The verb ‘to bilge’ (from the noun “bilge,” the lowest part of a ship where water, oil, liquid refuse collects and is pumped out) is the word for ‘fails’ at the Naval Academy, John McCain’s alma mater — where he had to have bilged many courses, not to mention Military Leadership, to graduate so low in his class. McCain bilged foreign affairs 101 last night when he said Pakistan had been a failed state when Musharraf took over. WTF!? I thought. And where was Obama on this? Asleep at the switch. A perfect “there you go again” moment. Here’s a thumbnail sketch from Max Bergmann at HuffPo.

McCain just badly misstated the history of Pakistan. For someone claiming extensive foreign policy knowledge, this is simply not acceptable. McCain said Pakistan was a failed state before President Musharraf came to power. That is not true.

Musharraf took power in a military coup in 1999 when he diposed Nawaz Sharif – who recently participated in the latest election. The coup followed the 1999 war in Kashmir with India and was due to a power struggle with Sharif, not due to Pakistan being a “failed state.” The United States did not welcome the Musharraf coup. Instead the government of the United States imposed sanctions against this action.