McCain's Pakistan Confusion Posted by Michael Cohen

In John McCain's victory speech this evening he made a rather startling attack on Barack Obama accusing him of "confused leadership" and "inexperience" because he "once suggested bombing our ally Pakistan."

What's really stunning about this rhetorical broadside is that the Washington Post revealed today this is precisely what the Bush Administration did last month. In a predawn attack on January 29th a Predator aircraft killed Abu Laith al-Libi, a senior Al Qaeda lieutenant - and it did so without the cooperation and permission of the Pakistani government.

Having requested the Pakistani government's official permission for such strikes on previous occasions, only to be put off or turned down, this time the U.S. spy agency did not seek approval. The government of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was notified only as the operation was underway, according to the officials, who insisted on anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities.

Is John McCain going to criticize the Bush Administration for "bombing Pakistan?" Something tells me that ain't going to happen. In fact, this type of limited attack, based on actionable intelligence is exactly what Obama suggested in a speech last Fall.

Do you think maybe McCain and his staff should read the FRONT PAGE of the Washington Post before they launch an attack like this?

Comments

[Dan Kervick]

I hate to be over-confident, but I honestly think Obama is going to clean McCain's clock in the fall. It's no accident that McCain finished near the bottom of his class at Annapolis.

I also think McCain is a person who was once a Republican star, but whose time has passed - and that McCain even sees himself that way. He convinced himself to go through the electoral motions one more this year, but his heart isn't really in the fight, and he only appears to give a shit about 60% of the time. The other 40% of the time he is likely to say just about anything as he contemplates the Grim Reaper. I often wonder whether he really even wants to win, or if he sees the Presidency as a unpleasantly grueling chore for a man who should have retired a few years ago to one of those vaunted retirement villages in his home state.