Crist insisted that Florida was right to deliberately defy party rules in moving up its election, even knowing that such defiance would result in its losing delegates.

“Moving up the election is the right thing to do. Democracy is always the right thing to do,” he said.

And, they want to vote republican?????

I’d better be careful this evening, I’m in a stra-a-a-ange mood.

The quote was from McCain, so I thought we could use it call out more of his BS. There is a definite move by his handlers to tie Iran to everything.

In view of the below, which begins as a Lamentation of the Exhausted Water Dragon, I think you’re right, these remarks of his can be used, because it appears that he consistently twists the facts on this. Herewith what I originally wrote:

So what is it with today already?

You’ve got Berlusconi about to be elected PM of Italy again. Norquist’s K Street Project is still looking for ways to squeeze the last bit of air out of our lungs —I guess all those oversight hearings haven’t put enough of a dent in their thrust.

And McCain and his advisors are trying to be a collective human wayback machine, first by tying the economy to phenomena that are beyond the capacity of science to explain (except they aren’t true), then by resurrecting the Iranian cleric influx canard of years ago.

Actually there might have been something of an influx in 2003, but it was of Shiites who had taken refuge in Iran from Saddam’s persecutions, and those groups are the ones in the Iraqi government who at present are supposedly pro-American, like the Badr Brigade (associated with what used to be called SCIRI), who make up most of the “Iraqi Government forces” involved currently in putting down the Sadrist guerillas. The clerics moving into the south from Iran were “our” guys.

The recent facts of the various alignments are outlined here. For comparison, here’s an early view from Juan Cole in 2003 on that “Iranian influx.” Things were pretty muddy when this article was written, but it was clear even then that Hakim’s SCIRI were a significant element of the groups who were moving in from Iran.

It is complicated, sure, but McCain wants the job of managing these complications. It is not asking too much for him to learn the facts and keep them straight from day to day.