It's good to know that Team Obama is up to date on the latest news from Iraq. Since the media are so eager to report the “lies” and gaffes by Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin, will they cover the mistake Democrat Joe Biden, the man known as a “Gaffe Machine," made on Wednesday, September 24?
Biden's tough-talking Cincinatti, Ohio foreign policy speech was designed to boost Obama's credibility on the War on Terror and foster confidence in the Illinois Senator's ability to handle international issues. The Dem veep pick discussed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and attempted to talk down McCain's positions while portraying Obama as the true expert.
In the process, Biden laid the bluster on thick and appeared to either be dishonest or unable to keep up with the news--or both--by claiming “... the surge is over, and the political reconciliation it was supposed to produce has not materialized." (transcript)
Unfortunately for Biden, news broke that same day about Iraq's “major step toward national reconciliation." CNN wrote (all emphasis mine):
As violence flared near Diyala, the Iraqi Parliament in Baghdad passed a law setting guidelines for elections to select local governing bodies, Sunni legislator Salim Abdulla told CNN.
The bill's passage by 191 of the 275 members of Parliament is considered a major step toward national reconciliation among Iraqi Sunni Arabs, Shiites, and Kurds.
(...)
The long-awaited election law, which outlines guidelines for the balloting, was sent to the Presidency Council for its vote. All three members must approve it unanimously before it can go into effect.
Once accepted, Iraq's electoral commission will set a date for the provincial elections, which authorities hope can be held by the end of the year.
Abdulla said Kirkuk, center of the northern Iraqi petroleum industry, is excluded from the elections at the moment. The law passed Wednesday would give lawmakers until January 31 to draft a separate law for for that region, he said.
Of course, in making his claim, Biden ignored Iraq's previous political progress, so it's no surprise that he didn't mention this important milestone either.
This clunker came on the heels of Biden bizarrely admitting that Hillary Clinton “might have been a better [vice-presidential] pick” and then criticizing an official Obama campaign ad that mocked McCain, whose POW injuries make typing difficult, for not using email Neither gaffe received the Palin Dissection Treatment by media who have obsessed over her every statement and action.
Will the media that has “fact-checked” every contradiction or mistake of the McCain-Palin campaign, real and imagined, notice Biden's embarrassing misstatement on the state of progress in Iraq?
I'm not sure how likely it is considering it took the media weeks to notice that Obama and Biden voted for the same Bridge to Nowhere (those that bothered to report it, that is), that is now a major Democrat talking point targeting Palin.
The media have acted like the Obama campaign's unpaid crisis management team. Maybe it's time to settle down, throw away their “I Heart Obama” key chains, and do their jobs.
Lynn contributes to NewsBusters and can be reached at tvisgoodforyou2 (at) yahoo (dot) com
