Senile or Stupid: McCain Says Iraq First U.S. War After 9-11

See the video of the latest McCain gaffe. This is getting monotonous. Almost a "mental lapse" per day:

"The fact is we had four years of failed policy. We were losing. We were losing the war in Iraq. The consequences of failure and defeat of the United States of America in the first major conflict since 9/11 would have had devastating impacts throughout the region and the world," McCain replied.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., US forces attacked the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan in October 2001 -- well before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

“It is disappointing that John McCain doesn’t recognize that the war in Afghanistan was not only the first major conflict after 9/11, and is in fact a major front in the fight against terrorism. No wonder John McCain doesn’t understand why the American people are looking for new leadership that will bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end so we can direct the resources we need to getting the job done in Afghanistan," Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Karen Finney said in a statement.

Why so many verbal/mental miscues? Is it a mental flaw or just a verbal slip. Either way it is unacceptable. Seven and one-half years of similar "moments" is long enough.

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) said “Iraq” when he apparently meant “Afghanistan” on Monday, adding to a string of mixed-up word choices that is giving ammunition to the opposition.

Just in the past three weeks, McCain has mixed up Iraq and Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan, and even football’s Packers and Steelers.

Ironically, the errors have been concentrated in what should be his area of expertise - foreign affairs.

McCain will turn 72 the day after Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) accepts his party’s nomination for president, calling new attention to the sensitive issue of McCain’s advanced age, three days before the start of his own convention.

The McCain campaign says Obama has had plenty of flubs of his own, including a reference to "57 states" and a string of misstated place names during the primaries that Republicans gleefully sent around as YouTubes.

But the mistakes raise a serious, if uncomfortable question: Are the gaffes the result of his age? And what could that mean in the Oval Office?