John McCain seems to have a very basic misunderstanding of Iraqi politics. For two days in a row, he claimed that Iran was training al Qaeda fighters. Iran is Shiite, while the al Qaeda terrorists are Sunni, and are actively involved in blowing up Shiites in big, bleeding batches.

After the last time he claimed this, he came back and said he misspoke. No word yet on how he misspoke the same way two days in a row.

McCain also regularly says that if the U.S. leaves Iraq, al Qaeda wins. Really? al Qaeda has a few hundred Sunni fighters, who even the Sunni minority in Iraq doesn't like. The Shiite majoriy controls the government, and there is zero way that al Qaeda could take over or even be given much of a safe haven there.

It's very clear that McCain doesn't understand the very basic political situation in Iraq. I'd say that he flunks the commander-in-chief test right there.

Update: Make that three days in a row.