John McCain, Determined to Fight al Qaeda Wherever It Isn’t

Matt Yglesias links to this astonishing gaffe from the presumptive Republican nominee:

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.” 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.”

Yet another lesson that talk can be simultaneously straight and wrong. The persistence of this sort of unified field theory of terrorism is truly remarkable. Anyone who's reading the newspapers knows that Iran is, of all countries in the region, most supportive of the Iraqi government. Don't take my word for it: ask Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who referred to President Ahmadinejad on his recent victory lap visit to Iraq as a "brother." And then there's al Qaeda in Iraq, which is not so supportive. It can be difficult to keep all this straight, but the man's running for president on the basis of his *ahem* peculiar expertise in fighting terrorism, after all.