffes, but rather chooses to
ignore their candidate's stupidity and go on the offensive.
Its almost as if they have a list of "comebacks" for every
time McCain makes a fool of himself. "If John says THIS
ridiculous thing, we can counter with THIS nonsense.
But, if he says something truly moronic like THIS, we'll
just have to claim THIS and hope it floats." Silly.

As for something McCain said yesterday:

"We're going to withdraw. We will withdraw. The fact is
whether we withdraw in victory or whether we withdraw in defeat."

"...if we had been defeated in Iraq, the radical elements in the Muslim world would have been dramatically encouraged."

So, which IS it, John? You said we're going to withdraw in victory.
But the very next moment, you say, "IF we had been defeated."
That statement alone makes the case that we were victorious.
So, pack up our boys and girls and bring them home. Or, are
you going to make another comment today that we're still not
yet victorious? What constitutes a victory? When you build a
permanent US base in Iraq? You have no shame, old man.

The future is now. The future is Obama.

You can't convience me no way that old Johnny boy would/did make a mistake. Nope Never

no one is saying that the troops were not needed but if we had the proper number of troops to start off with then the surge would not have been needed. there are many factors for the drop in volence but we will have to leave at one point

Cnn what about Obama's gaffe..... I want to make it absoultely clear Israel is a true friend of Israel.... that is what he said if that's not telling I don't know what is.

What is this, foreign policy gaffe number 13? This is supposed to be his strong suit? God help us if he is president!

OLD MAN YELLS AT CLOUDS!

Who is going to be the McCain VP choice that props McCain up? Pawlenty? Romney? Jindal? Crist?

None of them help.

Told you his memory is bad. I hope he dosn't make a mistake and hit the wrong button.

I'm an Obama supporter.............but I think John has many things that he needs to challenge Obama on............but seriously ...........he just cannot continue to make these errors. It just does not represent a person who has the great qualities he possesses. Has this been an issue throughout McCain's career ??

Grandpa Simpson is going senile!

McCain is a dinosaur and truly madly deeply doesn'T UNDERSTAND modern age foreign policy, diplomacy or even the stakes. This, of course, is made worse by the fact that he's not good with facts.

Why am I not suprised, Mr. McCain has been going on and on about how the surge has changed the outcome in Iraq when in fact, the situation was improving well before that.

Tell me Mr. McCain, who has the better jugement now? The Republican campaign is a joke. I'm so glad Canada never participated in the Iraq war, so glad!!!

PLEASE POST CNN!!! PLEASE POST CNN!!!! PLEASE POST CNN!!!!

And they call Obama the Messiah? John McCain is obviously the one with the power to change history! He was wrong and he knows it! And you know McCain is getting desperate when he uses another attack to respond to HIS GAFFE!!!

OBAMA/SEBELIUS

Boy and this guy wants to be president? God forbid!

No mention about CBS's attempt to cover McWar's comment up?

PLEASE POST CNN!!!

And they call Obama the Messiah? John McCain is obviously the one with the power to change history! He was wrong and he knows it! And you know McCain is getting desperate when he uses another attack to respond to HIS GAFFE!!!

OBAMA/SEBELIUS

Another senior moment mini-me McBush!!!! Old timmer. Claim what is not yours to claim.

looks like the old man and his campaign can't keep track of events!

considering all the mistakes McCain has made these past few weeks I'm really starting to see his age as a REAL issue. The man can't remember simple things... imagine THAT in the White HOUSE.... v

Wonder if there is any truth to the rumors that the GOP convention might decide to oust him for someone more coherent.

I'm a democrat and cannot believe that Obama will not acknowlege that the surge did work. Unbelievable! Shows his true arrogance.

It's just a matter of history. John McCain and the GOP write the history and we are all supposed to believe it.

FOR an "expert" in Iraq and having been then countless times, and yet he does not know history?

And we will let it slide, but if Obama had mis-spoken so badly, we would never hear he end of it. And yet they complain about unfair news coverage.

How can Senator McCain continue to attack Senator Obama's position when he can't even keep his own facts straight? Moreover, Senator McCain's support of the surge was partly based on the awaking that occurred in the months leading up to the surge. Now Senator McCain is trying to gloss over the event and put America's war effort ahead of the efforts of the Iraqis. This is not a way to make friends in the Arab world or anywhere else. Spread the credit around to all that deserve it and look at it as a team effort. That go-it-alone approach is just more of President Bush's failed foreign policy.

Shame on you Senator McCain for distorting the facts and lessening the role of the citizens of Iraq. Again, Senator Obama had it right and these cheap political spins by the McCain team only cheapen his attempts to be president.

Mccain is old and senile and has a very difficult time remembering things. What do you expect?

"If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda, and US forces would have already left Iraq in defeat," he added.

A better statement is if Barack Obama had his way 4200 Americans would be alive today. Also 4 trillion dollars would have benn saved, gas prices would have been lower. Further al Qaeda would not have been in Iraq and maybe just maybe OBL would have been killed or captured.

McCain's supporters can cite the "57 states" statement all they want, but you can't use it to counter two statements about a long defunct country in two days, a misstatement about the "Iraq-Pakistan border" and confusion about the order of key events, all in a matter of weeks. And he's citing foreign relations as his strong point...

I have a great deal of respect for McCain, but the charges of being "too old" seem to gain more and more weight every couple of days with statements like these.

McCain, will said anything to get elected,he needs to tell the
truth.All he talk about is the war,what about the economy
and local issues here at home such as, jobs,food cost,gas,
and low wages. we are not really concern with the war in
iraq. Please move on to something else.Healthcare will do
for starter and airline cost.

Anybody else feel like slapping Tucker Bounds in the mouth every now and again?

"If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda, and US forces would have already left Iraq in defeat," he added.

A better statement is if Barack Obama had his way 4200 Americans would be alive today. Also 4 trillion dollars would have benn saved, gas prices would have been lower. Further al Qaeda would not have been in Iraq and maybe just maybe OBL would have been killed or captured.

"Charged with making a gaffe"...no he flat out made a gaffe, or a lie. Not to mention that CBS tried to cover it up.

The irony is that McCain tried to attack Obama for not knwoing facts by either misspeaking or flat out lying. McCain is a fraud

These slipups are becoming weekly events. I honestly from the bottom of my heart cannot understand why there are as many McCain supporters as there are. If Obama's weakest link is the fact that he's not been in Washington for a long time, then his weakest link should not cause people to vote for someone who will continue to damage our country's reputation abroad, among all the other destructive things that would happen if McCain gets elected.

I really don't understand. Obama is Presidential. McCain looks like Bush, only older. There really isn't any logic to voting for McCain over Obama.

Why doesn't CNN also mention the situation surrounding this gaffe? CBS attempted to edit out that part of the interview where McCain makes the mistake. But the media is in love with Obama, right?

Can you imagine if Obama made this same mistake or any of the mistakes McCain has made in the past 2 weeks?

Everyone would be saying how inexperienced he is in foreign policy, yet here McCain is getting yet another free ride.

I really don't understand, this would be campaign ending if Obama had done this.

Every day another mistake, ya put him in control of the button.

time to wake up!!!
Oil down $16 barrel since last week-now that Dem. Congress looking hard at speculators- why would that happen if all legitimate?
Gas down from 4.11 to 4.04 average, % gas down APPOX. 2%-WHILE OIL DOWN-APPROX.-9%
Answer me this Rep. getting fat off oil supporting McCain- HOW COME GAS PRICE DOESN’T FALL AT RATE OIL DOES WHEN IT INCREASES AT THAT RATE!

SOMEONE ANSWER THIS –IF YOU CAN!

Obama 08, only way out of the corruption and greed of our so –called leaders

Obama has slapped the military in the face since day one. He is not for the military, never has been nor will he do anything except destroy them when he becomes-if he becomes president. Beware military do not support this man.

How many "gaffes" is mainstream media going to ignore before Alzheimer's is acknowledged?

And as far as "diminishing the role U.S. troops have played ", this from a guy who routinely in the past eight years has voted AGAINST veterans education, health benefits, and after experiencing it as a POW, defends Bushand Cheney's views on torture....Shill!

Apparently there are those who are under the impression that the Republican nominee for president is John McClain, the heroic character who single-handedly defeats terrorists, portrayed by Bruce Willis in the Diehard movie series.

I suppose it could be worse. Quite a few believe that his opponent is Osama bin Laden.

"If Barack Obama had had his way, the Sheiks who started the Awakening would have been murdered at the hands of al Qaeda, and US forces would have already left Iraq in defeat," he added.

That's just crap. Like Obama has no respect for life that he's want the Sheiks to be "murdered" at the hand of al Qaeda. that's just total false and a complete all out lie.

Cant someone make this guy stop talking? Every second he shoves his foot in his mouth and makes himself seem even more senile.

The Obama campaign is engaging in sleazy, rhetoric, smoke-and-mirrors nonsense, as usual.

Sorry Axelrod.

We, the American people – and especially we the true Democrats who will not validate the bad choices of party leaders who have betrayed our core principles of democracy and who are representing us and our issues so very badly – are not so easily fooled by you.

NotFallingInLine.org

And the Saga continues coming soon to you at any cinema the sequel of "The McGaffe Empire strikes back"...what an old goat.

Tucker Bounds is beginning to get very annoying!! Old man yells at cloud....

Well poor man, he is a senior and they do have moments of memory loss. This should concern Americans, that the man who wants to be our leader keeps having memory lapses. McCain served his country bravely in Vietnam as did John Kerry. I will never forgot how Kerry was 'swift-boated' by the far-right-nuts. So now its open season on senior moments. Sad but true.

The real reason the surge has worked is the Sunnis were given millions of OUR dollars to behave till the election was over,PERIOD.

Good Job CNN; you have let McWar slip by so many times, I was starting to wonder if you were in the tank for McWar.

Typical GOP tactic of IF I SAY IT, IT'S TRUE regardless of the facts.... McBush lives up to his predecessor in reinventing history to suit his personal agenda.

OBAMA '08

McCain made a MAJOR MISTAKE on the only thing he’s running on, the SURGE.
Thank God you reported this FINALLY!!! It was on MSNBC yesterday