What is it with Czechoslovakia? Now, Sam Nunn blows it
The other day here we noted that Republican nominee-to-be John McCain keeps referring to the country of Czechoslovakia, which hasn't existed since 1993.
Now, Sam Nunn, a veteran retired senator and an oft-mentioned Democratic vice presidential running mate with Barack Obama, is doing the same thing.
His reference to the former country, which split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, was the third mention of Czechoslovakia during campaigning this week. A former chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee who could know better, Nunn was on the campaign trail in Indiana with Obama.
"We in this country are about to, under this government, under the Bush administration, deploy [a] missile defense system in Poland and Czechoslovakia," Nunn said. For more details and a pretty funny video, check out our colleague Katie Fretland's item over on the Swamp.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
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did you or did you not tip your inexistent hat not long ago - or was it the presidential one you vaguely aired before? you see, us people do strange things.
Posted by: dave | July 18, 2008 at 08:30 AM
Sam Nunn Will be 70 in September.
It's not all age though. My 84 year old father knows that Czechoslovakia broke up 15 years ago.
Maybe it's also part of serving too long in Washington DC, where things are as they GD say they are.
Posted by: Bill Lenner | July 18, 2008 at 08:47 AM
Globalist warmongering BIPARTISAN shills...
busy shoveling the offal their CFR advisors slip into their ears to the usually oblivious media and utterly oblivious voters....
The MilIndComplex lackeys in the media and politics are going to have a tough one this time...who is MORE of a craven parrot and who will have to be IGNORED when idiotic "misspeaks" and "unartful" comments like these come rolling of the lips of these educated people..
And to think the party bloviates and the only too compliant media pushed these two empty suits..and dismissed Ron Paul and his message of nonintervention and peace....
thanks folks....
Posted by: Chris Bieber | July 18, 2008 at 02:54 PM
One the one hand I don't think this is such a big issue. Most Americans learn their world geography in elementary school and have little reason to revisit the subject. (How many people know that Yugoslavia doesn't exist either?) And also, it's not as if the Czech Republic and Slovakia have been in the lime light that often in the past several years to make people notice where they are. Since I moved back to the US from Slovakia I always have to explain, "I lived in Slovakia, part of what used to be Czechoslovakia". That's just the way it is.
On the other hand, McCain and Nunn are educated people who have made global affairs their business and they should know better. I don't think they have much of an excuse... .
Posted by: Margarete | July 18, 2008 at 03:13 PM
I don't get the big deal either. The Czech Republic is part of what was Czechoslovakia, good God!!!!!!! And when speaking of McCain needing a map, first of all Iraq and Pakistan do border Iran and that is what he was talking about. Also to the person that said McCains term would be Bushs 4th????? How about 3rd and what a lie anyway and as far as I'm concerned that wouldn't be so bad. He has kept us safe since 9/11 by fighting over there instead of here. If you want gaffes look into what Obama says almost everyday, 57 states, 10 years of presidency, chaired the banking committee, he is not even on the banking committee, the bomb on Pearl Harbor, Kennedy and Kruschev sat down and had successful meeting, yea a meeting that gave birth to the berlin wall and the Cuban crisis. The man is a gaffe factory and no one cares. Its frightening!!! These are just a few of his unbelievable remarks. What is wrong with you people!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Trish Herbert | July 26, 2008 at 08:44 AM