The Screwups of Campaign '08

Presidential campaigns are so carefully stage-managed that few things are as entertaining as the mistakes politicians make on the trail. Throughout the 2008 race, check out TIME.com's ongoing chronicle of each candidate's gaffes, and then vote on just how big a screwup each one is

Mistakes Were Made

Rudy's Tortured Past


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John McCain
Nov. 2, 2007

"I have had a different experience than John. John has never been ... he has never run city, never run a state, never run a government."

—Giuliani, when asked whether he knows more about torture than Republican rival John McCain. Unlike the former New York City mayor, McCain spent five years being tortured as a prisoner of war during Vietnam and, also unlike Giuliani, believes that simulated drowning — i.e. "waterboarding" — should be considered torture.


— M.J. Stephey


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