Republican presidential candidate John McCain, acting on bad advice from independent Senator Joe Lieberman, got Halloween and Purim mixed up during his visit to Israel. At a news conference in the rocket-battered city of Sderot, Sen. McCain commented, "As they celebrate their version of Halloween here, they are somewhere close to a 15-second warning, which is the amount of time they have from the time the rocket is launched to get to safety."
Sen. Lieberman, who later admitted he was at fault for mixing up the candidate, corrected him on the spot. Sen. Lieberman he inadvertently tricked him by trying to give Sen. McCain an overly quick explanation of the Purim holiday. There is no resemblance between it and Halloween other than children receiving treats and wearing costumes.