[McCain] said several times that Iran, a predominately Shiite country, was supplying the mostly Sunni militant group, al-Qaeda. In fact, officials have said they believe Iran is helping Shiite extremists in Iraq.

Speaking to reporters in Amman, the Jordanian capital, McCain said he and two Senate colleagues traveling with him continue to be concerned about Iranian operatives "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back."

Pressed to elaborate, McCain said 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."

That's right! McCain thinks Iran, a nation ruled by a fundamentalist Shi'ite regime, is helping Al Qaeda, a Sunni Muslim terrorist organization which the Iranian government considers its enemy. Indeed, Iran helped the US shortly after 9/11 with respect to intelligence regarding Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and offered to provide more help before the Bush administration rejected the Iranian government's offer in 2003 to negotiate a security arrangement with Iran as part of a comprehensive settlement of all outstanding issues between our two countries.

Apparently this was too much for even McCain's good buddy, Senator "I'm with Stupid" Lieberman, who felt the need to rescue McCain from his own lie and/or mistake:

A few moments later, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, standing just behind McCain, stepped forward and whispered in the presidential candidate's ear. McCain then said: "I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda."

I guess even Holy Joe has his limits. The question remains, however, do we really want four more years of this kind of incompetence and mendacity? Yet, that is what McCain is promising. Iraq today, Iraq tomorrow, Iraq forever! But if McCain can't tell the difference between Al Qaeda and Shi'a militias in Iraq, how can we trust him with the power to command our military? Cheney, reprehensible though he is, was simply repeating a familiar (if incredibly bold faced) lie to cover his ass for promoting an illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. If McCain wasn't lying but was simply confused or misinformed (and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for the sake of argument) what does that say about that infamous "Commander-in-Chief threshold" which Senator Clinton claimed only she and McCain had passed? I suppose if stupidity is a qualification for the job, McCain is living up to the standard set by the current President. The only other explanation was that he was trying to pass off a lie to scare Americans into voting for him. I'm not sure which is worse, frankly.