On my birthday, Michael Smerconish gave a somewhat surprising endorsement of Obama. Realizing that this probably caused most of his wingnut listener base to defect, I decided to return him the favor by tuning in this morning (I swear it had nothing to do with NPR's fundraising drive).
His guest was a terrorism "expert" from the Bush administration (I'm sorry I didn't catch his name), and Smerconish was providing this tool with free reign to stump for McCain during a supposedly non-partisan discussion of anti-terrorism policy and WTF happened in Tora Bora. He wouldn't mention specifics; he just kept uttering, off topic, that he supports McCain in this election. I was thinking to myself, "What's up, Smerconish? Standard protocol is to shut these fools down. Why are you letting this jerk run amok?"
Then the McCain shill offered a reason for why he wasn't supporting Obama (G-d forbid he come up with a positive reason to support the GOP nominee). He cited Obama's naïve" declaration that, if President, "he would invade Pakistan."
This sparked a fire in Smerconish, and he instantly unleashed his inner Wasserman-Schultz. Here's a recap by paraphrase:
Smerconish: No, no, no...That's not what he said.
Wingnut tool: Yes it is. I heard him say it. He would invade our ally, Pakistan.
Smerconish: I've asked him about this specific issue on three separate occasions. That's not his position.What he said was this: if there was actionable intelligence that Al Queda was in the area, we would strike. What's wrong with that?
John McCain calls this naïve, but what he proposes is more of the same previous eight years of failed policy. During this time, we've propped up the dictator Musharraf with money intended to fight terrorism, and he turned around and used our cash to shore up his forces against India. In the meantime, Al Queda has flourished. I think Obama has the right take on this.
If you want to talk about immature, I think singing 'bomb, bomb, bomb Iran' shows a total lack of maturity on these serious issues.
Big props to Michael Smerconish for taking the battle to the chickenhawks on our candidate's behalf!
cross-posted on MYDD