New McCain Gaffe

19 July 2008 |permalink | email article

HOW worried is John McCain about Barack Obama’s overseas trip aimed at proving his foreign policy credentials? More than his campaign will admit.

In a clear protocol breach – the White House, State Department and Pentagon never announce official visits of top leaders in advance – McCain announced at a fund-raiser Friday in Detroit that his Democratic opponent was likely to be in Iraq over the weekend.

Even the national media respect rules for security and secrecy but an uncool McCain, too cute by half, got his scoop wrong.

The Obama campaign announced the start of his world tour at 3:24 a.m. Eastern today, adding that the candidate had landed in Kabul, Afghanistan. He met with the top U.S. commander in eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan after first visiting troops in Kuwait.

Obama will also visit Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Berlin, Paris and London.

McCain, who visited Columbia, Mexico and Canada recently, has mocked Obama for days, suggesting he will “arrive in Baghdad in a much, much safer and secure environment than the one he would’ve encountered before we started the surge.”

His campaign has just released ‘Troop Funding,’ its first negative TV ad against Obama, comparing him unfavorably – and surfacing a new mantra at the end: “McCain, Country First.”

Bush and McCain remain “single minded” about Iraq.

Obama’s focus has always been on Afghanistan where the U.S. and allied forces toppled the Taliban six years ago for sheltering Al Qaeda leaders before 9/11. But a resurgent Taliban has killed more U.S. soldiers in May and June than in Iraq.

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