john-mccain.JPGOne day after Joe Lieberman corrected him in public for once again stating his oft-repeated false claim that that Iran, a majority Shiite country, was supplying the mostly Sunni militant group, al-Qaeda, McCain unbelieveably repeated the false claim again:

For the third time in two days, the Arizona Republican has pushed the definitively false statement that the terrorist group Al-Qaeda was getting assistance from Iran, even though he was publicly ridiculed for the same false assertion on Tuesday.

This time, in a statement from his campaign honoring the fifth year anniversary of the war, McCain wrote:

"Today in Iraq, America and our allies stand on the precipice of winning a major victory against radical Islamic extremism. The security gains over the past year have been dramatic and undeniable. Al Qaeda and Shia extremists -- with support from external powers such as Iran -- are on the run but not defeated."

On Tuesday, the senator, appearing in Israel, made a nearly identical assertion that al-Qaeda was leaving Iraq to retool and regroup in Iran.

[...]

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who was accompanying McCain on the trip, was forced to lean over and whisper in McCain's ear that it was Shiite extremists, not Sunni al-Qaeda, that was going to predominantly Shiite Iran.

So he's still repeating a spiel he knows -- and has been told, in public yet -- is wrong.

There are three possible explanations:

1) He is knowingly and deliberately telling an untruth -- that's known as lying, for you rib-stuffed members of the press corps who have trouble seeing the many flaws in Mister Not-So-Straight-Talk.

2) He is dumber than paint and/or has debilitatingly severe memory-loss issues to go with his known anger-management problem.

3) Both of the above.

Honestly, that last one seems to fit best the known facts.  Which makes it all the more amazing -- and sickening -- to see America's press corps covering for him.