Every day, it seems, John McCain says something which, if either of the Democratic candidates had said it, the media would most certainly end their candidacy. But because the media is John McCain's base, they won't call him on it. So it is up to us, I suppose. Also, this story highlights why a long and drawn-out primary process has helped to deflect attention away from the absolutely nutty things that John McCain says.
The folks over at ThinkProgress have called John McCain out on his repeated references to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, labeling him as the main formulator of Iran's foreign policy. The only problem is that he isn't, and it demonstrates a very scary incompetence on McCain's part.
More on the jump.
Yesterday, the Wonk Room's Matt Duss noted that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) often incorrectly portrays Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as if Ahmadinejad has a significant role in formulating Iranian foreign policy. He doesn't. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Iran's National Security Council set Iran's foreign policy.Yesterday, Time's Joe Klein pressed McCain on the issue, but McCain refused to concede he was wrong, saying he disagreed that Khamenei runs Iranian policy behind the scenes. McCain added that because the "average American" thinks Ahmadinejad is Iran's leader, that's good enough for him.
Iran's Supreme National Security Council wields dictatorial powers over the country. Their constitution proscribes their tasks as: Determining the defense and national security policies within the framework of general policies determined by the Leader, coordination of activities in the areas relating to politics, intelligence, social, cultural and economic fields in regard to general defense and security policies, exploitation of materialistic and intellectual resources of the country for facing the internal and external threats. Probably more relevant to us, the Supreme National Security Council is the end-all and be-all of Iran's nuclear program. When we are negotiating with Iran in hopes of getting them to end their nuclear ambitions, we are not dealing with Ahmadinejad; rather, we speak to Saeed Jalili, the secretary of the SNSC, and Ali Khamenei.
In this capacity, Ahmadinejad is nearly powerless. When Ali Khamenei sets the foreign policy of Iran, it is only within Ahmadinejad's power to articulate it to the rest of the world. In simpler words, Ahmadinejad is elected primarily to focus on the domestic and some general diplomatic duties, while the robes in the back room set all the foreign policy agenda.
McCain doesn't seem to know, or want to know that. Here's how he responded when pressed by Joe Klein of the New York Timesto clarify his incompetence:
MCCAIN: I mean, the fact is [Ahmadinejad's] the acknowledged leader of that country and you may disagree, but that's a uh, that's your right to do so, but I think if you asked any average American who the leader of Iran is, I think they'd know.
That's what the Republican philosophy on national security has come down to: demonize and obfuscate, and don't worry about the facts. It is amazing to me how this man, who clearly has no command of the facts when it comes to national security, would dare criticize Obama. Here's the video:
Two other good links to read on this subject: http://www.democracyarsenal.org/2008/05/ another-foreign.html, http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/0 5/20/mccain-misconceptions/
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