W's foreign policy school is in session!

How does the saying go? Once is an accident. Two is a trend. Three is a problem. And that's exactly how many times the supposed foreign policy "expert" running for president got it wrong during the last few days in Iraq. From HuffPo:

For the third time in two days, the Arizona Republican has pushed the definitively false statement that the terrorist group Al-Qaeda was getting assistance from Iran, even though he was publicly ridiculed for the same false assertion on Tuesday.

This time, in a statement from his campaign honoring the fifth year anniversary of the war, 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, the senator, appearing in Israel, made a nearly identical assertion that Al-Qaeda was leaving Iraq to retool and regroup in Iran.

Absolutely beyond the pale. If McCain's strong suit is supposedly foreign policy, I don't even want to know what his weak points are.

Many in the media are treating this as an inconsequential accident, but I'm not one of them. Once, maybe. But this guy is running for president - before he opens his big yap, he ought to make sure he knows what he's talking about. Otherwise, he runs the risk of carrying on Bush's legacy (if he's elected) of not knowing his arse from a hole in the ground, unless someone from his staff can put words in his mouth. (In this case, it was Joe "Zell Miller" Lieberman, who's clearly bucking to be Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense in a (heaven forbid) McCain administration.

Seriously though, this was no accident; this is a "slip" right out of the Dick & Bush play book - keep saying it over and over, and sooner or later people will equate Iran with Al-Qaeda, which is precisely what Bush and Co. did during the run-up to the War in Iraq; keep insinuating that Iran and Al-Qaeda are connected, but if directly asked, deny you're making the connection. Then, have people like Hannity, Limbaugh and O'Lielly do the dirty work for you. Sooner or later, at worst, the public is confused: "Is Al-Qaeda in Iran? I don't know - I thought I heard something about it on the news..."

Blue Texan at Firedoglake put it best: Will Joe Lieberman be at McCain's side at 3 a.m. when the call comes?