It was funny when John McCain had trouble remembering which Islamic sect was what and Lieberman had to whisper in his ear.  It was a gaffe, and great fun.  And then he made it again.  And again.  And now it comes to this.

The decision to open a tribute to the 9/11 victims by invoking the Iran hostage crisis (1979 I believe) has taken this lack of understanding to a whole new level.  How can you open a tribute to someone by showing such a blatant lack of knowledge regarding what, and more importantly who caused their death?  Does John McCain intend to chase bin Laden to the gates of Tehran, then the gates of Moscow?  Then where? A trumphant return to Bejiing - this time taking all the gold?

Trading on the images of burning American corpses is bad enough.  Sadly, it was not only the New York dead who were salaciously displayed.  It is surprising even, when you consider this is the republican party who was in control of the levers of power when on 9/11 those lives were so abruptly cut short.  This is a low in politics to be sure.

But to bring the Iran of 1979 back and try and tie it to this modern day tragedy is the depth of insult.  Didn't Lieberman whisper in his ear that the Shiite regime of Iran has nothing to do with either Osama bin Laden or the attacks on America?  Did it slip not only the mind of John McCain, but the collective mind of the entire republican party?

So one more time John, but slower: Al Quaeda ... is .... Sunni.[stop]  Iran .... is .... Shiite[stop] Sunnis .... are .... at .... war .... with .... Shiites[stop] The ... Shiites ... did ... not ... attack ... us ... on ... September,11 2001[stop] You ... can .. not ... invade ... another ... country .... that ... had .... nothing ... to .... do ... with ... it[end of story]

How are you going to teach Sarah Palin foreign policy if you yourself are still fighting the ghosts of Regan's enemies?