Recently in Middle East Category

My friend JP is getting some deserved retweeting today after making an outstanding (if depressing) observation in response to Glenn Greenwald tweeting about Vice President Joe Biden's comments yesterday about how the United States could not stop Israel from bombing Iran:

SaucyIntruder: @glenngreenwald Conservatives want to bomb Iran. Liberals don't. So the sensible centrist position is to ask other countries to bomb Iran.

Sigh. I wish there were less truth to that sentence -- and I wish Democrats were not as susceptible to such thinking as often as they are.

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) seems to have forgotten that truth telling is an important part of being a straight talker. McCain, however, has fallen off the express again. Think Progress has the details:

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has repeatedly refused to condemn Hezbollah for its role in initiating the Lebanon-Israel conflict. Yesterday, in a press conference with President Bush, he “criticized the ‘damage and destruction’ caused by Israeli attacks but said nothing on Hezbollah’s role.” Other Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt, have condemned Hezbollah for its role in initiating the conflict.

Sen. John McCain appeared on Fox this morning and falsely claimed that Maliki has “condemned Hezbollah.” McCain said that, as a result, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and others who have criticized Malaki for his position on Hezbollah are “not qualified to lead.”

At least McCain's many friends in the media are unlikely to call him on his latest lie. A lying McCain, after all, doesn't fit within the narrative.