Ok, that may or may not be true (I'll take your word for it), but that has no bearing on whether his statement was mischaracterized (which it was).
He's the (selectively) pacifist candidate, he cant acknowledge anything good to come from US military or intelligence activity..
Correct. Still doesn't mean he wasn't mischaracterized.
So if McCain plays obtuse and reads between the lines, can he be faulted?
If that "reading between the lines" is really "putting words in Dean's mouth", then yes, I think so.
The f*cker shouldnt have it both ways, IMO.
Maybe not but that's no excuse for mischaracterizing his statements.
I could reply by saying "thats politics", but actually, that exactly what the news media does all the time, particularly to conservatives.
The reason Dean went apeshirt over this is that its totally plausible that thats what he meant, given his general demagoguing to the insane left. From my point of view, I'll just leave it to Dean to explain that McCain was putting words in his mouth, when in context, it seems totally consistent with most everything else he spouts about.