Why Does The McMedia Consider McCain Knowledgable in Foreign Policy?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The McMedia, having long ago internalized John McCain’s talking points, regularly remind us that he is "knowledgeable" and "experienced" in foreign policy, without ever providing any specific examples.  We’re just supposed to take their word for it. John McCain himself only cites "The Surge®" (January 2007- July 2008) after 26 years in Congress.  To paraphrase Joe Biden on Rudolph Giuliani, "There’s only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb, and The Surge®."  

But earlier this week, John McCain revealed the true depth of his knowledge and experience. Like many in the McMedia apparently, McCain’s source of knowledge in foreign affairs comes from Wikipedia (of course his wife Cindy had to help him with the "internets," because McCain has publicly confessed to being a Luddite who does not use a computer.)

That’s right.  In a speech he gave about Georgia, John McCain got caught red-handed plagiarizing passages from Wikipedia about Georgia.  CQ Politics | Political Insider – Did McCain Plagiarize His Speech on the Georgia Crisis? ("It should be noted that Wikipedia material can be freely used but always requires attribution under its terms of use. Whether a presidential candidate should base policy speeches on material from Wikipedia is another question entirely.") 

I recall that the corporate media ended Joe Biden’s bid for the presidency in 1988 because of his sin of not crediting British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock for passages in a speech on a single occasion that just happened to be captured on video.  Where are these self-righteous defenders of proper citation now?  What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, you would think.

But McCain ended this week with a truly amazing display of his utter lack of knowledge in foreign affairs that makes his earlier numerous gaffes look silly by comparison, i.e., confusing Sunni and Shia, confusing Iraq and Iran, when The Surge® began, and repeatedly referring to Czechoslovakia (a country which dissolved into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993). 

McCain actually stated that Georgia is "the first, probably, serious crisis internationally since the end of the Cold War."  You don’t believe it?  Watch it:

Are you frigging kidding me?  While most Americans tend to associate the end of the Soviet Union (and the Cold War) with the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, the Soviet Union officially ceased to exist in December 1991, dissolving into 15 independent republics in a Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).  Since that time, the U.S. has engaged militarily in the following conflicts: The Persian Gulf War (1991and the subsequent No-Fly Zones), Somalia (1993), Bosnia (1994-95), Kosovo (1999), and who could ever forget Afghanistan (1991-present) and Iraq (1993-present) – they are in the news almost daily because we are still fighting there!

Well, actually, McCain could.  He’s done it before, just last month when he said that Iraq "is the first major conflict since 9/11." Cenk Uygur: Another John McCain Gaffe — Iraq Was the First Major Conflict After 9/11 (link to video).

Other serious international crises since the end of the Cold War include the never-ending Palestinian-Israeli conflict (a series of wars, including Lebanon), the break-up of Yugoslavia (not just Bosnia and Kosovo), the Rwandan genocide, the Darfur genocide, and the Tsunami disaster (2004), just to name a few of the too many international crises to remember since the end of the Cold War.

So what explains this series of alleged "gaffes" by McCain?  Can it be attributed to the onset of senile dementia?  Perhaps.  Can it be that McCain lacks the knowledge and experience that he self-proclaims to possess?  Likely.

But I suspect there is something more here than meets the eye.  McCain "forgot" about Afghanistan because he has taken ownership of the war in Iraq.  It is his baby with The Surge®.  He only wants to talk about his "successful" strategy in Iraq.  But even the sainted General Petraeus continues to say any success in Iraq is only tentative and easily reversible.

Now McCain is trying to do the same with the conflict in Georgia.  McCain is taking ownership of this conflict because he has made it his baby, maybe more than we know, by pretending to be the president on TV this week.  Reporters in the McMedia had better start asking lots of questions of Randy Scheunemann, a registered foreign lobbyist on the payroll of Georgia until recently (his lobbying firm continues to represent Georgia) who is McCain’s chief foreign policy adviser and spokesman.  McCain demonstrates all the indications of being Scheunemann’s Manchurian Candidate. 

There is also another McCain adviser, Karl Rove, who met with the Georgian president at a conference in Yalta last month, just days after President Saakashvili met with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on July 9, 2008.  Emptywheel » Did Karl Rove Chat to Saakashvili about South Ossetia Too? 

Did either Scheunemann, or Rove, or McCain himself (who frequently speaks to Saakashvili by his own admission) encourage Saakashvili to attack Russian Peace Keepers in South Ossetia, with at least an implicit promise that the U.S. would come to Georgia’s aid militarily, with a wink and a nod that "Johnny Mac has got your back"?  And exactly who was responsible for green lighting the Georgian attack on Russian Peace Keepers?  Georgia did not act without express U.S. approval.  Period.  Did it come from Dick Cheney’s office?  Did it come from the McCain campaign (Scheunemann, Rove, McCain)?  As they colorfully say in the Marines, "someone had better sh*t me an answer now."  America needs to know the answers to these questions well before Election Day.