Reality Used To Be A Friend Of Mine

The McCain camp is trying to defend his laughably bad gaffe about the Sunni Awakening and the surge by saying it doesn't matter, anyway.

Democrats can debate whether the awakening would have survived without the surge ... but that is nothing more than a transparent effort to minimize the role of our commanders and our troops in defeating the enemy, because to credit them would be to disparage the judgment of Barack Obama and praise the leadership of John McCain.

Well, that's completely besides the point. McCain said the surge enabled the sheikhs in Anbar to fight Al Qaeda. And that's just not true. In fact, the sheikh McCain was talking about who was "protected" by surge forces, Sheikh Sattar Abu Risha, was actually murdered last year.

They're going ahead with this, though. "Senator McCain is correct,'' said spokesman Tucker Bounds today. Reality is just besides the point.

McCain's team is really flailing about these days.