Sen. John McCain didn’t just get his cause-and-effect order wrong on the so-called surge strategy in Iraq, he also claimed in his CBS interview that the increased troop deployment and associated change in tactics protected a key Sunni sheik who helped lead the “Anbar Awakening.” Problem? Said sheik was actually assassinated during the surge. Meanwhile, CBS is under fire for editing out these gaffes in its on-air presentation of the interview.

TPM Election Central:

Here’s what a CBS spokesperson is sending reporters who ask for an explanation:

As all news organizations do with extended interviews, last night’s Obama and McCain interviews were edited to fit the available time and to give viewers a fair expression of the candidates’ major differences. The full transcript and video were and still are available at cbsnews.com. Quite clearly, this doesn’t even begin to address the criticism. It doesn’t explain why the portion revealing McCain to have badly botched the surge timeline was edited from the piece — even though McCain on the surge is basically the cornerstone of his argument that he has better foreign policy judgment and seasoning than Obama does.

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#anbar#cbs#iraq#john mccain#media bias#surge#war