...you done it again."


(Hat-tip Sam Stein/Nicole Belle)
For the third time in two days, John Sidney McCain has publicly posited the utterly idiotic idea that al-Qaeda is getting assistance from Iran... even though he was publicly ridiculed for (and quickly withdrew) the same false assertion on Tuesday.

This time, in a statement from his campaign "honoring" the fifth year anniversary of the Iraq invasion, McCain wrote:

"Today in Iraq, America and our allies stand on the precipice of winning a major victory against radical Islamic extremism. The security gains over the past year have been dramatic and undeniable. Al-Qaeda and Shia extremists — with support from external powers such as Iran — are on the run but not defeated."

On Tuesday, while appearing in Israel, the old coot made a nearly identical assertion that al-Qaeda was leaving Iraq to retool and regroup in Iran, stating that it was "common knowledge, and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate."

None other than Holy Joe Lieberman, who was accompanying McCain on the trip, was forced to lean over and whisper in McCain's ear that it was Shiite extremists, (not Sunni al-Qaeda) that are supposedly going to predominantly Shiite Iran to rest, rejuvenate and re-arm. The red-faced McCain quickly corrected himself*, changing out the words "al-Qaeda" for the word "extremists."

Speaking today, Dem frontrunner Barack Obama cited the misstatements as evidence that McCain's foreign policy "experience" doesn't give him a superior understanding (or judgment) of the terrorist threat or Iraq policy:

""Just yesterday, we heard Sen. McCain confuse Sunni and Shiite, Iran and al-Qaeda. "Maybe that is why he voted to go to war with a country that had no al-Qaeda ties. Maybe that is why he completely fails to understand that the war in Iraq has done more to embolden America's enemies than any strategic choice that we have made in decades."

Ouch.

So which is it, ya think? Is the Elderly Statesman from Arizona not intelligent enough to know the basic difference between Shiite and Shinola? Or is it simply an embarrassing series of senior moments? Either way, it's a more than a little unnerving to think this doddering old fart might just end up with his finger on the button come inauguration day, no?

Personally, I agree with Max Bergmann, who doesn't believe it's a matter of innocent gaffes:

"Many in the media seem willing to dismiss McCain’s statement that Iran is training al-Qaeda as a simple slip of the tongue. This is wrong. McCain did not misspeak. If he had simply made the statement once, he could perhaps expect to be given a pass.

But he didn’t just say Iran was training al-Qaeda once. He said it in his initial statement. He was then asked about it in a follow-up question where he repeated it... then repeated it again on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show.

That is not a gaffe. That is called believing something that isn’t true. It is called being confused. And being confused about the differences between Shia and Sunni when claiming that you should be elected president of the United States on your foreign policy knowledge and experience is simply not okay."

P.S.* - Amusingly, Wingnutistan pundits like Red State's Jeff Emanuel, Weekly Standard's Thomas Joscelyn and National Review's Michael Ledeen (among others) are claiming that McCain was actually wrong for admitting he was wrong (i.e. all of them still insisting that Iran is, indeed, harboring and/or training al-Qaeda operatives).

I tellya, these people have no shame.

Tags: '08 elections, iran, iraq, joe lieberman, john mccain, middle east, war on terror
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