McCain mixed up Sunni and Shia before catching himself about half a second later.

Lefty bloggers are in a state, and the DNC has already posted the item.

This is getting beyond ridiculous. Sometimes people make mistakes, even liberals--like when Arianna Huffington, in the midst of attacking McCain for just such a gaffe, confused Iran with Syria. Does she really not know the difference between the two? Of course not.

Or how about during today's hearings when Ted Kennedy referred to "inter-sectarian" violence in Basra. Five and a half minutes into the video above, as Petraeus tries to explain the situation in Basra to Kennedy, Kennedy cuts him off:

But we're over in Iraq to take on al Qaeda and here we've got the Maliki government moving in to battle inter-sectarian violence that's taking place which many believe can enhance the possibilities of civil war.

From that quote it is not entirely clear that Kennedy does understand the difference between inter- and intra-sectarian violence--or that the situation in Basra is not at all likely to lead to an inter-sectarian civil war, but is in fact likely to lessen the possibility of such an outcome. But how about we give Teddy the benefit of the doubt and assume he's not a complete moron but just misspoke. Do we think maybe the left would give McCain the same courtesy, especially since McCain, at least, corrected himself immediately afterward?