Czeching the facts

John McCain is apparently doing everything possible to portray himself as a forgetful old codger. When the guy who hopes to become the leader of the free world can't seem to remember that "Czechoslovakia" hasn't existed by that name for fifteen years, you have to wonder about his ability to process and retain new information.

It's bad enough that the establishment of Slovakia and the Czech Republic seems to have escaped his notice, or at least it didn't make enough of an impression on his memory that he forgot about it. But to then make the SAME gaffe the very next day after being corrected almost seems like there's some kind of neurological condition at play inside McCain's skull.

From CNN.com:

“And I regret some of the recent behavior Russia that has exhibited, and I’ll be glad to talk about that later on including reduction in oil supplies to Czechoslovakia after they agreed with us on a missile defense system, etcetera,” said the presumptive Republican nominee at a New Mexico town hall Tuesday.

More than fifteen years ago, Czechoslovakia officially split into two nations – the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

On Monday, the Arizona senator made virtually the same statement about recent Russian moves that troubled him, citing that country’s attempt to reduce “the energy supplies to Czechoslovakia.”

And then, if that's not troubling enough, later that evening, McCain’s campaign sent reporters a statement on the issue, which quoted the Arizona senator calling the nation “the Czech Republic” twice!

Now they're covering up McCain's mistakes for him! Is this a harbinger of the sort of lies we'll see emanating from the McCain White House if he's elected?

And then there's THIS famous gaffe, where McCain is so obviously consumed by the idea that al-Qaeda is hiding behind every tree and bush, he misspeaks so badly that Sen. Lieberman needed to correct him in the middle of a talk to the media.

Well, it’s 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.”

It was not until he got a whispered correction from Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, who was traveling with Mr. McCain on the trip, which is a Congressional delegation, that Mr. McCain corrected himself.

“I’m sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not Al Qaeda,” he said.

Oh yeah. THIS is definitely the guy we want running things. Sure.