McCain misidentifies Petraeus as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

During Tuesday night’s presidential debate in Nashville, Sen. John McCainJohn McCain (R-AZ) made what could arguably be considered the most serious verbal gaffe to date by the McCain-Palin campaign when he misidentified Gen. David PetraeusGen. David Petraeus as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In fact, Adm. Michael MullenMichael Mullen has held that position since Oct. 1, 2007. Petraeus recently concluded his 20-month tenure as commander of the Multi-National Forces - Iraq (MNF-I) and will become the next commander of U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) at the end of October. Petraeus has never been Joint Chiefs chairman.

In response to a question from debate moderator Tom BrokawTom Brokaw on what the “McCain Doctrine” would be in regards to using force for humanitarian rather than national security purposes, McCain stated:

“Well, let me just follow up, my friends. If we had done what Sen. ObamaSen. Obama wanted done in Iraq, and that was set a date for withdrawal, which Gen. [David] Petraeus, our chief -- chairman of our Joint Chiefs of Staff said would be a very dangerous course to take for America, then we would have had a wider war, we would have been back, Iranian influence would have increased, al Qaeda would have re- established a base.”*

3 REFERENCES TO LIEBERMAN, NONE TO PALIN

In the course of the debate, McCain made three references to Sen. Joe LiebermanJoe Lieberman (I-CT). As readers may recall, it was Lieberman who had to interrupt McCain during a March 18 press conference in Amman, Jordan, to correct the Arizona senator on the terminology he was using.

Before McCain shook up the 2008 campaign by selecting Alaska Gov. Sarah PalinSarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate in late August, Lieberman was widely believed to be on McCain’s short list for VP possibilities while Palin was considered at best a long-shot gamble. Interestingly, McCain did not mention Palin’s name even once in the Nashville debate.

McCAIN THE FRIENDLY RETURNS

On a lighter note, McCain spoke the phrase “my friend” or “my friends” at least 15 times. While there was no Punditty Over/Under number tonight, McCain’s many “MF” utterances would surely have rated an over. In the first debate, for which Punditty had set an “MF” O/U of five (5), McCain only used the phrase twice.

The third and final presidential debate between McCain and Obama is scheduled for Oct. 15 in New York.

Above left: See Lieberman correct McCain during the March 2008 press conference in Jordan.

*source – CNN debate transcript. Link to debate transcript can be found under “Submitted News Stories” below.