McCain: Repeat After Joe Slowly....

Where is Joe Lieberman?.... calling Joe Lieberman.... bring your McCain flash cards!

Today in the hearing with General David Petraeus on the Iraq war, John McCain.... trying to sound very solemn and probing.... asked the General: "Do you still view al Qaeda in Iraq as a major threat?"

The General replied: "It is still a major threat, though it is certainly not as major a threat as it was say 15 months ago."

And McCain responded: "CERTAINLY NOT AN OBSCURE SECT OF THE SHIITES OVERALL?"

Of course, every second-grader knows that the al Qaeda are rabidly Sunni.

A moment later Lieberman's whispered lessons seemed to kick in and McCain mumbled: "Or Sunnis or anybody else."

But the mindset was there. In cement. Those rascally al Qaeda "sect of Shiites."