During the first presidential debate between McCain and Obama on September 27:
MCCAIN: Admiral Mullen suggests that Senator Obama’s plan is dangerous for America.
OBAMA: That’s not the case.
MCCAIN: That’s what …
OBAMA: What he said was a precipitous…
MCCAIN: That’s what Admiral Mullen said.
Did Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, say Obama’s plan for withdrawal from Iraq was dangerous for America? The basis for McCain’s assertion was this interview on July 20 by Fox News:
WALLACE: But I’m asking you in the absence — forget about Obama. Forget about the politics. If I were to say to you, “Let’s set a time line of getting all of our combat troops out within two years,” what do you think would be the consequences of setting that kind of a time line?
MULLEN: I think the consequences could be very dangerous in that regard. I’m convinced at this point in time that coming — making reductions based on conditions on the ground are very important.
We’ve been able to do that. We’ve reduced five brigades in the last several months. And again, if conditions continue to improve, I would look to be able to make recommendations to President Bush in the fall to continue those reductions.
The context for the Wallace / Mullen interview was about Iraq’s security, not America’s. The question regarded the risks a time line would cause to Iraq and the US military. But McCain isn’t initially quoting Mullen, just drawing an inference from this interview, well outside lie territory.
But McCain then McCain says Mullen actually said Obama’s plan was dangerous to America. In that new context, McCain’s statement doesn’t hold up.
When asked about a time line for withdrawal, Mullen said a plan with a fixed time frame could have “very dangerous” consequences. But Wallace’s question explicitly asks Mullen to ignore Obama and answer in a non-political sense. So there’s no way, without Mullen making a direct reference to Obama, that McCain could claim this was a statement about Obama’s plan or the explicit danger to America.
It’s no lie for McCain to say Mullen suggested Obama’s plan was dangerous, but it is a lie to say Mullen outright said it. He didn’t.
(Note: Obama’s reference to “precipitous” refers to a distinct quote from Mullen, and therefore not a lie.)
Tags: McCain
September 27th, 2008 at 5:24 am
Wow, the lies just keep coming! I was just on this Web site 15 minutes ago and the Republican count was only up to 19.
September 29th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
The “best” (aka worst) part about these lies is that the average American doesn’t do the followup required to know what’s true and what’s not. As handy as LieCount.com is I don’t think it’s conceptually proliferated throughout the media (extremely sad).. just sucks that he can basically say whatever and even if he gets fact checked later, people will probably not see that he was lying.