McCain overstates Obama on Pakistan

Posted: Tuesday, October 07, 2008 10:21 PM by Mark Murray

McCain said: "Sen. Obama likes to talk loudly. In fact, he wants to announce that he's going to attack Pakistan -- remarkable."

But this is what Obama said originally on August 1, 2007: "There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al Qaeda leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf will not act, we will."

It's worth noting that Palin -- on at least two occasions -- seemed to back Obama on this issue.

-- "GIBSON: But, Governor, I'm asking you: We have the right, in your mind, to go across the border with or without the approval of the Pakistani government.
PALIN: In order to stop Islamic extremists, those terrorists who would seek to destroy America and our allies, we must do whatever it takes and we must not blink, Charlie, in making those tough decisions of where we go and even who we target.
GIBSON: And let me finish with this. I got lost in a blizzard of words there. Is that a yes? That you think we have the right to go across the border with or without the approval of the Pakistani government, to go after terrorists who are in the Waziristan area?
PALIN: I believe that America has to exercise all options in order to stop the terrorists who are hell bent on destroying America and our allies. We have got to have all options out there on the table." (Interview with Charlie Gibson, 9/11/08)

-- "Palin spoke to one patron's friend on his cell phone, and answered a couple of questions on Pakistan from another. Michael Rovito asked her specifically whether U.S. forces should cross the border from Afghanistan to Pakistan. “If that’s what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should," she said." (First Read, 9/28/08)

Yet Palin later backtracked on those statements, telling Katie Couric: "Well, as Sen. McCain is suggesting here, also, never would our administration get out there and show our cards to terrorists, in this case, to enemies and let them know what the game plan was, not when that could ultimately adversely affect a plan to keep America secure."

EMAIL THIS

Comments

McCain sticks to his original plan and story which is showing that he is on the straight and narrow path that will work. He has the experience hands down. I trust him more. I respect him more. His record proves correct on trying to fight for the American record.

Obama changes his story to suit the viewers thinking the American people are stupid and won’t notice. Sorry but I have a real problem with his relationship to Ayers, and ACORN.

I can’t trust someone who has not brought about any change except in his plans….

McCain is stable and knowledgeable and Palin is a go getter.

The questions were boring and we need to know more about character and past. That tells you more about the person. Obama has too many ? marks and McCain is a full blooded American with morals and stability. Rock on to the White House……What’s been done in the dark will come out into the light and hopefully the American people know that our safety is the first and foremost goal or nothing else matters.. McCain will protect us and knows a hell of a lot more than Obama, in fact Obama is learning as this goes on…..

John (Sent Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:09 PM)

OK who in their right mind would announce on tv who is also running for president that they would attack another country. I mean come on. "Sen. Obama likes to talk loudly. In fact, he wants to announce that he's going to attack Pakistan -- remarkable"

Yes thats who I want for president someone who is going to announce what we plan on doing in the future if they dont comply with us.

Come on, Sen McCain know's what we need and know's how to get it done. It all takes time you just cannot snap your fingures and everything will be ok. I am in the military as so is my cousin who is over in Iraq she said as well as alot of other people that that place has gotten alot better than what is has before. So lets pull out now and let all of our hard work go down the drain, and lets put all of our troops in Afghanastan and try to fix that country as well. By the time we get that country to where it needs to Iraw is screwed up again. We need to be smart about it and Sen McCain is the smart one to help us through it all!!!

Kimberly Patton French Lick. IN (Sent Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:14 PM)

Okay, here's the deal: There is nothing in the copy above that says that Palin supports blatently ignoring the Pakistani Government and crossing their border without approval. We cannot show our hand like Obama wants to do (comes with his inexperience and lack of military knowledge), we need the support of Pakistan to get these terrorists as they leave Pakistan.

Ed, Lehigh Valley, PA (Sent Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:15 PM)

Isn't McCain the one who said he would "follow Bin Laden to the gates of Hell"?

Apparently, the gates of Hell are the Pakistani border, and he won't go in them.

Curve Ball (Sent Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:16 PM)

HELLO?? We STILL can't go after the terrorists directly responsible for 911 because they are in Afghanistan and Pakistan and we still have to keep most of our forces in Iraq, (in our continued attempt to secure and "re-stabilize" their society and engender some type of cooperation between the three major groups that comprise that country). Why do we keep hearing about the success/failure of a highly-touted "surge" against the terrorists in Iraq, when no one seems to remember the 800 lb gorilla in the corner who reminds us: THERE WERE NO TERRORISTS IN IRAQ - AND NO INFLUENCE FROM IRAN BEFORE DUBYA'S ILL-FATED & MISGUIDED ATTACK IN THE FIRST PLACE! Remember WMDs and the Mushroom Cloud Smoking Gun? Remember why Colin Powell left? Remember "Mission Accomplished"? That was over 5,000 American lives and countless billions of our wasted tax dollars ago... The rest of the world still sees us as arrogant, ignorant, and politically reckless fools! (Remember how much we PAID in foreign aid for the embarrasingly pathetic "coalition of Allies" for this Gulf war - compared to the REAL one for Desert Storm?) In summation: To paraphrase the "great" Ronald Reagan: "Are you SAFER now than you were EIGHT years ago?" WELL?

tim kizzie, Bowie, MD (Sent Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:22 PM)

It's time for some Stray Talk, my friends.

John, Hidden Valley, AZ (Sent Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:24 PM)

McCain's attacks are not working and they are becoming less and less believable. Obama is sounding presidential and McCain is sounding desparate. Obama won this debate hands down.

Tom Silver Spring, MD (Sent Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:28 PM)

Clearly my fellow Americans. After tonight is it not obvious that McCain/Palin are doomed?

Obama/Biden 08

David, Fresno, CA (Sent Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:28 PM)

Desperate things come from desperate people. McBomb bomb bomb Iran and Palin are desperate so what else could be expected and now that they see their days are numbered, I guess he allowed Palin to finally have a press meeting on her plane today. Are me not lucky to have miised that flight?

Hugh P Leesburg, GA (Sent Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:30 PM)

John McCain was joking around with a friend when he sang "Bomb Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran".
The people who believe in Obama are the ones that are the fools. He can not even say a name of a country correctly. He is associated with a reverise races preacher. He wants to make our medical system like Britians and Canada. But, look at theirs. Their citizens come over to America for Medical Services. There has been no medical advances out of their country since it is all government run. Even their Doctors are leaving and coming to America to work.

J. David, Carrollton, Texas (Sent Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:31 PM)

McCain purposefully misrepresents Obama and his positions. I suppose if he says it enough, that unsuspecting people will believe it. The bottom line is that whatever McCain (or Palin) says can not be trusted.

JohnWinNC (Sent Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:32 PM)

mcloser!

sm (Sent Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:33 PM)

People do not understand that to go after Al Qaeda in Pakistan, we would have to invade their country. So, unless we have the permission then we would end up at war with a country that is not afraid to use Nuclear Bombs. Remember they threaten to use it on India.

J. David, Carrollton, Texas (Sent Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:35 PM)

I counted 27 "my friends" coming from McCain...

Bob F. (Sent Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:36 PM)

The republican national committee beter curtail the of the wicked witch from the north. In one of her speechs she referred to Obama as a terrorist and the crowd started yelling "kill him". Possibly the FBI may want to investigate this for insighting a riot.

yar f Beaverton, OR (Sent Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:39 PM)

<< Previous

SEND A COMMENT

PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to the blog, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):

Your name, city and state (John Doe, Seattle, Wash.):

Your e-mail address (jdoe@msnbc.com):

Your website (it's okay if you don't have one):

Remember me? (We'll keep it private) Remember me?

TRACKBACKS

Trackbacks are links to weblogs that reference this post. Like comments, trackbacks do not appear until approved by us. The trackback URL for this post is: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/trackback.aspx?PostID=1509857