McCain makes gaffe in Barack attack

AS Barack Obama began his trip to the Middle East and Europe, the media was already speculating about the possibility of a gaffe. Obama’s travel “carries political risk”, the New York Times reported, “particularly if Mr Obama makes a mistake.”

However, the only foreign policy error made in the last few days came yesterday on ABC’s Good Morning America, when John McCain made another geography gaffe while trying to criticise Obama’s visit to Iraq (last week, McCain repeatedly referred to Czechoslovakia, a country that hasn’t existed since 1993).

Asked by Diane Sawyer whether the “the situation in Afghanistan is precarious and urgent,” McCain responded: “I think it’s serious. . . It’s a serious situation, but there’s a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I’m afraid it’s a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border.”

ABC’s Rick Klein noted: “Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border. Afghanistan and Pakistan do.”

Meanwhile, the decision by American networks to send senior journalists to cover US presidential candidate Barack Obama’s overseas tour has fuelled accusations of media bias in favour of the Democratic nominee-in-waiting.

Network anchors stayed home during Mr McCain’s recent foreign excursions.

“The question really needs to be posed. Is this type of coverage fair?” said Eric Cantor, a Republican congressman.