Mark Salter's Wasi Zafar Moment

No, Mark did not scratch his balls on national television. I'm referring to the second most famous Wasi Zafar gaffe.

Ansar Abbasi, a journalist for The News wrote an article titled "Law Minister Facing Long Arm of the Law?". The Law Minister, not too familiar with English idiom, interpreted this phrase in its street Punjabi declension. So when the two (Abbasi and Wasi Zafar) squared off on VOA Radio , Wasi Zafar, giving what he thought was a powerful counterpunch to Abbasi's article, threatened to give Abbasi a rectal exam with his "big arm", but his family as well. It was quite a hilarious exchange, and the joke was clearly on minister saab.

Mark Salter is no Wasi Zafar, but he clearly didn't ace English in school. His bizzaro memo has been widely ridiculed. Apparently Obama said that McCain has "lost his bearing", and Salter flew off the handle accusing Obama of making fun of McCain's age. For the generally accepted meaning of losing one's bearing, click here.

In the rapid response world of presidential politics, you're supposed to shoot first and consult the dictionary later. Clearly this mix-up has no downside for Salter. He's not wooing egg-heads anyways. That's Obama's constituency.