Political Debate of the Presidential V.P.'s

In debate, a general mistake?
Email|Link|Comments (4) Posted by Jason Tuohey October 3, 2008 11:01 AM
If you tuned in to the vice presidential debate last night expecting a gaffe-fest, you probably came away disappointed.

But some liberal bloggers today are drawing attention to an apparent Sarah Palin flub, where she referred to General David McKiernan, Commander for NATO International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, as "General McClellan."

"Well, first, McClellan did not say definitively the surge principles would not work in Afghanistan. Certainly, accounting for different conditions in that different country and conditions are certainly different. We have NATO allies helping us for one and even the geographic differences are huge but the counterinsurgency principles could work in Afghanistan. McClellan didn't say anything opposite of that. The counterinsurgency strategy going into Afghanistan, clearing, holding, rebuilding, the civil society and the infrastructure can work in Afghanistan. And those leaders who are over there, who have also been advising George Bush on this have not said anything different but that."

General George B. McClellan served as commander of the Union army during the Civil War, from Nov. 1861 - March 1862.

For the debate transcript, click here.