Person of the Day: John McCain

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SENATOR JOHN McCAIN

When people finally wonder why McCain faded in the campaign they can start with this interview yesterday on CNN. McCain was claiming that there were neighborhoods in Baghdad that were so much improved you could go out for a walk in them.

“General Petraeus goes out there every day. The success we’re experiencing, (it’s now possible) for Americans…to go into 2 of the 5 neighborhoods in a secure fashion.”

Soon CNN’s Baghdad correspondent, Michael Ware, was live from Baghdad with a response. “No way on earth can a Westerner, particularly an American, stroll the streets of this capitol of 5 million people. If Al Qaeda doesn’t get wind of you or one of the Sunni insurgent groups don’t descend on you, if someone doesn’t tip off a Shia militia, then the nearest criminal gang is just going to see dollar signs and scoop you up. You’d barely last 20 minutes out there. I honestly don’t know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says you can go strolling in Baghdad.”

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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