Couric: Senator McCain, Senator Obama says, while the increased number of US troops contributed to increased security in Iraq, he also credits the Sunni awakening and the Shiite government going after militias. And says that there might have been improved security even without the surge. What's your response to that?
McCain: I don't know how you respond to something that is as-- such a false depiction of what actually happened. Colonel McFarlane [phonetic] was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheiks. Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others.

Waitawhataminute? Because of the surge we what? Oh, you mean this guy? Yeah, we did a great job protecting him.

Let's get the facts straight. First, one of the primary generators of the "Anbar Awakening" was that they were pissed off about the Al-Q in Iraq types not caring who they blew up, Sunni, Shiite, US troops, didn't matter. Part two was us giving them cash, guns and ammo without strings to police their own area, and we cut our actions in the area down to going after the Al-Q in Iraq types. That had ZERO to do with the surge.

Second, if anything the surge has HURT that movement by redirecting the money and troops out of Anbar and into Baghdad.

Third, the point of the surge was to buy time and improve stability for the Iraqi government to get their shit together and take over their own immediate security. On that level, the surge has been a complete failure. The casualty rates hit a marked decline in October of last year, but those are US casualties, not Iraqi casualties for which we can't get numbers. In the meantime, there has been little to no motion from the Iraqi government, except for some no-bid contracts given to Exxon, Shell etc. for maintenance on oil facilities that aren't safe to go to. In the meantime, we can't get agreement on what happens after the end of the year when the UN mandate we used to go in expires.

In the meantime, we're losing the war in Afghanistan. Casualty numbers there are up, the Taliban is in resurgence, and the real Al-Qaeda is in full swing.

Between this, the Irag-Parkistan border comment the other day, Czechoslovakia, the repeated lack of knowledge on who is supporting whom in Iraq (then getting corrected and screwing it up again), getting pretty much everything backwards on the economy, the gas tax holiday, drilling expansion that won't change the price of diddly squat, the birth control/Viagra thing, and god only knows what else, I'm starting to wonder if we're looking at Alzheimer's. He gets told one thing and something else comes out.

This is not an "age" question. This is someone who no longer appears to have command of his mental faculties.