If CNN Reported the Basic Facts, McCain's Craziness Would Be Obvious to All

Posted by Joshua Holland, AlterNet at 12:55 PM on July 15, 2008.

A note. They gave me the keys to the blog again. I don't know what they're thinking -- clearly, I'm just gonna make trouble. Anyway, check in frequently over the next few weeks; should be a fun ride. And if you're going to be in Austin for Netroots Nation, make sure you catch the immigration panel I'm moderating on Friday, and then be sure to swing by the happy-hour party we're throwing on Saturday. You can meet Atrios and Jim Hightower! Did I mention that the margaritas will be on AlterNet (and various co-sponsors)? It’s our way of giving (alcohol) back to the community and all that.

So, CNN's Situation Room was on while I tried to burn some blubber at the gym the other day. Worked off 400 calories, and I think Wolf Blitzer knocked about five points off my IQ in the process.

The subject: McCain and Obama on foreign policy -- or FoPo, as we FoPo nerds like to call it.

One of the policies they touched on was McCain's proposal to kick Russia out of the G8. Blitzer had Very Serious Foreign Policy Analyst™ Fareed Zakaria on. Here's their exchange:

BLITZER: Let's get your analysis right now, what we just heard. Because as far as John McCain is concerned, we're hearing a very different stance from Barack Obama as far as Russia and its involvement in the G-8 alignment.

ZAKARIA: I think they're two very different visions of how to deal with the world, Wolf. I think on the one hand, you have McCain, who is suggesting, in a sense, a new division, a new Cold War, if you will, between the democracies and the autocracies.

What Obama said to me was, look, you can't solve the world's problems that way, we have got to deal with the issues of global warming, issues of nuclear proliferation. On nuclear proliferation, on loose nukes, you need the Russians. On any economic issue, you need the Chinese. So it's a vision of drawing in the world's major powers, whether or not they're democracies, which is a kind of more ideological view, you know, which is sort of democracy versus the rest.

BLITZER: So basically the major difference between Barack Obama and John McCain is, McCain wants to expel Russia from the G-8 and Barack Obama says keep them in, keep them in this tent, because the U.S. needs them.

ZAKARIA: Exactly. Draw these guys into the tent so we can solve some of the world's common problems together.

So, to recap, the "best political team on television" -- they're humble, too -- told me that McCain never got the memo that the Cold War is over, and Obama wants to keep the Russkies in the tent, whatever that means.

Here's what they failed to tell me, and the millions who rely on the pabulum broadcast by CNN for their political information:

The G8 is an organization that functions on a consensus basis. Therefore, Russia itself would have to vote 'yea' to any plan to boot Russia out of the group. Therefore, McCain's proposal is batshit insane, and Obama's feelings about the matter are irrelevant. But Blitzer and Zakaria couldn't bring themselves to mention that simple fact, so many viewers were left with the impression that this is a less-than-batshit-insane proposal, one worthy of cable TV airtime.

I have no idea how we got such an incompetent media, but it's clear that I have to start watching cable news again. The blog fodder is just endless.

I'll keep a look-out for McCain's proposal to boot China off the UN Security Council.

I know we shouldn't chide McCain for his age -- that's uncouth -- but, seriously, he does seem to be seriously out-of-touch with the modern world. Steve Benen caught this one:

At a press conference in Phoenix today ... McCain referenced Czechoslovakia. Again:

"I was concerned about a couple of steps that the Russian government took in the last several days. One was reducing the energy supplies to Czechoslovakia. Apparently that is in reaction to the Czech's agreement with us concerning missile defense, and again some of the Russian now announcement they are now retargeting new targets, something they abandoned at the end of the Cold War, is also a concern. So we see the tensions between Russia and their neighbors, as well as Russia and the United States are somewhat increasing."

[...]

Russia can't "reduce energy supplies to Czechoslovakia." Czechoslovakia, of course, doesn't exist. It split into two countries more than 15 years ago. McCain has actually been to the Czech Republic and Slovakia since they became independent countries, and he's met with their leaders.

So, McCain slipped up. He's 71 and this is going to happen from time to time, right? Well, there's a little more to it than that.

First, as Greg Sargent noted, McCain has made this same mistake more than once during the campaign. About three months ago, McCain vowed to "work closely with Czechoslovakia" on missile defense. Last fall, during a Republican debate, McCain said: "The first thing I would do is make sure that we have a missile defense system in place in Czechoslovakia and Poland, and I don't care what his objections are to it."

Second, before Republicans condemn Dems for being picky on this, let's not forget that in the 2000 campaign, when McCain also screwed up Czechoslovakia, it was none other than George W. Bush who said it deserved to be a campaign issue: "A guy gets up and quizzes me [on world leaders] ... but John McCain says something about the 'ambassador to Czechoslovakia.' Well, I know there is no Czechoslovakia [there's a Czech Republic and a Slovakia], but yet it didn't make the nightly national news."

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Tagged as: obama, cnn, mccain, g8

Joshua Holland is an editor and senior writer at AlterNet.