John McCain's War On Geography

McCain really has no idea what is going on in the world. I still think a lot of his lies are lies, meant to deceive voters into falling for his version of reality, but there is definitely a large amount of ignorance mixed in. Sometimes it is hard to know which side of the line many of his false statements land, but in this case, there is no question: John McCain is incompetent. From Huffington Post:

At a press availability today, John McCain expressed concern about relations between Russia and a country that hasn't existed for quite some time:

"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."

Czechoslovakia, of course, split into two separate countries in 1993.

It isn't the first time McCain has made this mistake, as TPM's Greg Sargent points out:

Around three months ago, McCain told Don Imus that he would "work closely with Czechoslovakia and Poland and other countries" to install the European Missile Defense System in Poland, according to the Democratic National Committee. (The slip-up was referenced elsewhere, too.)
And during a GOP debate in October 2007, 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."

There are more: in 1994, he suggested NATO be expanded to include Czechoslovakia. At an IRI dinner in 1999, McCain "twice thanked the ambassador from 'Czechoslovakia' for his efforts," according to the Washington Post.

And here comes the best part...

In fact, George Bush himself dinged McCain for this blunder back in the 2000 primary. Steve Clemons writes:

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."

This longstanding confusion persists despite McCain's numerous visits to both the Czech Republic and Slovakia (he described his 2001 meeting with Czech President Vaclav Havel as "an Experience . . . I can tell my Grandchildren about.") In fact, the former U.S. ambassador to Slovakia endorsed McCain's candidacy for president. Maybe he should offer the candidate some geography lessons too.

Hahahaha, Bush even knows better, now THAT'S saying something. McCain, got schooled by the dumbest president in US history. The worse part is that McCain keeps making the same mistake, over and over and over again, no matter how many times he catches hell for it, even after Bush makes fun of him for it, he keeps doing it (kind of like when he repeatedly mixed up Sunni and Shia, even though his keepers kept correcting him--but hey, no big deal, it isn't like anything important happens in the Middle East). You'd think after getting called on it once or twice he'd make a mental note, "You know, John, make a mental note, Czechoslovakia is not a country!" But nope, keeps doing it. He's been going strong for almost a decade and a half now, and there are no signs he is going to stop. Talk about stubborn, in addition to dumb as a rock.

And this idiot is running on foreign policy??

One last thing, it is interesting that Bush mentioned this, because apparently he was as frustrated as Democrats are with the media's love affair with John McCain. He can screw up over and over again, continually proving he is ill-equipped to be president, yet the media is completely silent. That love affair has been going on for years and years, I wonder if it will ever end.

Update: I think a long time ago McCain hit a critical mass with his "misstatements", and I think there are so many that they definitely warrant a new term to describe them. So, for the sake of organization, I'm adding a new tag to my blog....as soon as I figure out a good one. [Update: I've picked a new tag, not so much a term, but a tag nonetheless: Johnny Gaffes It Up.]

Update (7/15): McCain did it yet again today. He really is in his own little world, and his handlers are apparently asleep at the wheel because someone needs to be reminding him, daily, that Czechoslovakia hasn't existed since for 15 years. Maybe they could make a ritual out of it, you know, he takes his pills, brushes his teeth, and a staffer makes him repeat after him or her, "Czechoslovakia is not a country, Czechoslovakia is not a country, Czechoslovakia hasn't been a country in 15 years."

Update (7/21): I can't believe it (ok, I can), but for the third time in a week, John McCain brought up "Czechoslovakia" again. This time it was while he was trying to attack Obama's foreign policy experience while he is overseas touring the world. Instead of catching Obama in a gaffe, McCain is gaffing it up himself. Of course the media doesn't care. Can you imagine if Obama had made the exact same mistake THREE times in a week, no matter how much ridicule these mistakes create on the internet, and had a long history of making the exact same mistake? The media would be jumping all over him trying to paint him as inexperienced or naive. But when McCain does it, over and over and over again: nothing. Anyway, once again (and certainly not the last time), do we really want someone who CANNOT figure out that this country hasn't existed for 15 years as our president? How do you think he is going to handle the economy, or Iraq, or global warming or health care or anything when the man can't figure out this simple thing? And I can't imagine that after all of the ridicule he has received over time for this gaffe, from the left and even from Bush, that he hasn't been made aware of it. Could he seriously be so sheltered, so out of touch, that he is impervious to all the buzz about these mistakes? If that's the case then add an incompetent campaign organization to the list of problems, because he should have MANY people monitoring the internet and the news media and everything looking to pick up on what is being said about him, and they should be relaying that information to him so he can make changes accordingly. If that isn't happening, or if he just isn't getting it, either way, he is failing a basic test of basic Commander-in-Chief skills (and grade school geography).

Update (7/21) #2: On Good Morning America this morning McCain managed to screw up geography again! This time it wasn't Czechoslovakia; instead he referenced the non-existent Iraq-Pakistan border. Yes, those who know even a little bit about the Middle East might be aware that Iraq doesn't even come close to sharing a border with Pakistan, indeed the entirety of Iran is between them. What an idiot. And this guy is supposed to be Mr. Foreign Policy? C'mon media, enough with the crap, can we give up the charade now?