CT Blue

According to an email I received today from Howard Dean (we go way back, he emails me almost every day) John McCain once again mixed up Shiites and Sunnis, proving once again that he is as much of an expert on the region as George Bush or Bill Kristol, who more than once told us, before the war, that there was little chance that these groups would have at one another.

On at least one of the occasions McCain messed up, he caught himself, sort of (see the first link above), but he needn’t have bothered. McCain has made a habit of confusing Sunnis and Shiites, along with spouting other blather about Iraq (such as his absurd claim that it was Sadr that backed down recently), but he gets a free pass for his “gaffes” from a press corps that would crucify either Clinton or Obama for saying the same things. This cuts two ways for McCain. He is fully aware that he is immune from the need to be either consistent or honest, so he doesn’t stay on his toes. So far he’s paid no price for his stupidity, but he really can’t afford to get lazy. You never know. The Democrats might get a clue and start coordinating their message.

So, if only for forms sake, McCain might want to bone up a little on the region. So far as the Sunni-Shiite thing goes, he might start with a little mnemonic my wife taught me. Saddam was a Sunni, so remember him as Sunny Saddam. Then, when you’re trying to remember who’s who, think of Sunny Saddam, and your there. It does get tougher from there, but it’s still pretty easy if you remember some very basic history.

Case in point: McCain can’t remember whether Al Qaeda is Shiite or Sunni. Well, first start with Sunny Saddam. Now you know who the Sunnis are, they’re the Saddamites. Step two: Recall that Al Qaeda are terrorists. Now, just remember that Saddam was not harboring terrorists, and boom, you’ve got it, Al Qaeda must be Sunnis. And they are. This works for me every time and it could work for McCain. If he kept those basic facts straight he’d have even an easier time getting away with the lies he’s telling about the progress of the war itself. As it is, even given the obsequious press that he gets, someone may notice that he doesn’t have the basic stuff down. And it’s not that hard, after all. Even lying Joe Lieberman can remember this stuff.

I note that at the link above, there is a quote from the McCain campaign to the effect that McCain stumbled during his questioning and then corrected himself. In fact, if you watch the video, also at the link, you’ll see that it is just as likely that he wasn’t sure who Al Qaeda was, so he figured he’d cover his bets. Here’s the exchange:

MCCAIN: Do you still view al Qaeda in Iraq as a major threat?

PETRAEUS: It is still a major threat, though it is certainly not as major a threat as it was say 15 months ago.

MCCAIN: Certainly not an obscure sect of the Shi’ites overall?

PETREAUS: No.

MCCAIN: Or Sunnis or anybody else.

He didn’t correct himself. He still wasn’t sure. The “or anybody else” gives that away. He was just barely smart enough to figure that his first statement might have been wrong, so if he added the second he could sufficiently confuse the issue.