McCain Doesn't Know Public vs. Private?

Moonbats.

This is the correct English word to use to describe people who blow up stupid things out of proportion, ignoring truth to push an ideological agenda.

Take, for example, this Daily Kos article, wherein John McCain made a mistake. According to the poster, his mistake "really is a big one."

What mistake? See if you can spot it:

There is a very clear standard in the Constitution requiring not only just compensation in the use of eminent domain, but also that private property may NOT be taken for "public use."

Yes, McCain incorrectly said that eminent domain cannot be used to take private property for public use. On the contrary, as everyone should know, it can ONLY be taken for public use. McCain, quite obviously, meant to say, "private property may not be taken for private use." But he slipped up and said "public use."

Insert wailing and gnashing of teeth.

McCain knows eminent domain far better than the overwhelming majority of whiners at dK complaining about this. His understanding was made clear just a few sentences later, when McCain went into greater detail:

A local government seized the private property of an American citizen. It gave that property away to a private developer. And this power play actually got the constitutional "thumbs-up" from five members of the Supreme Court.

There is no doubt that McCain here is talking about private property for private use. It cannot be more clear that he simply slipped up when he said "public use," which is something everyone does many times a day ... especially politicians on the campaign trail.

Case in point: a prominent Barack Obama supporter, Mayor Doug Wilder of Richmond, Virginia, was on "Face the Nation" on May 4 (PDF transcript), and said this:

One final thing I wanted to say. Evan pointed out that Obama voted for this gimmick, this gas tax. Yes. When he was in the Indiana state legislature, and he is the first admit that he learned from his mistake because it was wrong. That's why he knows that this is a gimmick that can't work.

Astute readers will recognize the obvious fact that Wilder incorrectly stated that Obama was in the Indiana legislature, when, in fact, he was in the Illinois legislature. And we don't even have (as we did with McCain) an example in the same interview of Wilder getting it right. He did not correct himself, nor did anyone else correct him. But obviously, he simply misstated: he is talking about Indiana, with a well-known politician from Indiana, and he just misspoke.

But McCain? Oh, he made a HUGE mistake! He doesn't know the Constitution, or he forgot it because he is old! Even though he correctly stated it just a few seconds later when he went into greater detail!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: "reality-based community," my ass.