War of Words

When ABC's Diane Sawyer asked John McCain during the 2008 presidential race if the situation in Afghanistan is "precarious and urgent," the Arizona Republican artfully dodged the words precarious and urgent before making an ill-fated turn to topography. "I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border." The only problem: Iraq and Pakistan don't share a border — Afghanistan and Pakistan do. The blunder came a week after McCain made repeated references to Czechoslovakia, a nation that hasn't existed since 1993.

• 
• Click to Print

• Find this article at:
• https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1899671_1899666_1899743,00.html